The Online Veg Box Shop is Open!

This week on the Online Veg Box Shop, we’re offering green tomatoes from our farm. They might not be red and ripe, but green tomatoes have plenty to recommend them. Maybe you’ll make like the Whistlestop Cafe and fry them in cornmeal and breadcrumbs for a crunchy, sharp snack. Your Saturday brunch might be brightened with a zingy shakshuka. Or your dinner might be a flavourful Thai curry, a gratin, or a pasta dish

Maybe you’ll take a cool September afternoon as an invitation to cook up some chutney, jar it, and send it nicely wrapped to people you miss. If you aren’t a chutney person, there are relishes, salsas, and ketchups to try. Green ketchup! Unless you grow your own tomatoes, this is a rare chance to get your hands on green tomatoes, a delicious if somewhat unfamiliar ingredient.

Green tomatoes aside, we have all our regular staples and tasty treats: garlic, ginger, beans, porridge oats, olive oil. Last week I tried the Cashew Caramellow from Almighty Foods and I can recommend it whole-heartedly for a sweet treat. 

Remember the deadline to get your orders in is now 11pm Monday for everyone!

Headlines

Contactless Deliveries

Cases of Covid-19 are, sadly, on the rise in Scotland. As such we will continue to do out part to keep all our wonderful staff and customers safe. This means we’ll be continuting to practise contactless deliveries, so please keep half an ear out for your veg box on your delivery day. Remember that if you’re worried about the box being left on your doorstep, you can always leave a large plastic box for veg, milk, eggs, and whatnot to be left in to keep it sheltered and hidden. 

We’re also sorry to say we won’t be able to reintroduce our opt-out lists any time soon. We know you’re missing them- we are too. Unfortunately, they require a full staff in our packing shed, which would make socially distanced working for our packers impossible. We’re looking at ways to adapt for the future, but for the next month or two at least I’m afraid opt-out lists will still be suspended. 

Chilled Items for Collections

If you collect your veg box from our Victoria Road shop, please be sure to grab the chilled items from our fridge. There will be posters up in the shop to let you know what to look for, and you can always ask the staff in the shop to help if you’re having trouble finding something.

Covid-19 Updates

You can read about changes made to our service due to the pandemic here. 

In the Veg Boxes This Week

Subject to last minute changes

Check out storage guidance for helpful tips and tricks on how to prolong the life of your fresh produce. If you’re wondering where your veg comes from, have a look at these maps. You can also join your fellow subscribers over in the Facebook group for lots of tips, tricks, and recipe ideas!

To contact us, ring 0141 378 1672 or email us at subscribers@glasgowlocavore.org

Click here for Veg Box Contents

The Nice Bit

Green tomatoes aside, the veg I’m most excited about this week is romanesco broccoli. Not only is it among the most beautiful vegetables to find in your veg box, it’s also one of the most delicious. Don’t be dazzled by its hypnotic fractals- it’s easier to cook than it looks. 

As its name suggests, it’s often eaten in Rome, and if you’d like to eat it as the Romans do that’ll mean pasta! Keep it simple with a green sauce, creamy with olive oil. or use olives, capers, and parsley for a flavourful variation. 

As with most vegetables, you can’t go wrong with roasting it. This is a great chance to play around with flavours and experiment, here’s a recipe with lemon and garlic, and here’s one with pine nuts and anchovies,. If you’re a fan of cauliflower cheese, you can use your romanesco in the same way for a perfect autumn dinner. I’m a fan of cauliflower cheese, and I’m thinking about a variation with a parmesan-flavoured béchamel, romanesco, fennel seeds, breadcrumbs on top…

Blanched or roasted romanesco makes a great base for a salad once chilled. Maybe with olives, or maybe this almond-and-raisin version. 

Or, make soup.

Good Food Fund

Thank you for your donations to the Good Food Fund, which partners with charities to support those vulnerable to food insecurity. You can donate via subscription, or on the Online Veg Box Shop. You can also choose to donate your veg box to the Good Food Fund when pausing it for a week or longer.