Scroll through for some snaps of the week: spades in the ground, leaves in the box and pods beggining to grow!

Hi everyone,

The temperature swings at this time of year really are something – our min-max thermometer in the polytunnel registered 4°C all the way up to nearly 50°C! Suffice to say that the chard wasn’t quite sure what was going on and decided it might be time to set some seed, so we did a hard cut on it to keep it going for just a little bit longer (I like to try to keep at least some of the winter leaves until we get our first proper crop of broad beans– not too long now!).

Because of this, those with set boxes have a BIG bunch of chard this week! But don’t worry, plenty of delicious things to do with it (and remember that if you find the taste on the earthy/strong side, the trick is to cook out as much moisture as possible: squeeze it down in the pan so it releases as much liquid as possible and cook that off, and pair it with strong flavours).

Smoky veg tacos are a good way to bring in lots of the box’s elements this week. Chop up Jerusalem artichokes (or potatoes) into bite-sized chunks and toss with oil, ground cumin and smoked paprika. Roast in a baking tray for 20 minutes, and then add thickly sliced mushrooms, sliced onion/leek and red pepper if you have it. Roast for another 20 minutes until everything is browned. Meanwhile fry shredded chard in a pan with garlic (pressing it down in the pan like above) until relatively dry and starting to catch on the pan. For the dressing, mix yoghurt with a squeeze of lime, a pinch of salt and some fresh herbs and/or chilli. Fill warmed tortillas with chard at the bottom, then the roasted veg, dressing on top and a final squeeze of lime. You can read the full recipe, here.

Have a lovely weekend!

Lauren and the Tir Awel team x