my first veg box.. what can I do with spring greens? butternut squash? leeks???

[lunavix]

We wouldn't usually use these three things (and I haven't even heard of spring greens!)

Can I have some meal suggestiosn incorporating them please! Have an abundance of onions and carrots too if that's any help!

Spring greens - use like cabbage. Steam gently in a little water.

Leeks - oniony flavour. Dh loves chicken and leek pie. Slice and gently cook in butter in a pan.

Butternut squash - cut in half and roast. Roasted butternut squash in chunks with other roasties is nice. Put into casseroles.

Hulababys suggestions all good.

Or you can stir-fry spring greens in olive oil with a bit of finely chopped garlic.

Roast butternut squash is gorgeous. I'd never tried it before having dd2 and now I am a complete convert. It also makes good soup.

creamed leeks- not one to do if you're counting the calories:

half leeks lenghtwise, slice up into pieces 1 cm wide, and steam for a few minutes.
put in dish, salt and pepper, pour over a tub of cream and grate some cheese on top - cook in oven for about 20 mins

yum

Leeks are great with bacon.

Use butternut squash as you would use pumpkin.

Spring greens...shred and stir fry with ginger,garlicoyster or soy sauce and a splash of rice wine or sherry.

Leeks.....roast in the oven (cover with a little oil first,not too much)

Squash...curried with chickpeas and/or spinach and coconut milk.

Roast butternut squash with goats cheese melted on top. Mmmmmmmmm. You can also put B'nut squash in risotto, or in a curry.

Butternut squash & coconut soup.

Fry onion & squash, add stock and a little chilli and cook. Then add a tin of coconut milk and warm through.

I too ended up with a glut of onions so made a massive onion soup (just boil them for ages, can add white wine to taste)

sorry, should have said, I browned them first then put them in a pot with some chicken stock and some wine

you can mash leeks into potato and make a cheese sauce put potato mixture in a baking dish and and make indentations for eggs break into bake and serve with cheesey mustard sauce

butternut squash is good roasted with honey ginger and served with pork

I LOVE butternut squash.

Mash it with mashed potatoes or;
Cut in half and slice very thinly (don't bother to peel)drizzle with a bit of oil and salt and pepper and roast on very high heat for a short time. Yum.

Don't be fooled by how hard it is raw, it's mostly water so cooks much quicker than potato. If you're putting it in curries or stews, only cook for about 20mins or it will dissolve.

I microwave leeks chopped up, very quickly say 3 mins, serve mixed with peas and a spoonful of mint jelly mixed in.

I also use leeks in place of onions for a slightly different flavour in things like Spag bol

I tend to roast butternut squash, then peel it and run it through a sieve, then treat it as pumpkin, by making cakes, pies, etc with it.

I do have a recipe for a lovely cold spicy salad made with roast squash. Did it once, and it was quite nice.

oooh all good! Please keep them coming :) Am liking the idea of doing leeks with bacon, always enjoy a pasta so might chuck some creme fraiche in.

Leeks , bacon, lancs cheese, new potatoes in puff pastry to make pasties

spring greens are nicest stir fried with garlic and soy sauce, as below, but sometimes I steam them with ginger and a bit of lemon juice on top.

Don't know who you get your box from but you can access lots of recipes at riverford.co.uk, just search by ingredient. Love our boxes :) and the children eat the veg like there is no tomorrow

Chicken with borlotti beans and spring greens.

2 chicken breasts (skin on)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves squashed
greens (200-300g)
1 finely sliced onion
400g tin borlotti beans (rinsed)
sprigs of thyme
300 ml hot chicken stock

Heat half the oil with the garlic. Sear chicken (skin down) until golden (3 mins?). Remove chicken, season well, set aside.
wash and roughly chop greens. Fry onion in remaining oil until soft (5 mins). Add greens and cook for a couple of mins tossing well. Add beans, thyme and hot stock, stir and bring to boil.
Return chicken to pan and simmer gently, covered for about 20 mins. Mash some of the beans with a potato masher to thicken the broth.

Absolutely delicious.

Riverford (who do their own box scheme) have a recipe page on their website which is good - especially when you get your Jerusalem artichoke

riverford.co.uk

butternut squash risotto yum. make risotto as you would normally, meanwhile roast chunks of butternut squash (peeled and deseeded) tossed in some oil on high heat in oven for about 25 mins)....when risotto done, stir in chunks of squash, parmesan and bobs your uncle....very delicious indeed.

FAT GIRL SLIM: Squash Bean and Onion Soup. (Sounds very worthy but its very very delicious)

Heat 1 tbsp oil and 15g unsalted butter in a very lge saucepan over a med flame. Throw in 2 very lge roughly chopped Spanish onions and 3-4 crushed & roughly chopped garlic cloves, and cook for 10 mins, stirring frequently. Stir in 2 tbsp crushed juniper berries and a few gratings of whole nutmeg and cook for 1 minute. Add 1 butternut squash peeled and cut into lge bite sized chunks and cook for 5 mins.

Put in 2 tbsp Marigold Bouillon Powder, 2 .5 litres of water and some seasoning. Turn up the heat, bring the soup to a boil, half-covered, then simmer the soup for 15 mins. Add 1 drained & rinsed can of cannellini (or borlotti) beans and 1 pointed cabbage trimmed quarted cored and sliced into thin ribbons - or you could use your spring greens. Cook for a further 10-15 mins or until the vegetable are tender. Stir in an (optional) roughly* chopped handful of flat leaf parsley, check the seasoning and serve.

Hidden Veg Sauce for pasta etc

this is from somewhere else on the site - sorry don't know whose it is - as remembered by me, i make it about once a month. Originally Jamie Oliver. In theory it makes about 12 - 15 servings (i.e. 4 bags in the freezer for 3 of us).

2 onions (but leeks would be good too IMO)
1 butternut squash
3 courgettes
3 carrots
2 red peppers
6 cans tomatoes (or 5 packets passata)
some veg oil

Peel squash, chop or slice all veg. Heat oil and cook the veg for 10 mins or so. Add tomatoes. Cook for at least 30 mins. Blend.