APPLE & GINGER MUFFINS

 

4 oz Silver Spoon British golden castor sugar

2 oz soft Netherend organic butter

 

Spices – ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice (a little of what you fancy) Use fresh, grated ginger if available

 

9 oz Bacheldre organic stone-ground unbleached plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

 

8 fl oz  Mawley Town Farm milk

 

4 oz chopped Herefordshire apples

1 oz chopped Herefordshire walnuts

 

·     Cream together the sugar and butter

·     Add the spices

·     Sift the flour with the baking powder together and fold into the sugar/butter a little at a time alternated with the milk.

·     Fold in the chopped apples and nuts

·     Spoon into greased muffin tins or paper cases

 

Makes 12

Bake 200c gas 6 for 15 minutes or so. 

TEME VALLEY HUNT FUN RIDE

SUNDAY 14 JUNE 2009

BRAMPTON BRYAN PARK, SY7 0DH

between Knighton (Radnorshire) & Leintwardine, 

just off the A4113

By kind permission of

Mr & Mrs Edward Harley & Mr and Mrs Jonathan Coltman Rogers,

local farmers and land owners

 

Approximately 15 mile ride in the glorious, private estates of Brampton Bryan

and Stanage on the borders of north Herefordshire and Radnorshire-Powys.

Grass rides, tracks and trails through woodland, grassland and upland.

Spectacular scenery and views.

 

OPTIONAL JUMPS, SHORTER CHILDREN'S ROUTE, ROSETTES

BBQ with LOCAL FOOD, TEAS, COFFEES & HOMEMADE CAKES

TRADE STANDS, LOADS OF PARKING, EASY ACCESS FROM A4113

 

ADULTS £15.00 ~ CHILDREN (Under 14) £7.00

All riders enter at their own risk and hard hats must be worn.

 

For further information contact 01547 540 532 – 07960 273 865

email carolyn@lowerbuckton.co.uk - www.lowerbuckton.co.uk 

HEREFORDSHIRE SQUIRREL PIE

Squirrels are back in season down at my local butchers', AH Griffiths of Leintwardine and the following is a tasty recipe for an open squirrel pie in savoury pastry.

Take TWO SQUIRRELS which have been skinned, gutted and cleaned in fresh water.  Pop into an oven-proof pot and throw in a small, quartered onion (with skin), a carrot cut into chunks, a bay leaf, some fresh sage, half a dozen peppercorns and a tad of salt.  Cover with fresh, cold water put on lid, bring to boil on hot-plate, simmer for a couple of minutes, skim off any scum and simmer gently for about an hour and half either on a hot-plate or in the oven.

Meanwhile make the PASTRY: You will need a 6"/7", deep, loose-bottomed cake tin

8 0z Bacheldre Mill wholemeal flour

4 oz Netherend farmhouse butter

1 large garlic clove crushed

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1 tbs tomato paste, thick tomato sauce or a skinned, de-seeded minced tomato

water + S&P

Sift the flour into a large-ish mixing bowl, tipping in the "wholemeal bits" at the end.

Melt the butter, garlic, thyme, tomato, black pepper from a mill + pinch of salt in a small saucepan.  When liquified, pour over the flour and stir/mix well until it turns 'doughy'.  Whilst it's still hot push it with your fingers into the base of the tin and up the sides.  Pushing and moulding with your fingers.  Try and get it as far up the sides as possible whilst ensuring that the pastry evenly covers the base.  Chill it in the fridge until required.........

THE FILLING

When the squirrels have finished poaching and are cool enough to handle, cut/pick all the flesh from the carcasses and put it in the bowl in which you made the pastry........(retain the poaching liquid for stock)

Have the oven heated to 400f/200c/g6 and bake the pastry case for 20 mins or so until golden, remove..........turn down oven low to 325f/170c/g3

THE FILLING.........

