Two weeks ago I received my first box of vegetables from NamaYasai Farm which had seasonal vegetables that do not usually feature in typical English vegetable boxes. I made a Haskap Berry and Orange Bundt and some pickles.
Yesterday afternoon I collected my second box. The boxes arrive every fortnight and are picked up from a local hub. Fortunately my local hub is a Japanese-French patisserie shop, conveniently located a few doors down from a Japanese grocery shop. Even more conveniently it is opposite the Waitrose I have shopped at for 40 years. So it is a very happy relationship.
In my box there were: mizuna, egoma, New Zealand spinach, kujo-negi, a small daikon, broad beans and home-made pickles (wild garlic in soy sauce). I also ordered extras of preserved yuzu in brine and a tub of assorted edible flowers. Whilst very tempted by the fig leaves and blackcurrant leaves, for use in an ice cream perhaps, I didn’t think I would have the time to commit to this endeavour this week.
What I especially like is that the quantities are enough for two adults, which is mostly us these days, unless we have friends and family around the dining table. An added feature is that Ikuko and Robin (who own the farm) always add a charming letter with each box explaining what they have picked for you on the morning of the delivery, and what you may do with it.
Preserved yuzu in brine, assorted edible flowers and wild garlic in soy sauce. The yuzu (around 1 tablespoon, chopped) will be used as a seasoning in a salad dressing and the flowers used to decorate the Chocolate and Almond Cake I made for dessert tonight
Mizuna leaves, rinsed and spun in a salad spinner, ready for a salad
Kujo-negi is an heirloom green onion (only leaves shown below) native to Kyoto. Here, I added some shallots to make up the weight to the 180 g needed for Spring Onion Milk Bread Rolls, a weekend project
New Zealand spinach really reminds me of Chinese choi sum. I am thinking of making some sous vide char siu this weekend, and may blanch the spinach to use on the side in either char siu and rice, or char siu with noodles
I mainly know egoma, also known as perilla leaves, as a foil for barbecued meat. So I am thinking of wrapping slices of char siu (if it works) along with the wild garlic in soy and a slice of pickled daikon. There are only six leaves, so three per person. What a choice appetiser for two people!
The small quantity of broad beans will be blanched and used in the salad I am making tonight to accompany a whole roasted sea bass, hand-dived scallops and some fresh crab bound with lemon mayonnaise. Travel Couple are joining us for an informal dinner at home, on one of the rare weeks that they are not (what else?) travelling.
