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!