Download pdf - Fine Foodies Summer 2012

SUM

MER

201

2

Plus: CHINESE CUISINE THE PERFECT ACCOMPANIMENTEVERYDAY FAMILY COOKING

Fine FoodiesPassionate about good food

SUMMER 2012

Pick up your free

foodie magazine

INTERVIEW

Recipe for successRecipe for success

LETICIA SCHWARTZ EXPLORES

BRAZILIAN FOOD CUISINE

Braziluncovered

Braziluncovered

THE 2012 WINNER OF MASTERCHEF ON MANGOES, MAURITIUS AND MAKING IT ALONE

cover.indd 1 07/06/2012 14:51

Pg 2 - Tregoes Waffle FPC.indd 1 08/06/2012 10:36

Pg 2 - Tregoes Waffle FPC.indd 1 08/06/2012 10:36

Target Publishing Ltd, The Old Dairy, Hudsons Farm, Fieldgate Lane, Ugley Green, Essex CM22 6HJTelephone: 01279 816300www.finefoodiesmag.com

Editor: Rachel Symonds e: [email protected] t: 01279 810088

Contributors: Jennifer Britt, Jane Baxter, Francesca Melman, Leticia Schwartz

Sub Editor: Jeff Munn-Giddings

Group Commercial Manager: Ruth Gilmour e: [email protected] t: 01279 810084

Senior Sales Executive: James Kirk e: [email protected] t: 01279 810068

Production Daniella Randazzo e: [email protected] t: 01279 810097

Design Clare Holland e: [email protected]

Administration/Distribution Amy Robinson e: [email protected] t: 01279 810072

Accounts Lorraine Evans e: [email protected] t: 01279 816300

Managing Director David Cann e: [email protected]

ISSN 2046-438X

Published by Target Publishing Limited. Printed in the UK by The Magazine Printing Company plc www.magprint.co.uk ©2012 Target Publishing Ltd. Produced on environmentally friendly chlorine free paper derived from sustained forests. The Publishers cannot accept any responsibility for the advertisements in this publication. To protect our environment papers used in this publication are produced by mills that promote sustainably managed forests and utilise Elementary Chlorine Free process to produce fully recyclable material in accordance with an Environmental Management System conforming with BS EN ISO 14001:2004.

Fine FoodiesPassionate about good food T

here are some people who are just natural cooks, who are at ease in the kitchen. These are the people whose timing is impeccable, who remain cool and calm when things start to go wrong and who produce the

most wonderful flavour in their dishes.And then there are the rest of us who, while enjoying

cooking can often find it difficult to pull a recipe together successfully, where the timing is a bit off and the end result not quite what we had hoped. Despite coming from

a family of professional chefs, even I have been in this latter category.But cooking really can be simple, and it can be an incredibly enjoyable

experience for the whole family; after all, there’s nothing better and healthier than some good home cooking. And so, in this issue of Fine Foodies, we aim to show you how.

A new cookbook, What’s for Dinner? Second Helpings, has been created to help busy families deal with the challenge of getting a balanced, home-cooked meal on the table every day. It’s not necessarily fancy food, but these dishes are designed to be simple to prepare, using plenty of fresh produce, and taste great.

What we really liked about this book, by Romilla Arber, is that it is formed of weekly menus, which help you plan what you are going to cook and the ingredients you need at the start of a week. And it is also seasonal, meaning the recipes featured in this issue of Fine Foodies are all made with ingredients that are available in the UK now. As an added bonus, all the proceeds from the book go to the Food Education Trust, which was set up to promote the benefits of a home-cooked, balanced diet.

One person whose love of home-cooking has paid off is Shelina Permalloo. The recently-crowned winner of MasterChef 2012 took time out from her busy schedule to talk to Fine Foodies about how her passion for food ‒ which harks back to her Mauritian origins ‒ and her dreams for a future in the kitchen prompted her to enter the popular competition. Turn to page 12 to find out what she had to say.

