A True Taste of Herefordshire

A few days ago our free-range, rare breed Berkshire pigs went off for slaughter.  Not always a sad day even though they've been part of the family for quite sometime.  We keep just a couple on average twice a year and "Built like hippos, behave like thugs" is a suitable description for Berkshires; these two were no exception.  We give them no names, just numbers and I've lost count without consulting the paper-work, which is extensive; I think they must have been about P19 & P20.  But who cares! Once you've been knocked off your feet for the umpteenth time whilst distributing tasty windfalls, parsnip tops and other vegetable garden trimmings for their delicatation, Pig Day down at AH Griffiths of Leintwardine can't come soon enough!  Seriously though, Doug Griffiths' slaughter house is five minutes' away and we are SO lucky to have it.  At present it's the only one of its kind in Herefordshire/Shropshire: traditional butchers' shop at the front (complete with displays of flesh & fowl on marble slab in the window) and slaughterhouse in the rear premises complete with rules and regulations to make the most compliant weep.  For some good old country humour mixed with black comedy and a good smattering of political incorrectness, venture if you dare, to the cutting-room with your carcass instructions carefully prepared..........!

Today was Sausage Making Day and so for my demonstration/hands-on Cook Day I decided to make my own-recipe Pork with Perry, Little Herefordshire cheese and fresh herb sausages.

Firstly we gathered together a good lump of Monkland Dairy's unpasturised Little Hereford cheese, a bottle of Dunkertons' goodly organic Perry, some of our own pears, onions, garlic and fresh, green herbs from the garden.  All sausages require a little "rusk".  This is not just a padding and excuse to get away with using less meat.  It really does help to bind the mixture and absorb the fat thus making for a better texture and taste.  I like to make my own and today used a mixture of organic, UK grown porridge oats which I ground in the Magimix and some crumbs made from a good sourdough loaf from the Ludlow Food Centre.

After chopping, grating and mincing all the flavourings I added them to the coarsely chopped meat which was taken from the hands of pork and then poured over a good slug of Perry after which, the only thing to do is to get down and dirty, mixing with your hands to get everything amalgamated.

We then passed all of the mixture through the sausage-making machine on a coarse-mince setting
to get the consistency right..........
At this point it's a good idea to sample some of the mixture just to check you like it!  So we passed some through the machine in "sausage mode" but without using the skins and frizzled it up and ate it with some toasted sour dough bread for a late breakfast.  Add seasoning adjustments now:- some Halen Mon salt and the only imported ingredient: black pepper.......

 

After rewarding ourselves with a pot of Lavazza coffee and some homemade biscuits, sausage-making proper can begin.

The runners have to be prepared by unravelling them into little individual mounds of skins and then each one has to be sluiced through with cold running water to wash them out and lubricate them to ease the filling process.

At last sausage-making proper can begin!

It's always exciting when the first run is completed....

There's a definite art to looping-up the links.....

.......and the old kitchen stool has many uses!

......... They do say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.  However all that we cooked at the end of labours were eaten so fast and the rest were destined either for today's Cook Day participants to take home with them or for my own freezer, all I had left to photograph were a couple of "rejects" which Henry and I had for supper!

Oh well, here's to remembering P19 & P20!

BBC Radio 4 "Lives in a Landscape" broadcast Friday 13 November 2009

As I write this I'm listening to BBC R4's "Lives in a Landscape".  Listening to local people from my nearest shopping/market town, Knighton, just seven miles up the road across the Welsh border into the old county of Radnorshire, now known as Powys.  Knighton has a split personality: the river Teme runs through and the town to the south bank is in Wales and the town to the north bank is in Shropshire, England.  But that's not the only way the town is split. I'm listening to people, many of whom I know, talking about the proposed windfarm planned for Stonewall Hill which is just to the south east of the town.  I'm listening to the people of Knighton who're bound together in this ancient market town yet opinions are split and views divided about the wind turbines which threaten to dominate this most beautiful wild place with its panoramic views for miles; sparsely populated with outlying farms and cottages along this ancient border between England and Wales.  I ride up there.  Through its old green lanes, mediaeval roads and sunken bridlepaths.  It's home to red kites, buzzards and ravens..... and sheep.  This photograph shows Knighton in the valley and we're riding through a mediaeval road which is the proposed access road for vast construction lorries and subsequent service vehicles.  This road leads to a spider's web of ancient foot paths and bridlepaths across Stonewall Hill and if the planners and the rich landowner get their way these will be lost to all for the future.

