Veg Box arrived - HELP!!!!

flis21

Hi All,

Well I got my fruit and veg boxes this morning. Just had one of the apples and it was beautiful, but there are 2 things in the box that I have never used before. Thanks goodness there was a list of what everything was or I wouldn't have even known! Can anyone tell me what I do with fennel and italian chard?

Thanks.

pizzaboy

Just a couple of quick suggestions,fennel goes nice with fish,and chard goes well with fresh pasta.

lizzyb1812

Try https://www.recipezaar.com - on the front page there is an ingredients box you can type your veg into to get recipes using it

lizzyb

Seakay

You can eat fennel either raw or cooked and if you have any green feathery tops then it can be used in the same way as the herb, fennel.
A nice salad is halve the bulb, cut out any very solid stem (as you would with a cabbage) this can be used in stock if you like, slice the remainder and mix with orange and or grapefruit segments, dress with some vinegarette. You can also add chunks of avacado for another texture.
Italian chard is more usually known as Swiss chard and you can also use all the same recipes. The stem (or chard) is often cooked seperately form the leaf because it takes longer. If you ever take up growing then ruby or rainbow chard is pretty because of the coloured stems, but tastes much the same.
Here is page that I found on the Internet:
http://www.mariquita.com/recipes/chard.html

Penelope_Penguin

Fennel goes great sliced in with potatoes in gratin dauphinoise. Gives it a very delicate aniseed flavour.

HTH, Penny. x

flis21

Thanks for the two websites and the ideas. I have found a couple of nice recepies, so will just have to see what we think of them!!

Justie

http://www.abel-cole.co.uk/Default.aspx?tab=Recipes

http://www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/index.php?PHPSESSID=64a25767d97b57b9891b4f2d6aab703f

both have good recipes and will help with strange things in boxes. If you don't like aniseed flavours then braise the fennel and it'll be a softer flavour or make soup from it. Chard is really good for you and can be used like spinach but has move flavour imo and if you end up with Swiss chard it's really pretty - Italian is similar but the stems are less vibrant I think.

Clive_Woody

Fennel can be steamed (or boiled), but is also very nice when roast in the oven. It goes well with fish dishes, a quick and easy meal is to roast some fennel in a dish with salmon fillets.

Italian Chard is similar to Pak Choi and can be stir fried in various dishses (with chicken or fish) perhaps with a teaspoon of chinese five spices (jars available from all good supermarkets in the herbs and spices asile).

The chard could also be steamed, as somebody mention the thick stems take longer to cook than the green leafy bits.

The Abel and Cole receipe site is very good for more interesting ideas.

lil_me

Thanks for those, I've never cooked parsnips or courgettes which arrived in mine, and never used a fresh mango either which also arrived.

skintlass

oooh fresh mango is lovely in fruit salads and equally nice in stirfry's. mmmmn. Roast parsnips with honey. courgettes I usually find a bit bland but again will go in a stir fry.

lynzpower

Parsnips *droooooooooooooooooooooooooooool*

roasted with honey & sesame
put in a soup reg curried parsnip soup is YUM

or just chucked in with the potatoes around a roast chicken OMG- gorgous, unctuous, luxury. I wish my oh liked thme Id eat them everyday If I could

Courgettes- lovely too. Another one my OH refuses to eat :wall: the best thing ever is courgette deep fried in batter. I had this in greece like 15 years ago and still yearn for it now ( never managed to get batter right meself)