September veg box diary
Cooking, shopping, eating, ingredients and edible ideas as summer faded
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“The fish man is retiring” announced A, reading from the local newspaper. KP and I cheered. Not a predictable reaction but I’ll explain all further on. First though, a root through the veg box:
Veg boxes in September
Bang. That was it. The roots took over as proof that summer was gone. A consolation prize? A cabbage snuck in promising many in the coming months along with plenty of brassicas. My favourite vegetable.
Padron peppers were a surprise in the box too. There’s the old saying that most are sweet and benign but the occasional one spicy. I thought this was a myth until the first lot I got from Riverford. While popping one into my mouth I was pooh-poohing this fable and then steam came out of my ears. It was incendiary in its fieriness. Is it something to do with being organic and less regimented than the supermarket version? They’re definitely more flavoursome. Living life on the edge.
The word ‘sycophant’, was a self-serving flatterer in Ancient Greece and means “fig shower.” They were someone who gained favour with the authorities by reporting fig smugglers.
The figs ordered from Riverford were jammy, sweet and I ate them all in one go. Apparently there are more than 750 named varieties of fig tree. I wish we had more of this sumptuous fruit ripe and ready to eat.
Picking
Our juvenile garden has been more miss than hit in its first year. I always describe KP as a ‘glass half full’ person. He can’t help himself from buying yet another plant from the stall in the town square. His childlike enthusiasm as he plants it into the soil is uplifting, but also slightly heartbreaking as yet another thing fails to thrive.
The biggest disaster were the tomatoes which promised so much before the abundant flowers faded to nothing. The tomatoes that did appear were bored by insects and finally the leaves turned brown and snuffed it. The torrential rain made the handful of fruit turn flaccid and blighty. We need a greenhouse!
Sweetcorn has bucked the trend (thank goodness) and a bagful of stumpy cobs are in the fridge.
Our location on Dartmoor is a bit colder and wetter than other parts of the country and the garden a bit of a wind tunnel. The weird thing is that my herb garden does very well. Rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram, all the woody perennials that apparently love hot, dry places, are bursting at the seams as the butterflies and bees bask in the swaying stems of their flowers. My only regret is that I didn’t plant them nearer the house, particularly when I have to put on my wellies and tramp out in the dark and rain to pick a sprig or two.
Grape picking
“Don’t put your snippers in your basket under any circumstances,” we were told. It was so they didn’t get buried and completely knacker the grape crushing machine. It was a glorious day and I joined an eager band of volunteers to liberate the Madeleine Angevine grapes from their vines at the family-owned Tamar Valley Vineyard. Payment was the beautiful view and a continuous supply of home cooked food with cake breaks, quiche lunch and loads of tea. The wine is excellent (I brought home a couple of bottles). My going home present was a 2 litre box of homemade scrumpy (not for the faint hearted).
Cooking
Comfort food started to take over in September. Our menu was full of predictable British staples like cottage pie, butternut squash curry, and mushroom and bacon quiche. I love trying new recipes but the cookbooks that live in my kitchen full-time are Ottolenghi Simple, the Riverford veg books and Art of the Tart by Tamasin Day-Lewis. These would make it onto my Desert Island cookbook list - although there would probably be so many that I’d be able to make an escape raft out of them all.
A few recipes from online that we liked:
Spinach linguine with roasted tomatoes, garlic, chilli and breadcrumbs (Riverford)
Chorizo, cider and chickpeas stew with ajillo (Ottolenghi)
Piles of blackberries that didn’t make the freezer needed a home. I’ve perfected marmalade since coming back to the U.K. but this was my first attempt at making jam. Feeling about jars of blackberry (recipe from my ancient Good Housekeeping book), and apple and blackberry jam in rows in the cupboard? Smug!
The same warmth as taking an apple pie out of the oven, made with the last of the windfalls. And a glorious couple of loaves, the combination of Matthew’s Cotswold Crunch and Seven Seed and Grain flour using this recipe.
Shopping
It might seem pretty strange that we welcomed news of the local fish man retiring. It’s not that we weren’t in need of a good place to buy fish. In a town with three butchers and countless bakers, delis and specialist food shops, and an hour from the sea, the lack of a fishmonger is felt keenly.
We wanted to like the man with the van who turned up in the town square, but the catch suffered undergoing a rapid transformation for quayside to market. The melting ice combined with fish scales dripping onto the cobbles in a pinkish lake, the scent off-putting.