For a A MUST read, the "Wind Farm Scam" by Dr John Etherington - this book literally blows the wind industry away.www.swindlefarms.com  

Stay for bed and breakfast here at Lower Buckton www.lowerbuckton.co.uk and we'll introduce you to this unique "Life in a Landscape"

LOCAL TO LUDLOW MARKET

On my way to Ludlow this morning I called in at my local butcher, Doug Griffiths of Leintwardine to order 56 lbs of his "pet mince" with which to feed my pride of Ginger Cats and all the local felines who've discovered this source of fresh meat without the bother of hanging around a rat hole for hours on end.  Opposite his shop is a strip of raised grass verge with some old tree-stump remains, beside which was a carpet of funghi.  I took this photograph in the hope of meeting someone who'd tell me if I should pick and eat........

Ludlow today was holding the bi-monthly local farmers' market which is so called, "The Local To Ludlow Market".  Self-explanatory, really.  I love this time of year with the cross-over from autumn to winter and always make a bee-line for the vegetable and fruit stalls, of which there are few.  My first port of call is often the first I see or as, of today, I smell.

The scents of the quinces waft through the narrow lanes leading to the market square, luring me siren-like to unmistakable smell of ripening fruit.  How I love these misshapen golden orbs which will transform a humble apple pie, create a glorious autumn tart and render into jewel-like jellies to serve with winter game and cheese.....These quince are from Old Sandlin Fruit Farm near Malvern, stalwarts of the Ludlow Market and from whom you can buy apples and pears almost until the next season's is ready
 Bearing in mind I'm running a Non-meat Cooking Day this Saturday I was on the look out for fresh vegetables other than those Henry will give me from Lower Buckton's garden.  I struck gold at "Roots at Rushwick", organic farmers with a passion for their craft.  I quickly filled my basket with bunches of beetroot still with their stalks and leaves attached (more of those later), bundles of Tuscan black cabbage & Russian spinach plus some pack choi.  After chatting away with Will for sometime he eventually offered me his "under the table" special.  These were certainly not on show!  Imagine my delight on being offered bags of cannellini beans still in the pod.  Part of the pleasure of visiting your local farmers' market is strolling around, meeting and chatting with friends, showing them your purchases and sharing the delights of what you've bought and from whom.  Luckily, when I bumped into my friend Lesley Mackley and found her coveting my cannellini, there were some left for her to buy.  We were lucky indeed because Will had brought them in for my fellow Terra Madre cook Clive, down at the Green Cafe on Dinham's Millenium Green.  Clive has a fab daytime cafe which serves simple food, beautifully prepared and cooked with style and panache.  It's good news for we in and around Ludlow that his first evening opening is tomorrow and his second will be for a Slow Food Terra Madre event on Thursday 10 December.sSome Staffordshire oatcakes from fellow Twitterer @Fareground caught my eye.   Shall use them on Saturday and fill them with a delicious vegetable and green salad mixture....... although I liked the sound of his bacon/cheese suggestions......

I also bought a fresh, young round of Welsh goats' cheese, some Gilly flowers which I may get round to planting in the old trough by the entrance to Lower Buckton plus a huge bag of fresh walnuts from Augernik Farm which is just outside of Ludlow. Shall make a parsley paste using these and some of Lightwood's Little Urn cheese which I bought at Mark's Mouse Trap shop in Church Street.  Pictured above is Mark in his shop thinking of a £number£ to write on my account!

I paid a visit to the Tickmore Farm girls to order more of their delicious, home-pressed apple juice.  Ruth and Judith specialise in pressing apples collected from traditional, unsprayed local orchards.  Their small-holding is just south of Ludlow on Brimfield Common where they make wonderful hay and keep sheep.   As for the funghi photographed above....... the delightful Guy from Romy cuisine, on being shown the picture on my camera pronounced them "Not for eating.  Non!"!

Down to Clive's to pay for Terra Madre dinner tickets and I couldn't resist staying for some lunch and a chat....... Delicious leek and rosemary soup with homemade soda bread.  His lively cafe is beside the River Teme in a restored mill building on the site of the old swimming pool.  Obviously the mill-site is heaps older than the pool-site but I do have loads of memories of sunny days spent splashing about in the pool and scrabbling about on the river bank beside the mill-race and weir netting water-creatures into jam-jars tied with string as carrying handles.

