With a lot of debts, I resolved to set up a business flogging potatoes, a profession I’d mastered earlier to pay for my vices at Leeds University. So I borrowed some travellers’ cheques from my brother and roped in my friends Jules Allen and Paul Cole, and my mum. One night in the middle of September, I pitched up at New Covent Garden Market with the boys, £200 and a posh accent to buy a load of spuds. By 7am, they had been packed; by 6pm, the whole lot had been sold. Abel & Cole, purveyors of organic vegetables, was born.
That summer, we had a large handful of cool customers buying our first mixed boxes of organic vegetables. The more I learnt about the food industry, the more I was encouraged to sell safe, healthy, local, organic food, bought from people I get on well with, supplied to people I like, by people I enjoy working with.
While great on paper, it was a financial catastrophe. But I kept on believing it would work, and it has grown into one big virtuous circle. We now supply homes all over the country with local produce. All the hard-working farmers who were prepared to help us in the first place (quite often not getting paid until very late) are now sustainably getting on with what they do best, and our wonderful customers are telling their friends about this strange bunch of people with their yellow vans, who answer the phone without a script and deliver fabulous food you have to cook yourself.
Keith Abel
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ROAST MONKFISH WITH BEETROOT AND GOAT’S CHEESE SALAD
Monkfish should only be eaten at certain times of the year, when it’s not spawning. Luckily, autumn is the right season, and it coincides with beetroot, which is the perfect complement.
Serves 2
500g beetroot
Good-quality olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 monkfish tail fillets
2 handfuls of any salad greens
1 handful of tarragon leaves
½ mug of crumbled goat’s cheese, seasoned with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice
1 lemon, to squeeze
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5. Start by washing and scrubbing the beetroot until it’s nice and clean. Top and tail and cut into wedges or cubes, toss in a little olive oil and a good glug of balsamic vinegar, sprinkle the thyme over, season and place in an ovenproof dish. Cover with foil and pop it into the oven for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for a further 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside, but leave the oven on.
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Lightly season the monkfish fillets and place them in an ovenproof frying pan, with a glug of olive oil, over a medium heat. Sear on one side for 2-3 minutes, turn them over, then put the pan into the oven for a further 7-8 minutes.
While the monkfish is cooking, build a salad on your plates — a small stack of greens and tarragon leaves in the centre, surrounded by the beetroot pieces. Keep the beetroot juices from the oven dish for the dressing. Crumble the goat’s cheese over the top.
Now remove the monkfish from the oven and slice into finger- width discs. Place these on the salad greens, then dress the whole salad with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, the beetroot juices, a little extra olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice, and serve.
BACON AND EGGS WITH APPLE AND PARSNIP
This makes the perfect brunch. Serve with wholemeal toast.
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Serves 4
6 rashers of back bacon, diced
Knob of butter
1 onion, peeled and diced
3 medium parsnips, peeled and diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 large or 2 small apples (any variety), peeled, cored and diced
4 large eggs
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
A couple of good pinches of chopped fresh thyme
Fry the bacon in a large frying pan over a medium heat until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Drain most of the fat from the pan.
Now add the knob of butter and onion to the same pan and sauté for a few minutes before adding the parsnips. Cook this for about 10 minutes. Be sure to keep the parsnips moving in the pan until they become golden. Throw in the red pepper and apple, put the bacon back into the pan and give it a good toss around for about a further 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, poach or fry the eggs, keeping the yolks runny. Season the apple and parsnip mixture with salt and pepper, stir through the thyme and serve with the runny egg on top.
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POTATO AND KOHLRABI GRATIN
Most people’s reaction to receiving a kohlrabi from me is: “An alien jumped in the box.” Don’t be scared of it, but don’t fall in love with it as the Dutch have. Think of it as an eccentric friend: invite it round occasionally and enjoy it.
Serves 6 as a side dish
2 kohlrabi, peeled
2 medium main-crop potatoes, peeled
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-3 handfuls of grated, extra-sharp English cheddar
½ mug of double cream
½ mug of milk
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
Grated nutmeg
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Start by slicing the kohlrabi and potatoes. If you have a mandolin, slice both vegetables on a thin setting. If you don’t have one, slice a small cheek off each vegetable and sit them flat side down on your chopping board before slicing thinly — this will stop them rolling.
Rub the inside of a ceramic baking dish with butter. Now layer alternately the kohlrabi, potato, seasoning and cheese, and repeat.
Preheat the oven to 190C/375C/Gas Mark 5. Mix together the cream, milk and garlic and pour over the layered dish. Grate over some nutmeg. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 1-2 hours. If the top starts to brown before the vegetables are cooked, pop a loose sheet of foil over it and turn the oven down a touch.
MULLED-WINE PEARS AND CLEMENTINES WITH DARK CHOCOLATE SHAVINGS
I got this recipe from Gary, who I’ve worked with for years. Like him, it’s a very laid-back dish and not a lot can go wrong with it. The crème fraîche is optional — a few spoonfuls stirred into the finished syrup make it a little less intense.
Serves 6
6 large, firm pears such as conference, comice, concord (a hybrid of conference and comice) or William
1 orange
4 cloves
½ mug of brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1cm (½in) of ginger, grated
A really good grating of nutmeg
1½ mugs of red wine
3 clementines, peeled and segmented, with the pith left on
Crème fraîche (optional)
To serve
Vanilla ice cream
Dark chocolate
Peel the pears and take a thin slice off the bottom so they will stand upright. Leave the stalks on for easy handling. Place them in a lidded saucepan deep enough for the pears to stand upright and close together.
Cut the orange in half, squeeze the juice into the pot and cut off a 2.5cm (1in) strip of orange peel. Stud this with the cloves and add it to the pan.
Put the sugar and spices in the pan, then pour in the wine (add enough to just cover the pears). Simmer this with the lid on for about 35 minutes, then add the clementine segments and simmer for a further 10 minutes, so the pears are nice and tender.
When the pears are done, remove them from the pot by the stalk and place on individual dessert plates or bowls. Remove the clementine segments and divide these between the plates.
Now remove the slice of orange peel and cinnamon stick from the pot and crank up the heat so the cooking liquid reduces to a syrup — this will take 7-10 minutes. Stir in the crème fraîche if using. Drizzle the hot syrup over the pears and serve with a good scoop of vanilla ice cream with shavings of dark chocolate over the top.
For further information, visit www.abel-cole.co.uk. Extracted and adapted from Cooking Outside the Box by Keith Abel (Collins £17.99). To order for £16.19 (including p&p), call The Sunday Times Books First on 0870 165 8585