Don’t forget you can keep up to date with all the latest Fine Foodies news via our Twitter page @finefoodies. Why not log on and join the conversation, or alternatively, drop me an email at [email protected]

RachelRACHEL SYMONDS

SUMMER 2012 FINE FOODIES 3

Welcome

contents.indd 3 07/06/2012 15:00

Contents

4 FINE FOODIES SUMMER 2012

COvEr StOry

12 Shelina Permaloo The triumphant MasterChef

champion tells all to Fine Foodies

FEaturES

20 Food Focus The perfect accompaniment – Jennifer

Britt uncovers the producers making some wonderfully characterful accompaniments

26 Recipe Simple cooking at home; Romilla Arber

details some mouth-watering dishes from her new book – and in aid of charity

32 Recipe Fuchsia Dunlop offers some ideas on

cooking Chinese food at home

36 Global foodie Leticia Schwartz whets the appetite

with Brazil’s mixed flavours

rEgularS

6 Foodie bites Latest news from the world of fine food

8 Shelf life Explore the latest products in store

16 UK fare Fine Foodies explores all that Wiltshire

has to offer

24 In season What’s ideal for eating and cooking

with at this time of year? Riverford Organic tells all

40 Drink up From wines and cocktail ideas to the

newest hot drinks

42 Fine Foodie hero Sybille Wilkinson

SUMMER2012


12 20 32

323624

Cover image courtesy of Shine TV

contents.indd 4 07/06/2012 15:00

Contents


COvEr StOry

12 Shelina Permaloo The triumphant MasterChef

champion tells all to Fine Foodies

FEaturES

20 Food Focus The perfect accompaniment – Jennifer

Britt uncovers the producers making some wonderfully characterful accompaniments

26 Recipe Simple cooking at home; Romilla Arber

details some mouth-watering dishes from her new book – and in aid of charity

32 Recipe Fuchsia Dunlop offers some ideas on

cooking Chinese food at home

36 Global foodie Leticia Schwartz whets the appetite

with Brazil’s mixed flavours

rEgularS

6 Foodie bites Latest news from the world of fine food

8 Shelf life Explore the latest products in store

16 UK fare Fine Foodies explores all that Wiltshire

has to offer

24 In season What’s ideal for eating and cooking

with at this time of year? Riverford Organic tells all

40 Drink up From wines and cocktail ideas to the

newest hot drinks

42 Fine Foodie hero Sybille Wilkinson

SUMMER2012


12 20 32

323624

Cover image courtesy of Shine TV

contents.indd 4 07/06/2012 15:00 PG 5 - ADS.indd 1 08/06/2012 10:36

Your foodiesTWEET CORNERFine Foodies asked the twitter-world for some interesting breakfast recipes.

@NEWJUSTINE “Breakfast? Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup ‒ made with wind-milled flour and free-range eggs, of course!”

@BOBBYSBANGERS “We’ve developed a full breakfast sausage containing everything but the egg.”

@YUMMYYORKSHIRE “How about our Bacon & Egg ice cream? Plus 12 other patriotic flavours!”

@POLLYRR“Scrambled egg and smoked salmon ‒ a classic!”

Star letter – could it be you?Do you have something that you’d like to share with other readers, something that will inspire them, encourage them to visit their local store or is just good news? We’d love to hear from you. And, of course, we’d also like your comments about the magazine.

The winner of the Star Letter will receive a year’s subscription to Fine Foodies magazine, direct to their door. This will mean you never have to miss an issue of Fine Foodies.