Guy Fawkes Night Country Beef Stew

Tonight I wanted something really warming and to feed some German guests who're staying here. Had to be totally "English style", seasonal and of course completely locally grown.  So, you can't get nearer than our garden and the Leintwardine village butcher......this is how I started.........

Three pounds of Mr Doug Griffiths' prime beef stewing steak, especially selected by the ever-obliging Gordon (known by me as GallopingGordon).

Three onions from Henry's stash in the shed - he really must grow more next season.

A clove of garlic, from same stash - he really is a hoarder!

Couple of tbs of Bacheldre Mill flour
Tsp of Coleman's English mustard
Grind of black pepper corns

Pinch of Halen Mon salt - only tad, because will be adding pickled walnuts later and they can be a little on the salty-side.......

Ensure the beef is "dry" (press in a clean tea-towel if necessary) then mix the flour, mustard & pepper on a flat dish.  Heat some oil, (I like to use Shropshire Rape-seed Oil) in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and add a knob of English butter.  Roll chunks of beef in the flour mix and place in the hot fat enough to cover pan base.  Quickly brown on all sides using tongs to turn.  The butter helps to caramelise and brown the meat.  Transfer the pieces to oven-proof stew-pot as you go along.  Add a little more oil/butter as needed to sizzle-brown all the meat.

 Peel and dice the onions, add more oil/butter to frying pan and cook till softened and slightly coloured. Bash the garlic on a board with the back of a chopping knive, remove the skin and crush then add to onions and cook together for a minute. Scrape all into the meat in the stew-pot then pour some liquid into the frying pan and bubble up, scraping all the meat residue in the pan. (I used apple juice from the Ludlow Vineyard)  Pour into the stew pot then top up to just about cover the meat with some cider.  The one here is a new to me, found it at the Herefordshire Food Festival and is call Orgasmic Cider.  (Just hope it works for both of us!)  Add some bay leaves (these are from the tree in garden of our holiday cottage in Ludlow), chopped sage leaves and some fennel seeds - these are all from our garden.  Bring everything up to a simmer, stirring all the time then put in oven for a couple of hours.  Bring out, check that the meat is becoming tender and add some quatered pickled walnuts............ Bring back up to the simmer and put back in a low oven for a minimun of another 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and check for seasoning, you may need to add salt if preferred........

Here it is, straight out of the oven served with a dish of Lower Buckton leeks in cheese sauce and a bowl of the creamiest, buttery mashed organic potatoes you'll find! The leeks' sauce is made with Ludlow Food Centre's new blue cheese, Mawley Town Farm milk and Netherend English organic butter.  Bliss!

The Germans loved it all............

Halloween Night Stuffed Pumpkin

We had a house party of people staying over the weekend of Halloween which happened to fall on the Saturday.  I took them all hunting during the day and wanted a simple, tasty dinner to prepare and cook for when we all returned, weary and tired in the afternoon.  I'd previously bought a couple of pounds of quality stewing beef and minced it myself.  I like to do it this way so that I'm in total control of what goes into my mince.......!  Then I peeled and chopped a couple of onions and softened them in butter/oil mix in a large, cast-iron cooking pot, adding a couple of crushed garlic cloves as well.  For the fiery spiceyness I tore up a last year's dried red chilli and pounded it together in a pestle with some freshly grated ginger and some fresh coriander seeds gathered from the garden.  Gave it all good bashing and add to the onions then add the meat, turn up the heat and brown it all, grinding in some black pepper too.  When beef all browned, I threw in a large spoonful of flour, cooked that into the mix for a couple of minutes before adding a pound of chopped-up soft tomatoes from the greenhouse.  Cook it all up to a simmer adding water or stock until bubbling as you like it.  Add a good handful of chopped flat mushrooms and some green herbs from garden.  Put on lid and cook for sometime until all thick and amalgamated.  Taste for seasoning and add salt as required.

Meanwhile slice "lid" off chosen pumpkin and scoop out the seeds.  Place in pan and spoon in the mince mix.  Replace lid and secure with wooden cocktails sticks if necessary.  Cover with sheet of silver foil and bake in a low oven for "hours"!  Check for tenderness of pumpkin flesh as you go along.

