Becoming a ‘Seasoned’ Pro

As well as a medium veg box, I had milk, eggs and garlic with my order this week. Although I was tempted to keep the perfectly creamy organic milk carton for myself, I did share it and intend to make a regular order as my boys really enjoyed it. The eggs made for a great change to Caitlyn’s breakfasts, after she demonstrated her distain for baby rice the other day by spitting like a llama. I use garlic a lot, mainly because my eldest son displays some gothic tendencies, so I include it in my cooking to discourage some of his unnaturally pale faced friends. I was then thrilled to find an aubergine in my box, as the two are a perfect compliment. However, I also discovered something which baffled me. What was this odd looking root veg in my box? I had said I was feeling adventurous, so rather than just hope it and all its friends would go away, or turn into something I recognised, I got on the phone to Riverford. The woman I spoke to was not in any way patronising as I tried to explain the appearance. “It’s like a potato, but at the same time it isn’t” was the best this so called writer could come out with. Anyway, it turns out they are Jerusalem artichokes, which I thought was appropriate given that we are in lent. She explained they have quite a sweet taste and even suggested how to cook them. We chatted for a while about roasted parsnips, before I realised I was holding the poor lady verbally hostage, but I was glad to have solved the mystery and looked forward to getting my chef’s hat on.

My poor family has been subjected to my previous healthy efforts of frozen greens for clearly too long and were especially horrified the time when I had added sprouts to a chilli-con-carne. A generous portion of roasted Jerusalem artichokes were well received and their clean plates made me proud to be feeding my family with so much healthy goodness. Unfortunately, they have a rather noisy side effect, but this kept an uncouth family like mine amused all evening. Honestly, I would much prefer them to say “pardon me” than “pull my finger”.

With my family now better fed thanks to Riverford Veg Boxes, I would have been the picture of motherhood perfected, if it was not for the large glass of vino I knocked back to celebrate a job well done.

I greeted Lee like an over excited Golden Labrador when he arrived with this week’s veggie box this morning. I do hope he was warned about women like me as part of his training. I’ll update you next week with how I get on with the contents.

©Meriel Flavell 2010