Write to: Rachel Symonds, Editor, Fine Foodies, The Old Dairy, Hudsons Farm, Fieldgate Lane, Ugley Green, Bishops Stortford CM22 6HJ or email [email protected]

A FINE FOODIE FANI just picked up a copy of your latest mag and I was really impressed, especially with the variety of recipes you offer. I love challenging myself in the kitchen and these recipes really open my eyes to different dishes ‒ I particularly loved having a go at Gordon Ramsey’s Indian recipes. Thanks for such an informative magazine.LOUISE CHAPMAN, HEREFORDSHIRE

Letters


AN OIL CHANGEI’m enjoying your magazine; I read with interest your piece with Gregg Wallace about rapeseed oil (Fine Foodies, January/February) and decided to try some. I bought a litre bottle of Goldenfields (sounds British enough) rapeseed oil (the only brand on the shelf) for a very reasonable £1.69, but was disappointed to find when I got home and read the small

print that it was produced in Belgium. I’ve since been on the lookout for British-produced rapeseed oil

and have found it in a couple of stores near me, but at the outrageous price of around £4.50 for a 500ml. bottle, i.e. £9 per litre. I can only think that the British rapeseed oil

producers are having a joke. At £9 per litre it will never catch on and will remain a niche product. How

can oil produced from something which is growing in fields all

around my house cost four times as much as top quality olive oil from the Mediterranean? CHARLES MAPLESTON, LINCOLNSHIRE

Gordon’sGordon’sgreat escape

Following his culinary adventu

re across India, Gordon Ramsay offers 10

0 classic

recipes in his latest boo

k, Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape.

Recipes

26 FINE FOODIES SPRING 2012

Ingredients:

• 800g boneless and skin

less

chicken thighs, cut into

3-4cm pieces

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled

and finely

crushed

• 2cm ginger, peeled and fine

ly grated

• ½ tsp fine sea salt

• ½ tsp hot chilli powder

• 1½ tbsp lemon juice

• 75ml natural yoghurt

• ½ tsp garam masala

• ½ tsp ground turmeric

• 1tsp ground cumin

• 1-2tbsp vegetable oil,

for brushing

Sauce:

• 1½ tbsp ghee or melted unsalt

ed butter


and finely chopped


ly chopped

• 1 cardamom pod, seeds lightly crus

hed

• 2 cloves

• 1tsp ground coriander

• 1tsp garam masala

• 1tsp ground turmeric

• 1tsp hot chilli powder, or to ta

ste

• 275ml tomato puree

• 1tbsp lemon juice

• 40g unsalted butter

• 100ml double cream

• 1tbsp chopped corian

der,

to garnish

Method:

• Place the chicken in a

bowl with the garlic,

ginger, salt, chilli powder and lem

on juice.

Mix, cover with cling film and chill fo

r 30

minutes. Mix together the yoghurt

, garam

masala, turmeric and cumin and add

to the

chicken, making sure that each pie

ce is well

coated with the mixture. Cover again and

chill

for three to four hours.

• Preheat the oven to 1

80°C/Fan 160°C/Gas

4. Put the marinated ch

icken pieces on a

grill rack set on a baking

tray and bake

for eight to 10 minutes. Brus

h the

chicken pieces with a little oi

l and

turn them over. Bake for another

10 to 12 minutes until just cooked

through.

• For the sauce, heat the

ghee or

butter in a pan and add

the garlic

and ginger. Fry for a minute or so

then add the cardamom, cloves,

coriander, garam masala, turmeric

and chilli powder. Stir well and fry fo

r

one to two minutes until they give of

f a

lovely aroma. Stir in the

tomato puree

and lemon juice and cook for an

other

couple of minutes. Add

the chicken

pieces to the sauce and

stir well to

coat. Finally, add the bu

tter and cream

and stir continuously un

til the butter

has melted and the sauce is sm

ooth.

Taste and adjust the se

asoning. Transfer

to a warm bowl and serve hot,

garnished with chopped

coriander.

Butter chicken Serves 4

Butter chicken, or murgh makhani, was one of th

e first dishes I tasted when I went to India

. Its origins can be traced

back to Moghul times, but the dish

and its history is most closely a

ssociated with Delhi’s famous Moti Mahal restaur

ant, where I had the pleasure

of eating this fantastic d

ish. Over time,

numerous chefs have attem

pted to emulate the ric

h buttery sauce, and fla

vours vary slightly betw

een restaurants. This is

my version of the classic

dish.