To serve make a large batch of blue cheese sauce, I used the Ludlow Food Centre's new Ludlow Blue.  A big batch of garlic bread and crisp green salad is just perfect!

Brock Hall Goats' Cheese Delish-Dish

Brock Hall Goats' Cheese Delish-Dish: perfect as a starter for four or supper dish for two....This recipe was devised from fresh ingredients from my "fridge & field" this evening.  I love the taste of this tangy, fresh soft goats' cheese from Shropshire-based Brock Hall Farm and the excuse to use Dairy House's creme fraiche is never one to be missed.  Combined with the lemony/citrus taste of fresh sorrel and the subtle green fennel from a fresh head of seeds, this simple recipe is delicious served straight from the pan or left to cool and serve at room temperature.  While I was picking the sorrel I found some salad leaves, rocket & peppery mizuna, coriander sprigs & flowers, a few cherry tomatoes & basil leaves and the nasturtium flowers, leaves & dill flowers all gathered together to create an attractive salad.

Gather your raw ingredients together: 

2 largish shallots

1 clove of garlic

1 oz/25 g Netherend organic farmhouse butter

splash of Shropshire Oils rapeseed oil

six largish leaves of sorrel with their stalks

2 organic free-range eggs

2 oz/50 g Brock Hall Farm soft, goats' cheese

2 oz/50g Dairy House creme fraiche

splash of non-homogenised/GM Mawley Town Farm milk

green fennel seeds

pinch of Halen Mon sea salt

grind of Malaysian black pepper

Melt the butter with a splash of oil in a 8"/20 cm shallow frying pan. 

Add the shallots and soften in the butter.  Crush the garlic and add to the onions after a couple of minutes.  Remove the stems from the sorrel leaves and cut into 1/2"/1cm lengths and add to the onions continue to stir until all are softened.

Sprinkle in the green fennel seeds at the end of the softening process.

Crack the eggs into a roomy mixing bowl then add the creme fraiche and the soft goats' cheese.  

Beat with a balloon whisk, adding a little milk if the mixture is too thick.  Season with salt & pepper.

Shred the sorrel leaves and fold into the egg mixture along with with softened onion mixture from the frying pan.  

Wipe the frying pan with some kitchen roll, smear the pan with a little butter/oil and heat.  When the pan is hot pour in the complete mixture, swirl across the base of the  pan  and level with a spatula.   Cook for a few minutes until the underside is brown and the mixture is shrinking away from the sides a little.  

Transfer to under a hot grill or to a pre-heated oven and continue cooking until the top has set and browned a little.  It should be soft & springy.  Run a palette knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen then invert a flat plate over the top, carefully turn over and out.  Serve with freshly picked salad leaves and a honey/ginger dressing.

GOOD, CLEAN, HONEST & FAIR are the watch words of the International Slow Food movement and ones which I also like to follow.  Anyone who knows me knows that I love to use ingredients that are as local to me as possible and of course only those that are grown, produced and made by small-scale independents hence all the "name-dropping" in my recipes.  Even the black pepper corns are from a Slow Food producer in Sarawak, Malasia! Obviously substitutes can be made and a recipe is just a guideline - do as you will or wish!

Our free-range, rare-breed pedigree Berkshires...

Our Berkshires have generous neighbours who bring them their cabbage-white-caterpillar decimated cauliflours.  (That was a bit of a mouthful!)

DEMMING AT WORCESTER FEAST - Friday 4 September 2009

Heart of England Fine Foods invited me to dem at the first ever Worcester Food and Drink Festival aptly named Worcester Feast which took place around the Cathedral Close and within the walled gardens of The Commandery just down the road.  I had the lunchtime slot on Friday 5 September and was asked to present "Worcestershire on a Plate"............ and took care to choose ingredients available from various stall-holders at the show. I enjoyed catching-up with David McCaw from The Fold Bransford & on conferring all our chosen recipes were similar, seasonal & made from local produce.  Which was more than I can say for the other demmers on the day: not sure what prawns, pineapples, corned beef and tinned milk/cream have to do with the food of Worcestershire!

BAKED AUBERGINES with FRESH WALNUTS & LITTLE URN CHEESE - very appropriate because this cheese is made just outside of Worcester and was named to commemorate England winning the Ashes in 2005 and of course this has just recently happened again!

