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The Review - FOOD & DRINK- Cooking with CLARE
Published:20 September 2007

Detail of a sun flower in full bloom – the source of a key ingredient in Clare’s tomato and chard pasta

Down by the river... the joys of cooking up fresh veggie dishes

Clare Latimer cooks up sunflower seed pasta and sweetcorn fritters to remind us of the wonderful organic services on our doorsteps

I WROTE about Riverford organic vegetable boxes a few years ago when they had just started up and now it is going so well that I thought I should remind you of this amazing service.
It is especially good at this time of year with all the choice of vegetables from the ground. I know I have been on this veggie subject now for two weeks but soon the season will be over and we will be back to the same old supermarket choice or just swedes, carrots, turnips and the like.
Riverford will bring a fresh box to your door weekly from as little as £7.50 up to £14.
Paul Jardine is our local supplier and his phone number is 020 8 444 0448. I have to say that I am not a super keen organic fanatic but fresh veggies straight from the ground are always appealing so I am a definite buyer.
Here are two recipes this week that use a good amount of the local style produce.

Tomato, Chard and Sunflower Seed Pasta
A different style to pasta but truly delicious with the sunflower seed paste acting as a creamy type sauce, avoiding dairy which will please some of you. I would serve this with a green salad.

Ingredients
Serves: 6
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
2lb fresh tomatoes, peeled and seeded
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
300g fresh chard
400g linguine (or other pasta)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Wash the chard, remove ribs and cut across in 1 inch ribbons. Sauté the sunflower seeds until light brown, then grind half of them in a food processor, nut or coffee grinder until fine.
Reserve the remaining half for garnish.
Heat the oil in a pan adding the onion, cooking until softened. Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, ground sunflower seeds, herbs and salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer for about 15 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
Steam the chard for about 5 minutes until tender.
Cook the pasta, according to the packet, and then toss with the sauce and garnish with the remaining seeds.

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