gordon ramsay.indd 26

7/3/12 10:54:20StarLetter

The winner of the Star Letter will receive a year’s subscription

Write to: Rachel Symonds, Editor, Fine Foodies, The Old Dairy, Hudsons Farm, Fieldgate Lane, Fine Foodies, The Old Dairy, Hudsons Farm, Fieldgate Lane, Fine Foodies

Janu

ary

/Fe

bru

ary

201

2

Plus:] INDIAN FOOD CULTURE] WARMING WINTER RECIPES] MICHELIN STARS EXPLAINED


Issue.6 Vol.1January/February 2012

Pick up your free

foodie magazine

HOW TO SOURCE FISH ETHICALLY AND SUSTAINABLY

Sustainable catch

INTERVIEW

Gregg’sthe wordGregg’sthe wordTHE MASTERCHEF STAR ON HIS MISSION TO SWITCH THE NATION TO RAPESEED OIL

Sustainable catch

COVER.indd 1

16/12/11 13:44:43

SPRI

NG

201

2

Plus:] DELI DELIGHTS] SEASONS IN GREECE] MARY BERRY’S TOP RECIPES


Spring 2012

Pick up your free

foodie magazine

INTERVIEW

MICHEL ROUX JR ON LIFE IN THE FAMOUS CULINARY DYNASTY

MICHEL ROUX JR ON

The RouxlegacyThe Rouxlegacy

BE INSPIRED BY THE TV CHEF’S INDIAN ADVENTURE

GordonRamsay’s Indian adventure


Plus: DELI DELIGHTS ] SEASONS IN GREECE ] MARY BERRY’S TOP RECIPES ]

a.indd 1

7/3/12 10:25:11

SUM

MER

201

2



SUMMER 2012

Pick up your free

foodie magazine

INTERVIEW


LETICIA SCHWARTZ EXPLORES BRAZILIAN FOOD CUISINE

BraziluncoveredBraziluncovered


cover.indd 1

07/06/2012 14:51

LETTERS.indd 6 08/06/2012 10:13

Your foodiesTWEET CORNERFine Foodies asked the twitter-world for some interesting breakfast recipes.

@NEWJUSTINE “Breakfast? Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup ‒ made with wind-milled flour and free-range eggs, of course!”

@BOBBYSBANGERS “We’ve developed a full breakfast sausage containing everything but the egg.”

@YUMMYYORKSHIRE “How about our Bacon & Egg ice cream? Plus 12 other patriotic flavours!”

@POLLYRR“Scrambled egg and smoked salmon ‒ a classic!”

Star letter – could it be you?Do you have something that you’d like to share with other readers, something that will inspire them, encourage them to visit their local store or is just good news? We’d love to hear from you. And, of course, we’d also like your comments about the magazine.

The winner of the Star Letter will receive a year’s subscription to Fine Foodies magazine, direct to their door. This will mean you never have to miss an issue of Fine Foodies.

Write to: Rachel Symonds, Editor, Fine Foodies, The Old Dairy, Hudsons Farm, Fieldgate Lane, Ugley Green, Bishops Stortford CM22 6HJ or email [email protected]

A FINE FOODIE FANI just picked up a copy of your latest mag and I was really impressed, especially with the variety of recipes you offer. I love challenging myself in the kitchen and these recipes really open my eyes to different dishes ‒ I particularly loved having a go at Gordon Ramsey’s Indian recipes. Thanks for such an informative magazine.LOUISE CHAPMAN, HEREFORDSHIRE

Letters


AN OIL CHANGEI’m enjoying your magazine; I read with interest your piece with Gregg Wallace about rapeseed oil (Fine Foodies, January/February) and decided to try some. I bought a litre bottle of Goldenfields (sounds British enough) rapeseed oil (the only brand on the shelf) for a very reasonable £1.69, but was disappointed to find when I got home and read the small

print that it was produced in Belgium. I’ve since been on the lookout for British-produced rapeseed oil

and have found it in a couple of stores near me, but at the outrageous price of around £4.50 for a 500ml. bottle, i.e. £9 per litre. I can only think that the British rapeseed oil

producers are having a joke. At £9 per litre it will never catch on and will remain a niche product. How

can oil produced from something which is growing in fields all

around my house cost four times as much as top quality olive oil from the Mediterranean? CHARLES MAPLESTON, LINCOLNSHIRE

Gordon’sGordon’sgreat escape

Following his culinary adventu

re across India, Gordon Ramsay offers 10

0 classic

recipes in his latest boo

k, Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape.

