Down On The Farm - A Burst Of Berries

Earlier this year I entered Wirral Borough Council's "Love Your Leftovers" competition as part of the Love Food Hate Waste initiative. The recipe I submitted was for Scouse Meatballs, and I'd almost forgotten about it when I received an email in the middle of May informing me that I was a winner.

The prize was A Gourmet Farmer & Chef Night: "A Burst Of Berries" at Claremont Farm, the venue for the Wirral Food & Drink Festival.

There should have been a dozen of us - six winners and another half-a-dozen paying guests, although two people failed to show. Losers! We were greeted by Andrew Pimbley, one of the fourth-generation tenants of Claremont Farm, with a welcoming glass each of Cava; then for a walk through the fields to view the fruit and crops. We'd been pre-warned not to overdress, and to bring stout shoes or wellies!

I think we tried three or four varieties of strawberry - all delicious! Followed by three types of gooseberry and numerous other types of berry before trudging back to eat. And, boy, did we eat!

Before she began to cook, Bernadette Bennett lovingly described what she would be feeding to us - my mouth was watering when she brought a portable cooker through into the dining room and began to fry what she called "Salmon Whitebait": baby fish dipped in seasoned flour and deep-fried.

The photographs, taken on my mobile phone, do not do real justice to the food!

Blue cheese mousse with blackberry compote and baby watercress.

Boned mackerel wrapped in bread, fried and baked. Served with a gooseberry coulis and a drizzle of a rhubarb one. I first cooked mackerel with gooseberries nearly 40 years ago so I was already a convert! The use of bread in this way reminded me of  Rachel Khoo (Little Parisian Kitchen) and her Croque Madames.

Perfectly cooked Duck Breast with a cherry & tayberry sauce, on a bed of creamy mash, with new crop carrots and a scattering of freshly-podded peas.

Summer Pudding, made with the farm's own berries - of course! Served with clotted cream.

There should have been picture here of the sumptuous strawberry Pavlova........... but perhaps I'd had one too many glasses of the excellent Rioja!

Instead, you are treated to a photograph of the tree where a barn owl lives. I hope he and his family eat as well, down on the farm, as we did!

www.claremontfarm.co.uk

Smoke & Mirrors

The smoking ban - who do you believe?


I know it's old-hat news but it still incenses me that although I gave up smoking about a year before the ban came in, the powers-that-be are able to infantilise us at will.  The latest ploy - hiding cigarettes behind screens in the supermarkets is akin to putting girly-mags on the top-shelf: that really worked didn't it?





This week there have been two conflicting reports about smoking in pubs. According to one survey (Morning Advertiser, 5th July 2012), one in five people say they visit the pub more frequently since the smoking ban; and 70% say they are more likely to take their children. I ask: what about the other four-fifths, and 30%, respectively?

The same trade paper (Morning Advertiser, 3rd July 2012) reported that 70% of licensees want the law changed to allow separate smoking rooms.

Now, would the vast majority of these business-people want to invest more money in refurbishment if trade was as hunky-dory as the first article tries to imply?

My Week In Food!

Monday, 25th June:
A simple burger and salad for lunch.

In the evening I was out with Hannah's family at Malthouse Farm (Chef & Brewer) in rural Lancashire.

Tuesday, 26th June:

Spicy beef chop suey and plain basmati rice. 

Does anybody else wish that bean sprouts came in smaller packs because you always end up binning nearly half a pack? And I support "Love Food, Hate Waste"!

Wednesday, 27th June:

Pork steak marinated in olive oil, mixed with ginger, garlic and lemon juice. To cook, I griddled them and then finished them off in a hot oven. 

The carbs came in the form of half a baked potato each, scooped out and mixed with mashed sweet potato and spoonful of soft cheese. 

Lots going in in the salad department: more ginger, mixed with yoghurt and mayo, to dress some melon & avocado; raw mushrooms "cooked" in a marinade of sesame oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and soy; tomato and chickpeas tossed in olive oil with tomato puree and cumin. Undressed leaves to complete.

Thursday, 28th June
High Tea was an experimental hot dog with onions, slathered with English mustard and ketchup, in a lightly-toasted pannini roll.

I'd bought some jumbo sausages from the reduced counter at Morrisons, intending to skin them and use for sausagemeat - more Scotch eggs!

However, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to see what they were like steamed!

Verdict: a bit pale in colour but infinitely better than they would have been grilled or fried, I'm sure. Now I just need to build myself a little smoker.....

The potato croquettes had been hanging around in the freezer, waiting to be finished up......

Friday, 29th June:
Brunch consisted of luxury scrambled eggs on toast - the last third of a packet of smoked salmon trimmings, mixed with the last drain of some single cream. A pinch of salt & a good grind of pepper.....

Saturday, 30th June:
When I went out in the afternoon I was convinced I could smell roast potatoes in the air - though it was probably just the chippy next door!

Thus inspired, I later created this concoction: roasties with onion, chopped bacon and shavings of melted mozzarella. Delicious!!!

I had some fresh peas and some frozen peas - not enough of either, on their own - with lashings of real butter to get my "five-a-day".......

Sunday, 1st July:
To finish the week I went to Hannah's for Sunday Lunch, with her mother, a French student, and a teenager Hannah had borrowed for the afternoon to keep him company!


The roast veg, to accompany the wonderful joint of beef, took longer than Hannah had anticipated so we threw together a starter.

I'd made some chicken tikka kofte that morning - intended for a buffet tea, so we had  some of those, drizzled with mint yoghurt.

And did I say the beef was delicious, though I forgot to take any pictures!