2 tbs Shropshire Oils rape-seed oil

1 onion, chopped

1 fat garlic clove, crushed

1/2 lb Lower Buckton Berkshire pork mince

1/2 lb steamed vegetables, cut into small dice: eg carrot, celery, celeriac, parsnip

flesh picked from the squirrels

In a frying pan heat the oil and soften the onion then add the garlic and pork mince, cook/fry to brown the meat then stir in the cooked vegetables, season with a little salt and pepper.  Put the whole lot into the bowl with squirrel flesh and mix up.

TOPPING

Warm 1/2 pint whole milk in the saucepan you used for melting the butter.

Into a bowl, break 2 eggs plus on egg yolk and break-up with a fork.  Pour the warmed milk onto the eggs and whisk well with a fork, add a little S&P.

Now fill the pastry case with the squirrel/pork mixture then trickle over the milk/eggs mix and place on a baking sheet.  Put in oven for half an hour or so........... remove and sprinkle with a cheese/breadcrumb topping made from 4 oz Little Hereford cheese & 2 oz breadcrumbs from a good quality loaf.

Replace in oven for another 15 minutes or so until golden brown on top.

Allow to cool a little before un-clipping the tin and removing the pie.  Good hot/warm/cold!

Bishops Castle "It's Not Just Tennis" Day, Saturday 30 May

I was delighted to be invited to take part in the Healthy Eating and Exercise Day at Bishops Castle Tennis Club.  Janie of Janie Cremer Feel Good fame (www.janiecremerfeelgood.co.uk) was there with her invigorating work-outs, salsa classes and healthy eating .  We had a tent to ourselves and Janie gave a talk on the benefits of eating certain foods and drink and I then gave a cookery demonstration with the said foods.  It was all very light-hearted and fun.  Considering we had not discussed together what either of us would be talking about or cooking, I was really pleased to see that my chosen foods and recipes matched Janie's talk and foodie ethos. (Phew! Not much butter and cream about that day!)

THE RECIPES........

I was so pleased to receive a goody bag of various oats from the lovely people at Mornflake in Cheshire.  (This is all because we Twitter like mad together!)  Yes, they're the ones who've been milling oats "man and boy" since 1675 and most of the oats seen growing in the Herefordshire/Shropshire fields around where I live will be heading their way.  So it's good to eat the view......... try kicking off the day with this rather yummy summer porridge.......

LOWER BUCKTON'S  SUMMER PORRIDGE

Use berries in season as the summer progresses.  On this day in late May it was just strawberries but the raspberries and so on are around the corner and of course, baked rhubarb would be wonderful.  Apples?  Find UK bramleys - they are still plentiful until the first early summer Discovery apples are available.  The point of eating local and seasonal is completely missed if imported apples and berries are used........

Lower Buckton Summer Porridge - serve 2

75g Mornflake jumbo/organic rolled oats 


200ml Tickmore Farm apple juice 


150g Dairy House organic natural low-fat yoghurt 


2 tbsp Herefordshire soft berries: raspberries/tayberries/loganberries


1 to 2 tbsp Shropshire runny honey 


6 Shropshire strawberries, hulled

1 unpeeled Shropshire apple 



METHOD

In a large bowl, soak the rolled oats in the apple juice for about 30 minutes.

Add the yoghurt, soft berries and honey and mix well.

Grate the apples directly into the bowl (quite OK to use pips and core) then quickly toss through.

Slice the strawberries on top of the mixture. 



Divide the porridge between two bowls drizzle with a little extra honey and strew with any seasonal nuts: hazel, cob, walnut and so on, then eat!

Shropshire chicken with Puy lentils

2 tbs Shropshire rape seed oil

4 Free-range chicken breasts, skinless (lovely Bryn Derw is available at Strefford Hall Farm Shop and the Ludlow Food Centre)

1 Onion, chopped

2 Cloves garlic, crushed

1 Red pepper, de-seeded & cut into ½ inch dice (UK grown are available in veg boxes and Farmers' Markets throughout the summer)

150 mls White wine find some from the Wroxeter or Ludlow Vineyards (drink the rest)

350 mls Chicken stock (if not using fresh, homemade use Kallo organic cubes)

115 g Organic Puy lentils – rinsed well in cold water (these little French darlings are so easy to use: the UK not being big on growing lentils, in season or not!)