Recipes

26 FINE FOODIES SPRING 2012

Ingredients:

• 800g boneless and skin

less

chicken thighs, cut into

3-4cm pieces


and finely

crushed


ly grated

• ½ tsp fine sea salt

• ½ tsp hot chilli powder

• 1½ tbsp lemon juice

• 75ml natural yoghurt

• ½ tsp garam masala

• ½ tsp ground turmeric

• 1tsp ground cumin

• 1-2tbsp vegetable oil,

for brushing

Sauce:

• 1½ tbsp ghee or melted unsalt

ed butter


and finely chopped


ly chopped

• 1 cardamom pod, seeds lightly crus

hed

• 2 cloves

• 1tsp ground coriander

• 1tsp garam masala

• 1tsp ground turmeric

• 1tsp hot chilli powder, or to ta

ste

• 275ml tomato puree

• 1tbsp lemon juice

• 40g unsalted butter

• 100ml double cream

• 1tbsp chopped corian

der,

to garnish

Method:

• Place the chicken in a

bowl with the garlic,

ginger, salt, chilli powder and lem

on juice.

Mix, cover with cling film and chill fo

r 30

minutes. Mix together the yoghurt

, garam

masala, turmeric and cumin and add

to the

chicken, making sure that each pie

ce is well

coated with the mixture. Cover again and

chill

for three to four hours.

• Preheat the oven to 1

80°C/Fan 160°C/Gas

4. Put the marinated ch

icken pieces on a

grill rack set on a baking

tray and bake

for eight to 10 minutes. Brus

h the

chicken pieces with a little oi

l and

turn them over. Bake for another

10 to 12 minutes until just cooked

through.

• For the sauce, heat the

ghee or

butter in a pan and add

the garlic

and ginger. Fry for a minute or so

then add the cardamom, cloves,

coriander, garam masala, turmeric

and chilli powder. Stir well and fry fo

r

one to two minutes until they give of

f a

lovely aroma. Stir in the

tomato puree

and lemon juice and cook for an

other

couple of minutes. Add

the chicken

pieces to the sauce and

stir well to

coat. Finally, add the bu

tter and cream

and stir continuously un

til the butter

has melted and the sauce is sm

ooth.

Taste and adjust the se

asoning. Transfer

to a warm bowl and serve hot,

garnished with chopped

coriander.

Butter chicken Serves 4

Butter chicken, or murgh makhani, was one of th

e first dishes I tasted when I went to India

. Its origins can be traced

back to Moghul times, but the dish

and its history is most closely a

ssociated with Delhi’s famous Moti Mahal restaur

ant, where I had the pleasure

of eating this fantastic d

ish. Over time,

numerous chefs have attem

pted to emulate the ric

h buttery sauce, and fla

vours vary slightly betw

een restaurants. This is

my version of the classic

dish.

gordon ramsay.indd 26

7/3/12 10:54:20StarLetter

The winner of the Star Letter will receive a year’s subscription

Write to: Rachel Symonds, Editor, Fine Foodies, The Old Dairy, Hudsons Farm, Fieldgate Lane, Fine Foodies, The Old Dairy, Hudsons Farm, Fieldgate Lane, Fine Foodies

Janu

ary

/Fe

bru

ary

201

2

Plus:] INDIAN FOOD CULTURE] WARMING WINTER RECIPES] MICHELIN STARS EXPLAINED


Issue.6 Vol.1January/February 2012

Pick up your free

foodie magazine

HOW TO SOURCE FISH ETHICALLY AND SUSTAINABLY

Sustainable catch

INTERVIEW

Gregg’sthe wordGregg’sthe wordTHE MASTERCHEF STAR ON HIS MISSION TO SWITCH THE NATION TO RAPESEED OIL