2 Aubergines from Evesham

rape seed oil - I used some of Just Oils from Staffordshire, who were at the show kindly gave me some to use.  Love their smoked and flavoured varieties (I couldn't find a rape seed oil producer which comes from Worcestershire)

1 Garlic clove, crushed

1 tbs chopped onion

2 Drews' tomatoes, diced

1 rape seed oil

S&P

25 g/1 oz walnuts, chopped

15g/1 oz breadcrumbs

50g/2oz little Urn Lightwood, Lower Broadheath, 2005 Ashes

(pomegranite dressing: pom syrup, plain yog, lemon juice, mint, garlic, oil)

Preheat the oven to 200C/440F/Gas 6

Slice the aubergines lengthways

Smear a baking tray with a little oil and lay aubs on it then drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake for about 10 minutes until soft

While cooking, sauté the onions and garlic in oil and add the tomatoes and herbs and cook to soften add the chopped walnuts to the tomato mixture and season well.

Remove aubs from oven spread the mixture onto the slices and layer up to reform the shaped aubs.  Remove carefully to a baking dish with high sides which will just hold the two aubergines. 

Top with the cheese and breadcrumbs mix, drizzle over some more oil and bake in the oven to brown

Serve with fruity dressing on a crisp green salad - I have some pomegranite syrup brought back from holiday by a friend which is an ideal partnership with aubergines, but at the food festival I saw various piquant, fruit sauces for sale.  Experiment by whisking a fruit syrup, lemon juice, oil and plenty of chopped mint ............

MUDDY BOOTS FOODS special burgers with green been & mint salad with crème fraiche & chilli jam sauce

Once again I'm indebted to the lovely Muddy Boots peeps for their generous contribution of some of their delicious Aberdeen Angus beef burgers which sell themselves really and require absolutely no "messing about".  Just fry or griddle to rare/medium as you like them - please do not even dream of over-cooking to Hell and back!  Then serve them with some salads such as this GREEN BEAN, HERB & MINT ensemble.......

Lightly steam some French beans (leaving them whole).  While they're steaming, add to some oil: a clove of garlic crushed with salt, black pepper and a handful of finely chopped green herbs. I used coriander, rocket & lovage, all picked from or garden that morning then finely chop half a handful of fresh mint and add to the rest - aaaaah, that smell! Remove the beans from steamer whilst they'll still "snap" when bent in half (or thirds).  Whatever their size, cut/snap them into inch long pieces.  Whilst warm, throw them into a bowl and scrape in the oil/herb mixture - toss together and serve with the burgers........

COURGETTE & GINGER HONEYBUNS with CURD CHEESE/HONEY/HAZLENUT topping

these ingredients make 24 buns

250 g trimmed courgettes

1 tbs of grated fresh ginger

2 large eggs

125 mls rape seed oil

100g silver spoon granulated sugar

50g runny honey

225g s/r flour plus1 tsp baking powder

cup cake or muffin tins

topping

200 g cream/curd cheese

50 g honey

a little, freshly grated ginger & crushed hazlenuts

Coarsely grate the courgettes with mandolin or in food processor and squeeze out the excess moisture in a clean tea towel

Cream together the oil, eggs & sugar in a bowl and mix in the grated ginger.

Sieve in the flour, bp & whisk until mixed then fold in the grated courgettes

Spoon into muffin/cupcake tins and bake until firm to the touch and light brown. 190c/375f/g5 10 – 12 mins

Leave to cool a little before turning out and cover with the cream-cheese topping when cold & sprinkle with chopped hazlenuts

For the topping         Beat 200 g cream cheese with the grated ginger 

Worcestershire Pear Snow - Pears!  The emblem of Worcestershire!

Peel and core chosen amount pears.

Cube and place in saucepan with vanilla pod/s & 1 tbs of honey per pear and cover with perry.  Cook until soft and then puree.  Then leave to cool completely

Whip one egg white per pear then fold the pear puree into the egg white.

Spoon into decorative, stemmed glasses and stud with fresh blackberries

Mortimer Country Food Fair - Saturday 11 July 2009

Our second annual Mortimer Country Food Fair took place at The Bookery in Brampton Bryan and Aardvark Books and I worked really hard to create a successful day show-casing over 30 local businesses specialising in artisan food producers