225 g Fresh tomatoes, chopped

1 tbs        Rosemary, pulled apart

S & P

Heat half the oil and brown the chicken on all sides, remove to a plate.  Add the rest of the oil and soften the onion and garlic & pepper.  Pour in the wine and boil for 1 minute, then add the stock and bring to the boil.  Pour in the lentils and the tomatoes – bring back to the simmer and add the rosemary.  Simmer for about 20 minutes.  In the meantime cut the chicken into “bite-sized” chunks and add about half-way through the cooking time.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve with a green salad and griddled aubergines/courgettes/tomatoes…………..

SPELT & COURGETTE GRIDDLE CAKES makes about 8

450g/1lb courgettes

Grate coarsely into a clean tea-towel, sprinkle with 2 tsp salt, roll up and leave for ten minutes, squeeze out the excess moisture and transfer to bowl

1 Egg

150ml milk

75g Bachledre Mill wholemeal spelt flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp cayenne

½ tsp cumin

6 spring onions

2 tbs chopped parsley

S & P

2 tbs Shropshire rapeseed oil

In a large bowl beat the egg and milk together then add the flour together with the baking powder and the spices and mix well

4    Trim and finely chop the spring onions

5    Squeeze out the courgettes and add to the flour mixture with the onions, parsley + S&P - mix in  together.

6    Heat a heavy based frying pan with the some oil…..and drop in four table spoons of the mixture, flatten carefully with back of spoon and cook until light brown then flip over and do the same for the other side - takes a couple of minutes or so each side.  Remove and keep warm and repeat with remaining mixture.

 "HARD CHEESE" BEETROOT, ORGANIC PEARLED SPELT & MINT SALAD serves 4

50 g organic pearled spelt – cooked (like rice) until tender

2    50 g cooked beetroot

      1 small onion  

½ cucumber

handful chopped parsley

handul chopped mint

3tbs Shropshire rape seed oil

lemon juice

S & P 

Dice the beetroot and chop the onion into a large bowl

Peel the cucumber, halve lengthways and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon, then chop into small dice.

Chop the herbs finely and add to spelt mixture

In a small jar, shake up the oil, lemon juice & S & P

Add to the spelt mixture – stir & chill (over night)

 Before serving – shave over some hard, Parmesan type cheese – Pecorino or Worcestershire Little Urn or soft goat’s cheese if preferred

SPRING GREEN COLESLAW

For the Dressing

150 g plain low-fat Dairy House yoghurt

2 tbs Shropshire rape seed oil

1 tbs vinegar

S & P

For the Slaw

115 g roots (celeriac/carrots/parnips/whatever)

175 g cabbage

4 sticks celery – trimmed

½ green pepper

½ bunch spring onions

1 tbs chopped green herbs (parsley/coriander/whatever)

Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a serving bowl

Julienne the root veg on a mandolin

Shred the cabbage – discarding any tough, ribby pieces

Cut the celery finely

De-seed the green pepper and slice finely, diagonally

Trim the spring onions and slice finely.

Add all ingredients to dressing and toss together.

Sprinkle with crushed/chopped hazlenuts if fancied!

COEURS A LA CREME WITH STRAWBERRIES

Sweet, rich little puds, traditionally made in ceramic, heart-shaped moulds with small drainage holes in the bases.  Makes four

300 g/10 oz either curd cheese or fromage frais (from The Dairy House, Weobley)

1 tbl spoon clear, Shropshire honey

150 ml/5 fl oz/ crème fraiche or plain yoghurt (from The Dairy House, Weobley)

Strawberries to serve (from Kirkennel Farm, Ashford Carbonel)

Mix the curd cheese/frais with the honey then beat in the crème fraiche/yoghurt

Line four holey-moulds/dishes with dampened fine muslin or cheesecloth

Spoon in the mixture, level off, place on a plate or tray, cover and chill over night

Turn out onto plates and serve with strawberries and/or red berry sauce

If you don’t have molds, cut down six paper cups to make them shorter (2”-3” high) and using a wooden cocktail stick, poke holes in the base of each cup, enlarge the holes slightly with the stick.  Line the cups with dampened cloth as above…….. or make a large one in a lined seive....