Sustainable catch

COVER.indd 1

16/12/11 13:44:43

SPRI

NG

201

2

Plus:] DELI DELIGHTS] SEASONS IN GREECE] MARY BERRY’S TOP RECIPES


Spring 2012

Pick up your free

foodie magazine

INTERVIEW

MICHEL ROUX JR ON LIFE IN THE FAMOUS CULINARY DYNASTY

MICHEL ROUX JR ON

The RouxlegacyThe Rouxlegacy

BE INSPIRED BY THE TV CHEF’S INDIAN ADVENTURE



Plus: DELI DELIGHTS ] SEASONS IN GREECE ] MARY BERRY’S TOP RECIPES ]

a.indd 1

7/3/12 10:25:11

SUM

MER

201

2



SUMMER 2012

Pick up your free

foodie magazine

INTERVIEW


LETICIA SCHWARTZ EXPLORES BRAZILIAN FOOD CUISINE

BraziluncoveredBraziluncovered


cover.indd 1

07/06/2012 14:51

LETTERS.indd 6 08/06/2012 10:13 Pg 7 - Prestat FPC.indd 1 08/06/2012 14:12

News update


Foodiebites

Jamie reeled inJamie Oliver attempted the perfect catch during a recent visit to Somerset-based dairy company Yeo Valley.

The celebrity chef took part in a catch and cook event, the first of a series of unique events taking place during the summer in the valley, bringing along friend and well-known Italian chef, Gennaro Contaldo (pictured above).

The event was based around a fly-fishing contest, with competitors aiming to catch the first and then biggest catch of the day. The first trout was landed after 45 minutes by William Neville, a family friend of Yeo Valley boss, Tim Mead. Jamie’s boat netted six trout, with the biggest catch of the day going to Gennaro, who landed a 3lb 4oz fish.

Yeo Valley is also holding a series of Farm Tours in June, July and September. • For more information visit www.yeovalley.co.uk

With Yorkshire now boasting more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other county in England, a new experience is helping food lovers discover the best of its cuisine.

Yorkshire Food Finder offers lovers of fine dining and quality local produce the chance to discover where some of Yorkshire’s top chefs source their ingredients.

Yorkshire Food Finder initially brings together four well-known Yorkshire restaurants and their local artisan suppliers, most of which have previously offered no public access to their businesses.

Those taking part in the trails – which are half- or full-day accompanied tours – will be able to see first-hand how Yorkshire’s produce is grown, reared, churned, and can learn how to smoke their own fish or make cheese, before sitting down to eat it.

Award-winning Andrew Pern, chef and owner at The Star Inn, Harome, which is involved in the trail, commented: “Right from day one we’ve used the local produce on our doorstep and made the most of the abundant Yorkshire larder around us. Linking the best of that produce with the tables that serve them in a series of themed trails is a great way of celebrating what the county has to offer and we’re delighted to be part of the Yorkshire Food Finder venture.”• Find out more at www.yorkshirefoodfinder.org

London’s food diversity celebratedThe cultural diversity of London is being celebrated this summer.

St Martin’s Courtyard will be paying tribute to the capital’s food, drink and culture with the free Global Food Festival on Saturday, July 14.

Visitors can taste their way around the world through six restaurants taking part; Bill’s, Cantina Laredo, Dishoom, Dalla Terra, Jamie’s Italian and Suda, which will be hosting tastings, demonstrations and activities. Whether it’s a Mexican fiesta, traditional British fare, or a flavour of Bangkok’s famous street food, there’s something for every taste.

Discovering Yorkshire fare

FOODIE NEWS.indd 8 07/06/2012 15:01

News update


Foodiebites

Jamie reeled inJamie Oliver attempted the perfect catch during a recent visit to Somerset-based dairy company Yeo Valley.

The celebrity chef took part in a catch and cook event, the first of a series of unique events taking place during the summer in the valley, bringing along friend and well-known Italian chef, Gennaro Contaldo (pictured above).

