CousCous and roasted carrot salad
We eat predominantly vegetarian food at lunch so salads feature heavily. For many people, the idea of salads stir up images of drab flavourless lettuce leaves with raw peppers and watery tomatoes, although in the past decade, things have definitely moved on. Salads are actually a great way to cook creatively, using a whole variety of grains, roasted and fried vegetables, leaves, herbs, nuts, seeds and dried fruit. I’ve made some suggestions here but use whatever you fancy, as it really is a question of throwing it all together and making it taste vibrant and delicious! Couscous is cheap and widely available but feel free to substitute it with various other grains such as red and white rice, spelt, lentils, quinoa and a recent discovery of mine, freekeh.
Sweetcorn and Feta Fritters
This is an incredibly versatile recipe which also goes down a treat with our young Jamie’s Farmers. The method is adapted from Rachel Demuth, owner of a renowned vegetarian cookery school in Bath. You can substitute the sweetcorn and feta for a range vegetables and cheeses (such as peas, courgettes, and parmesan) so feel free to get creative and use whatever you have in the garden or fridge.
Slow Roast Shoulder of Lamb (with Rosties)
Thursday night is roast night. It’s a good opportunity to use some of the produce from the Farm and enables the children to make the connection with where our food comes from. Beef brisket and roast pork regularly feature but I think this is the best. Shoulder is one of the cheaper cuts of lamb but still has a wonderful, sweet flavour when cooked long and slow. It will fall apart beautifully when cooked properly. The same method can be used for cooking brisket.
Apple and Blackberry Olive Oil Cake
This is a great dairy free cake which is delicious, light and moist (and helps to use up an abundance of cooking apples and blackberries in September). It also works very well with pears and can be made wheat free by using spelt flour which makes my colleague Katie extremely happy!