This recipe appeared in the Shropshire Star on Saturday 13 June 2009

 

 

Cooking Good Cookery Course at Lower Buckton May 2009

Birthday Cook-in for Cup Cake Queen Anna who makes wonderful cupcakes for a living and attends lots of Farmers' Markets in and around Manchester.  Her company is "The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon" www.dishandfoodspoon.co.uk. On her birthday line-up were:  Apple and ginger muffins;  fresh herb scone bread;  seeded flat breads;  white bean with garlic, chili & spring onion dip;  steamed asparagus with quails eggs;  pan-fried chicken with two-way coloured chard;  salad of peppery, garden leaves with griddled augbergines and tomatoes; chocolate salami, vanilla cupcakes with sweet, cream cheese frosting and last but not least a mega-serious chocolate roulade....... We cooked till we dropped and then scoffed the lot!

TENBURY WELLS FOOD FESTIVAL

Saturday 23 May was a blazing hot day for Tenbury Wells' food festival and it was lovely to be down river in what I suppose is my home town.  Having been born/brought up a Shropshire Lass in Burford we always swung between Ludlow and Tenbury.  Our postal address was Tenbury which is of course just over the border into Worcestershire, the farm was mostly in Shropshire but some of its land was across the Ledwyche just over the border into Herefordshire......... so I have mixed loyalties!  I was invited by Heart of England Fine Foods to do a demonstration in its mobile cooking theatre and I chose the day's theme of "Worcestershire on a Plate".  The festival was brimming with really good food and drink stalls from the area and I carefully chose my ingredients from and to reflect what was on offer.  Here are the recipes...........

1/ Summer Cucumber & Mint Soup or Face Mask*

2 cups plain, The Dairy House organic yoghurt

1 medium Worcestershire-grown cucumber, peeled then grated on a mandolin

1 handful of fresh mint - finely chopped (from your garden or steal a neighbour's!)

1 tbs of fresh coriander (grow in garden or buy local grown)

half tsp chili flakes (grow in garden or buy local grown)

S&P to taste

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor, season to taste and chill well before serving.

*omit the coriander, chili and S&P and you have really good face mask!

2/ Steamed Asparagus with Quails' eggs, ewe's milk Cheese & shot glasses of melted Butter & Chives

1 bunch of Goodmans'  Worcestershire asparagus

4 quails' eggs

2 oz Netherend Farm organic farmhouse butter

2 oz Lightwood of Lower Broadheath Little Urn* ewe's milk cheese

A few snipped garden chives

4 shot glasses

S&P 

Trim the ends of the spears and place in steamer basket over boiling water.  Steam for no more than five minutes, remove and keep warm.  Meanwhile melt the butter in a small saucepan and divide between the shot glasses and snip some chives over.  Crack the quails eggs into the (still simmering) steamer water and poach for no more than a minute.  Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper/clean tea towel and place on the spears which you've divided between four, warmed serving plates.  Shave over the Little Urn cheese and a grind of black pepper and maybe some salt depending upon how salted is the butter.  Pick up the spears with fingers and dip in the shot glasses of melted butter then dip in the softly poached egg...........

* Little Urn is so called after England's victory over the Australians in the 2005 Ashes and is a good alternative to Manchego and Pecorino - and it's British!

3/ Cabbage leaves stuffed with organic Spelt, Shallots, Mushrooms and Lovage

4 large Worcestershire-grown cabbage leaves

2 tbs Worcestershire-grown rape-seed oil

2 shallots, skinned and finely chopped (grow in garden or buy local grown)

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed (grow in garden or buy local grown)

1 oz Netherend organic farmhouse butter

4 oz mixed mushrooms (watch out for foraged funghi)

1 mugful of cooked Sharpham Park organic pearled spelt grain (or brown rice alternative)

1 tbs of finely chopped, fresh Lovage (grow in your garden)

1 oz chopped hazlenuts (collect them in the autumn)

S&P

Steam the cabbage leaves for a minute or so until pliable and then cut out the very thick part of the main rib if necessary.  Using a heavy bottom pan, soften the shallots in the oil, add the butter and cook for a minute then add the butter and the mushrooms continuing to cook until the mushrooms are yielding.  Stir in the cooked spelt grain and the lovage, season to taste.  Lay the leaves on a chopping board and divide the spelt mixture between them.  Roll up from the stalk end folding in the sides as you go to form neat parcels.  Keep warm on a buttered plate and serve with a simple Homemade Tomato Sauce..........