The event was based around a fly-fishing contest, with competitors aiming to catch the first and then biggest catch of the day. The first trout was landed after 45 minutes by William Neville, a family friend of Yeo Valley boss, Tim Mead. Jamie’s boat netted six trout, with the biggest catch of the day going to Gennaro, who landed a 3lb 4oz fish.

Yeo Valley is also holding a series of Farm Tours in June, July and September. • For more information visit www.yeovalley.co.uk

With Yorkshire now boasting more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other county in England, a new experience is helping food lovers discover the best of its cuisine.

Yorkshire Food Finder offers lovers of fine dining and quality local produce the chance to discover where some of Yorkshire’s top chefs source their ingredients.

Yorkshire Food Finder initially brings together four well-known Yorkshire restaurants and their local artisan suppliers, most of which have previously offered no public access to their businesses.

Those taking part in the trails – which are half- or full-day accompanied tours – will be able to see first-hand how Yorkshire’s produce is grown, reared, churned, and can learn how to smoke their own fish or make cheese, before sitting down to eat it.

Award-winning Andrew Pern, chef and owner at The Star Inn, Harome, which is involved in the trail, commented: “Right from day one we’ve used the local produce on our doorstep and made the most of the abundant Yorkshire larder around us. Linking the best of that produce with the tables that serve them in a series of themed trails is a great way of celebrating what the county has to offer and we’re delighted to be part of the Yorkshire Food Finder venture.”• Find out more at www.yorkshirefoodfinder.org

London’s food diversity celebratedThe cultural diversity of London is being celebrated this summer.

St Martin’s Courtyard will be paying tribute to the capital’s food, drink and culture with the free Global Food Festival on Saturday, July 14.

Visitors can taste their way around the world through six restaurants taking part; Bill’s, Cantina Laredo, Dishoom, Dalla Terra, Jamie’s Italian and Suda, which will be hosting tastings, demonstrations and activities. Whether it’s a Mexican fiesta, traditional British fare, or a flavour of Bangkok’s famous street food, there’s something for every taste.

Discovering Yorkshire fare



OniOn EntERtainMEntYou can be in no doubt about the focus of attractions at the forthcoming Big Onion Festival.

Being held on August 25 in Elveden, it will be the second time the event has been held, and will see more than 40 of East Anglia’s finest food and drink producers take part, as well as a line-up of great chefs and musicians from the local region.

Visitors can expect to browse the stalls, sample delicious food, watch live cookery demonstrations and enjoy live music into the evening.

Named The Big Onion after the volume of onions grown on the farm at Elveden, visitors will be treated to tractor and trailer rides on the farm and can learn all sorts of facts and figures about onions.

FrOm FIElD tO FOrkWhether you fancy trying your hand at butchery, or heading out on a wild food foray, Food Safari may be the place to go.

This Suffolk-based business hosts a detailed programme of events, from butchery workshops and foraging to fishing trips, cookery courses and visits to artisan producers.

Visitors can choose from full- and half-day workshops, where they will learn new skills, enjoy fantastic food and drink and be inspired by the passion and knowledge of farmers, foragers, fishermen, butchers and bakers. Many of the days are quite literally field to fork or sea to plate; guests visit a farm, learn some butchery, cook – and then enjoy – the food.

They can visit farms, smokehouses, artisan bakeries and butcheries, where they will get hands-on and learn something new, whether it’s shucking oysters, boning partridge, identifying edible mushrooms or nurturing sourdough bread.• Find out more at www.foodsafari.co.uk

New research revealing that 79 per cent of us are unable to identify

basic flavours has prompted the launch of a new campaign.

A national poll found that just 28 per cent of people savour their food, with 60 per cent

admitting they never or rarely take time to taste. Almost half of people described their lunch as a

means to an end to refuel their body, with just 13 per cent leaving work for lunch and 59 per cent spending less than 15 minutes eating lunch.

Among those polled, just 35 per cent could identify ingredients, with a worrying 93 per cent unable to discern beef from Chinese pork, and 92 per cent being unable to tell the difference between ham and tuna.