Keen to give the new people a go, we were wracked with indecision with the selection stacked on ice. The stock was limited (a good thing) and in demand. We plumped for sea bass, beautifully filleted without a single bone. I pan-fried it until the skin was crisp and charred and served simply with lemon and butter. There will be more fish on our menu. Hooray.
I dog-sat elderly Hazel (our border-terrier) KP drove all the way from Devon to Cumbria to Krakenhaus festival, a journey of 261 miles. His incentive en route was to visit Gloucester services - which is a destination in itself. It’s such a supporter of local, artisan food producers there’s now a TV series.
In Exmouth (see below) a visit to the Fish on the Quay fishmongers is essential.
Eating out
You have book weeks in advance for a table at the River Exe Cafe. Only accessible by Puffin water taxi (or your own boat*) and open during the summer, this restaurant floats on a barge in the middle of the Exe estuary. A lovely menu (although huge portions meant that we didn’t even look at the puddings) and watching the sun go down over the sea - really special.
*Last time we visited a friend surprised us by turning up in a dinghy!
Finally stopped off at the Sol Bakery and Cafe on the A303. Set up by Argentine friends the empanadas were delicious.
We had a chilled evening out eavesdropping on a large table of lads and trying to work out who they were (students, stag do, work meet up) at Three Joes in Winchester over our sourdough pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven. We gave in and asked - a golf trip!
Fish and chips at Graylings in Okehampton was excellent especially as you can order a small portion. This was before sitting in the cinema from 7.30pm - 11.20pm to see A Little Life - the play is now being screened. Brilliant and traumatising.
The Great British Cheddar Challenge was at home but we ordered the cheese and the whole event was by zoom. Founded by James Grant, the owner of No 2 Pound Street, who lost his sense of taste for over a year due to a battle with neck cancer. The leading lights of the cheese world guided us through the tastings with interviews from the makers, in England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The differences between the handmade, artisan, farmhouse Cheddars was astounding. How the name of this traditional cheese can be used to describe flabby, orange slices of plastic in burgers and bland factory-made yellow blocks is a travesty. All the tasters at home got to vote and we named Quicke’s the winner. You can watch the whole two hours here.
Random stuff
Why throw clothes when you can repair them? Love this French initiative.
Grace Dent’s Comfort Eating podcast is back and her first interview of the series with Nadiya Hussain was hugely entertaining. Btw I met Nadiya in Dubai at a session in a primary school and she was exactly as she seems on telly. But a shout out to her husband who I sat by while she was on stage and he was so lovely - oozing pride and support of his talented wife.
All images are taken on my phone and some in artificial light (not good for food). This food is for eating and sharing (and not getting cold!)
So those were my edible highlights of September. I’ll report back next month about what we’ve bought, cooked and eaten. And how about you?
Let’s put our elbows on the table and chat - please share your September food stories below.
I share a round up of my veg box each month. It’s a commentary on the seasons through food and hopefully gives some inspiration. What’s in your veg box, garden or market in your part of the world? Join the veg and recipe chat in the comments. I’m always keen to hear because behind all good food there’s a great story.
P.S. My name’s Sally and I’m fascinated by the way food is grown, made, sourced, cooked and eaten. Behind all good food is a great story from farming to foraging and how to cook the perfect omelette. Being a bit more connected and mindful about our food and where it comes from, can make changes to the negative impact our current food systems have on the planet too. Draw up a chair, grab a cuppa, put your elbows on the kitchen table and join me in a conversation about food and other random tales from our lives.
Sally, this post - words and pictures - is so desperately mouth-watering that I need a napkin to wipe my chin. A delicious delight!
I love this Sally and your beautiful illustrations - thank you for sharing! You are so right with the padrons. I grew them myself one year and think I understand what makes them hot. The longer they stay on the plant, the hotter they get. If they are allowed to ripen to red (they are picked unripe when green) they are blow your head off hot. I left most of mine on the plant until the end of the season and it rendered the entire lot inedible - they were all horrifically hot. I learnt my lesson! So I think the occasional hot ones we get were missed by the picker and picked later on and therefore, super duper hot. Holy moly that fig - the inside basically looks like jam! Bravo for getting any sweetcorn at all, mine were total failures this year! P.S. I don't seem to be receiving your emails in my inbox - I will need to take a look at my settings...