Saturday, September 18, 2010

ODE TO MAYBLOOM!





It's coming to the end of the Organic Vegetable Box Scheme season, and I've decided to celebrate the return of my computer (and thus photos on the blog!!) with a review of some of the fantastic boxes Niamh has delivered from Maybloom Farm this summer.


Every week there is something new and exciting, along with the old reliables - we couldn't survive without a good big bag of potatoes!!!

I used that cabbage in a yummy coleslaw - cabbage, carrots, a tiny bit of onion all shredded,  I then moistened the vegetables with a french dressing and then added some home made mayonnaise and greek yogurt.  This combination makes a nice tasty light salad (I hate claggy coleslaw!)








    







Some fantastic pea pods in the corner - earlier in the summer I just hid in a corner and ate them all by myself!!!!!!

Later in the summer I shelled them and steamed with some tender stem broccoli, and served with some lemon zest and butter.





I have to say that these were the nicest strawberries I have ever had - they tasted intensely strawberryish (!) real reliving your childhood taste memories stuff!


Another delicious week - those french beans were fantastic sauteed with a little panchetta and garlic.


I cannot tell you how delicious Niamh's fresh garlic is -  and the fact that it is so incredibly good for you makes me feel less guilty about the amount of Caesar salad dressing I ate!!!!



I had read that really, really fresh corn was miles better than the stuff you buy - we were sitting down munching this corn with salt and butter 90 minutes after it was picked!!!!!!  Superb!



This little large beauty was the first white aubergine (eggplant) I had ever tasted, really delicious smooth and full of flavour.  I made a deconstructed ratatouille with it (primarily because different members of the family don't different components of the ratatouille, and therefore deconstructed we could all choose the bits we liked!)  I roasted the aubergine with thyme and olive oil.  The onions  with a tiny amount of rosemary.  The tomatoes with basil  and the mushrooms with some pesto, and finally the peppers with plenty of pepper - a real success.  Talk about your 5 a day on a plate!! 


The picture doesn't do the dish justice - but I had to make sure that the different components didn't touch!!!
The onion didn't even make it onto the plate for fear that the juices might contaminate the mushrooms!!!!!!

19 comments:

Unknown said...

hard work feeding a family... i think my mother heaved a HUGE sigh of relief the day me and my brother left home as she no longer had to separate all our food! She used to tell my brother that Aubergine was Mushroom so that he'd eat it... never worked... oh and I love the coleslaw by the way, I always add a dash of salad cream (don't scream!) to mine as I love that tang it has! x

Patrice said...

We do the same thing Maybloom does here on our farm. I get all the extra vegetables when we have a good year. (not this year-we had a drought)I love to see our garden full and I know we eat healthier in the growing season.

Brownieville Girl said...

Sounds perfect Patrice (except for the drought bit!)

Dom, I always use salad cream in my Marie Rose sauce - love the tang!!

Coby said...

What a beautiful, bountiful box arrived for you each week BG! I love that having something new and unfamiliar helps to try things you mightn't otherwise consider :)

Jemima said...

Wow, that all looks fab! I have never heard of a white aubergine before....!

Rhyleysgranny said...

I am totally green with envy. Those veggies look so fresh. Love the flowers too. Are those popped in or do you ask for them? Sweetcorn. I was going to plant this this year but i forgot. Hey Ho. Anyway apparently it loves to grow very close to each other and does fine in one of those gorilla tubs. Something to do with the pollination. I read somewhere that the time to pick sweet corn is when the pot of water is boiling. The sweetness starts to disappear as soon as it is picked. Yours must have been wonderfully fresh to get that sweetness.

Ocean Breezes and Country Sneezes said...

Hey, thanks for joining my blog! I've joined your's also! Which Julia book did you buy? Love the veggies you have, I missed my Farmers Market today, but I know where to catch one tomorrow!!! I also love to feed people, funny I've never seen it written before! You nailed it & me! My grandfather was also a feeder! Gee, I wonder if it's genetic. Oh, I'm also Irish, American Irish! Nice to have met you! I enjoyed my visit today!

La Bella Cooks said...

We still have loads of corn growing here where I live and I totally agree that when it comes direct from the fields, there is no comparison to what you get in the store. It is truly amazing how wonderfully fresh everything can be when you get a veggie box. I love all of your photos and stories. You have definitely had a delicious summer.

ruairi said...

This looks super! Glad to have visuals back on track for this post :-D

a quiet life said...

i always love fresh produce pics :-)

Angie's Recipes said...

Great fresh produce! The eggplant looks so different!

Lucie said...

what wonderful produce! You're so lucky.

BetterLate said...

Fabulous - I do love your veggie boxes !

Anonymous said...

Stunning photos

SweetsSuccessBaking said...

Great looking boxes to get each week. You never know what treasure would arrive!

Joyti said...

It looks so delicious, especially your coleslaw, and the caeser dressing with fresh garlic must have been divine.

Catherine said...

Hi there - I just started to follow your blog as I see we love the same authors - have you checked out the Blogger's Book Club? It's moderated by Lily Collison from Limerick. Check it out on my blog if you visit (and hope you follow it too!)- my last review was Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin in July. I read The Poisonwood Bible (again) this summer and also The Lacuna - and I love Richard Ford's Independence Day Trilogy, and Richard Yates too. Love your foodie blog - it's very impressive!
All the best, Catherine.

Brownieville Girl said...

Thanks a million Catherine, I'm following you now too!!

I pop into Lily's blog fairly regularly - but I'm in two bookclubs already, and couldn't manage another one (even though I'd love to!!)

I was at a reading by Barbara Kingslover earlier in the summer, it was fantastic. Have since read her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, made me pretty happy I had the local vegetables delivered every week!!

I really loved Colum McCann's This Side of Brightness - best book I've read in a long time.



Granny - I really wish I had green fingers, but unfortunately my garden is seen as a graveyard by any plants unfortunate enough to land here!!!


OB&CS - have put Baking with Julia in my shopping basket - or should I have chosen another one??



Thanks everyone for the kind comments - much appreciated. Welcome to my new followers, great to have you here :-}

Choclette said...

What a great box scheme - certainly gives growing your own a run for it's money. All we've been getting are courgettes and beans for it feels like months now. I always use mayonnaise and yogurt mixed together too for coleslaw or potato salad - works really well.