1/2 lb of fresh, local grown Worcestershire tomatoes (Drews of Great Witley)

1 shallot (as above), skinned and finely chopped

1 clove of garlic (as above), peeled and crushed

1 tbs rape-seed oil (as above)

Handful of basil leaves (grow in garden/windowbox or buy local grown)

S&P

Soften the shallot in the oil for a few minutes, add the garlic and continue cooking for a minute. Roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the onions/garlic - cook until pulpy then season to taste, then tear the basil leaves into the pan and stir........(add a little vegetable stock if required)  serve over the stuffed cabbage leaves as above.

4/ Griddled Aberdeen Angus sirloin Steak from Muddy Boots with Worcestershire-grown Aubergine, Tomatoes and Old Worcester Cheese

The lovely Miranda Gallimore was at the Festival selling her wonderful, grass-fed pedigree Aberdeen Angus beef which was lucky for me because I'd planned to cook some chicken but found there to be no oven on the cooking bus!

Take a cast-iron griddle pan brush with oil and heat. Slice the aubergines and brush each one with oil on both sides then lay across the pan and cook, turning occasionally to make each one criss-crossed with griddle marks.  Add the halved tomatoes "face down" first and continue cooking, then turn over to finish.  Pepper the steak/s flesh and salt the fat. Remove the vegetables to a warm place.  Then, using tongs, hold the steak so that the fat is on the griddle to sear, sizzle and cook until browned and crispy then lay the steak/s across the grids and sear on both sides then try not to spoil a fabulous piece of meat by cooking beyond rare!  Serve with the aubergines and tomatoes with some Old Worcester Cheese shaved over the tomatoes.  A wonderful dip or dressing is made by mixing together Dairy House creme fraiche with What a Pickle!'s Tomato Chilli Jam - so delicious!

5/ Coeurs a la Creme with vanilla strawberries

Sweet, rich little puds, traditionally made in ceramic, heart-shaped moulds with small drainage holes in the bases.  Makes four

300 g/10 oz either curd cheese or fromage frais (from The Dairy House, Weobley)

1 tbl spoon clear, Worcestershire honey

150 ml/5 fl oz/ crème fraiche or plain yoghurt (from The Dairy House, Weobley)

Worcestershire-grown strawberries to serve

Mix the curd cheese/frais with the honey then beat in the crème fraiche/yoghurt

Line four holey-moulds/dishes with dampened fine muslin or cheesecloth.  Spoon in the mixture, level off, place on a plate or tray, cover and chill over night.  Turn out onto plates and serve with strawberries.

If you don’t have molds, cut down six paper cups to make them shorter (2”-3” high) and using a wooden cocktail stick, poke about 10 holes in the base of each cup, enlarge the holes slightly with the stick.  Line the cups with dampened cloth as above……..

6/ Roast Rhubarb with sweet Cecily - rinse some garden-grown rhubarb and cut into inch long chunks.  Place in an oven pan and sprinkle with silver spoon sugar (made from British grown sugar beet) and some sprigs of garden-grown sweet Cecily.  Bake in a medium oven for 15/20 minutes until soft.  It's lovely with a grating of orange zest as well.  Nice thing about cooking it in the oven is that you don't end up with the fruit too watery........... Have for breakfast with Mornflake organic oats soaked in Teme Valley Apple juice....... healthy!

Most of the above photographs were kindly taken by Bill Pearson http://goodfoodshops.blogspot.com/ - thank you Bill!