Last month we raved about a rare winter treat: the quince. There’s just something great about winter foods and this month we’re on topic with some healthy winter vegetables, keeping you inspired for the remainder of winter.
Butternut Squash
Arguably the most popular member of the winter squash family, Butternut is enjoyed for it’s sweet, nutty and rich flavour. Perfect in soups on a cold afternoon, butternut squash is a must-have vegetable throughout the winter months. Soup recipes are often easy so there’s no excuse to leave this winter warmer off your shopping list!
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Definitely at it’s best towards the end of winter (February), purple sprouting broccoli is often enjoyed standalone. Add some butter and enjoy this warm winter favourite, or eat on the side of a family meat pie. Not only will you feel great, but the purple sprouting broccoli gives the dining plate a unique deep colour.
Potatoes
Let’s face it, we all love potatoes in some shape or form. Whether it’s fried, mashed, boiled or baked, potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C and B6, ideal to keep our immune systems up to scratch in the cold winter months.
If you would like to find out more about winter warming vegetables or would like them delivered to your door, get in touch with our friendly team at FN Foods.
This month, we’re celebrating that rare winter treat: the quince. Related to pears and apples, these fruit are used almost exclusively as a cooking ingredient as their flesh is hard an bitter. Also, because of their high pectin content they are excellent for making preserves and jellies with.
Our home grown British quinces are in season between October and December, so make use of them in short window you have. Instead of giving you one recipe to work with this month, we’re actually going to do the quince the justice it deserves by discussing a number of different uses, ways of cooking and ways of pairing with other ingredients.
When roasted, the flavours of the quince intensify, and if you poach them first, the flesh becomes even more melt in the mouth. You can roast them in the same way as apples, coating them with something sweet and sticky like honey or maple syrup, and using fragrant spices like cloves and cinnamon. You could eat quinces roasted in this way as a desert with ice cream, but you could also serve them with a meat like gammon – salty gammon and sticky sweet quinces is a match made in heaven.
As said earlier, quinces are great for jellies and preserves because of their high pectin content. You can pickle them just like you would an onion, paired beautifully with Sunday roasts. If you make a paste out of the quince, you could serve it with cheese – layer a slice of quince paste on a slice of cheese such as Manchego to create a delicious nibble or desert. If made into a jam, you can turn it into a quick sauce for lamb by cooking cubed quince with the jam, port and red wine vinegar for a rich, slightly acidic and sweet sauce that goes well with the richness of lamb.
We hope this has gotten your taste buds ready for a delicious Christmas ahead, it certainly has ours!
To make your holiday time as convenient as possible, why not check out our fruit and vegetable delivery in Swindon and beyond, and have the freshest ingredients delivered right to your door!
FN Foods are based in Swindon but we cover a huge 100 mile radius around the city, supplying throughout Wiltshire and Oxfordshire.
Our vans are a common sight, particularly if you’re based in Swindon – did you know we have a competition for spotting our vans? Photograph each of our 6 vans to win a prize!
We would never have been able to make it to where we are now without a passion for food – why not check out the food recipes we publish on our blog for inspiration on how to use those seasonal fruits and vegetables in a delicious and creative way?
We’re proud of providing the best possible quality of service to our customers. This is why we’ve made an effort to achieve three accreditation’s:
- Red Tractor
- LEAF
- BRC Global Standard
These accreditation’s have been awarded to us based upon our efforts to employ the highest standards of agricultural practice, to demonstrate traceability for all of our products and to show we conform to all of the best practices in the industry.
Did you know we did much more than ‘just’ fruit and vegetables? We can deliver cheese, milk, ambient, herbs… and that’s just a small selection – think of us as your mobile greengrocers, supplying only the very best food to Swindon and beyond. So get in touch with us today to discuss fresh fruit and vegetable delivery in your area.
We have focused on vegetables and fruit up until now, but with the coming of October we’re taking a brief departure by turning to shell-fish – specifically, Mussels. Although this dish does benefit from fresh chillies and shallots! Because we are serving the mussels up Thai-style, cooking them in a traditional manner but adding a bit of spice.
This dish is fresh, with zesty lime juice and lime leaves complementing the juicy mussels and spicy chillies. Try use birds eye chillies for this dish for an authentic Thai heat, but you can use whatever chillies are available.
Thai-style Pan-Steamed Mussels
Serves Between 4-6
1kg mussels
2 stalks of lemon grass
4 kaffir lime leaves that have been roughly torn
4 chopped shallots
2 sliced chillies (use less and remove the seeds for a milder dish)
1 tablespoons thai fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 spring onions, chopped
coriander leaves (as a garnish)
- Prepare the mussels by scrubbing them and removing the ‘beards’, and discard any which are damaged or do not close when tapped. Place your mussels into a large saucepan.
- Finely chop the lemon grass and add to the pan with the shallots, chillies, lime leaves fish sauce and lime juice.
- Cover the pan and steam over a medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan until the mussels open (discard any that haven’t opened).
- Place the mussels on a serving dish with the liquid in the pan, garnish with coriander and spring onions and either serve by themselves or with rice.
