A bag of Growing Communities Organic Salad Leaves with Blanched Sweet Potato, Clementine segments, Toasted Sunflower seeds and a Brown Rice Vinegar, Honey and Mustard Dressing.

A dish pucked from Stevie Parle’s delightful ‘Real Food from Near and Far.’ I’ve been wanting to try cooking with Okra, and this is a very easy, rustic dish made with Red Onions, Garlic, Cyprus Potatoes, a can of Chopped Tomatoes, Okra and fresh Coriander to finish.

Sarah Davies gave me a sample pack of the Growing Communities Organic Mixed Salad, which inspired a simple Salad with fresh figs and a Balsamic, Honey and Mustard dressing.

And the whole plate came together. Okra and Salad to accompany a whole baked Sea Bass with Lemon Thyme, Lemon and Garlic. Some Spelt Sourdough from the E5 Bakehouse to round it all off.

The ingredients were simply the orange juice and agar agar (10g per 1 litre of liquid, added to the simmering juice, whisk a few minutes). Once cooled and the jelly set, I mixed a little amount of light tahini with some of the jelly which took on a light pink colour. I served at room temperature, in a glass dish, garnished with sliced date and finely sliced orange rind….just needs a biscuit

A word of thanks to the stallholders at the Stoke Newington Farmers Market, who brave the elements each and every week in bringing their produce to market, and face particular challenges over the winter months to extract produce from the frozen soil. Thanks also to Kerry Rankin and other members of the Growing Communities team who have made an incredible commitment to providing local, organic produce to the Stoke Newington community each and every week throughout the year.

Francoise Auvray and myself on stage and in action at Sunday’s Parks for Life event in Springfield Park, Clapton put together by Hackney Council in partnership with Growing Communities. Francoise composed two delicious recipes, variations using common ingredients to make a Summer Vegetable Barley Soup, and a Warm Barley Salad. Along the way there was plenty of room for discussion with MC Andi Oliver about principles of Macrobiotic Cooking – the dreaded ‘M’ word – which we ended up replacing with ‘Big Life,’ the original meaning of the word. Much more palatable. I later teamed up with David Rosberg who put together some delicious sugar-free desserts, making some important observations about the use of refined sugar, and creating a stampede of children when samples were handed out at the end of the demonstration. We were joined on the Theatre Kitchen stage by representatives from Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant, the Fifteen Foundation, and supported throughout the day by Sarah and her wonderful team from the Shoreditch Spa. An inspiring day, providing contact with a collection of people and organisations committed to bringing healthy food and knowledge of cooking into the wider community. Also, a load of wonderful cooking tips from enthusiasts and professional chefs. Watch this space for more Wholefood Kitchen forays!

A visit to Growing Communities’ Plant Sale and organic market garden on Sunday 2 May in Springfield Park. New Salad Leaves and Chard springing up, and baby seedlings slowly coming to life under cover in the nursery. A fortuitous meeting with grower Sara Davies and Ed Posey from the Gaia Foundation.

A wonderful insight into what the folk at Growing Communities are up to. The Stoke Newington Farmers Market takes place at william Patten School on Stoke Newington Church St, London N16. It is open every Saturday from 10am till 2.30pm, except Christmas and New Year.