In light of the research, commissioned by food brand Glorious! and led by Dr David Lewis, the company has launched the Flavour Map, a global, online resource to inspire as well as re-educate consumers about flavour and taste. It allows the public to pin flavours ‘from around the globe or around the corner’ such as meals, recipes, or natural produce.

“The abundance of great flavours food experiences have never been more diverse, yet our findings suggest consumers are lazy when it comes to tasting and appreciating their food,” Dr Lewis said. “I doubt there’s ever been such a rich tapestry of food and flavour combinations at our disposal, yet we’re not

savouring what we eat, which is not just a shame but a genuine waste of taste.”Simple tips on waking up the taste buds include

eating mindfully, avoiding watching TV or reading, setting aside enough time to eat so you are not rushing, chewing food carefully and avoiding drinking too much while eating. Over salting can spoil the taste of food too.

takE tiME tO taStE

nOMa REtainS ‘wORld’S bESt’ titlENoma has won the prestigious accolade of World’s Best Restaurant for the third year in a row.

The eatery in Denmark, which Fine Foodies featured last year, has retained the title in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards,

sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna. René Redzepi’s meticulous attention to detail and innovative approach to foraging has enabled Noma to maintain its position at the coveted top spot of the list, which is widely considered the highlight of the global dining calendar.

However, British chefs were also featured in the list; Heston Blumenthal scooped the Highest New Entry award with Dinner by Heston Blumenthal entering the list at number nine. The Fat Duck remains at number 13, giving Heston two restaurants on the list for the first time. And The Ledbury, in London’s Notting Hill, shot up 20 places to number 14 to take the Highest Climber title.


On the gO melt in the mOuthBeing on the go doesn’t have to mean foregoing your food enjoyment thanks to the latest addition to Atkins and Potts.

The company has developed the sumptuous Chocolate Dippers, melted chocolate that can be enjoyed on the go.

Made with real Belgian chocolate, they are perfect with fresh fruit, dried fruit, biscuits, mini doughnuts, marshmallows, drizzled over ice cream or whisked into hot milk. They come in Milk or Dark Chocolate, and Butter Toffee flavours.

Shelf LifeWhat’s neW in the WOrld Of great-tasting fOOd

Product news

10 FINE FOODIES summer 2012

ice additiOnsMarshfield Farm Ice Cream has created a new flavour in the shape of Strawberries in Clotted Ice Cream.

Marshfield’s award-winning clotted cream ice cream has been combined with a strawberry ripple, which contains chunks of real strawberries.

Every one of Marshfield’s 26 flavours of ice cream is made on the farm itself, which is owned and run by Will and Dawn Hawking. Some 60 per cent of each tub of ice cream comes from organic milk produced daily by the 250-strong herd of Friesian cows and the rest is made up of double or clotted cream from nearby dairy Cricketer Farm in Somerset.

ButtEr aND mINt makES NEw crISPNew to the award-winning Fairfields Farm Crisps range is the innovative Butter & Mint variety.

There are few things more delicious than a bowl of new potatoes smothered in butter with chopped fresh mint and this has now been harnessed in a bag of hand-cooked crisps by Fairfields Farm.

Using mint sourced from Stangroom Brothers, a Norfolk family farm, and potatoes grown in the fertile soils of the Colne Valley, Butter & Mint crisps are one of three new flavours from the Essex-based crisp producer, alongside Sea Salt & Black Pepper, and No Salt.

savOury and sWeetA new range of popcorn with a twist has been created.

Popcorn producers Savoury & Sweet have unveiled the Lord Poppington’s range, which comes in four flavours: Sweet and Salty, Chilli and Lime, Lightly Sea-Salted, and Four Cheeses.

Kurt Hilder, Director at Savoury & Sweet, explained: “Quality has been at the forefront for this range and that is why we only ever add flavours at the very end of the manufacturing process to ensure a clean, crisp and fuller-flavoured popcorn.”

A trip down memory lAneThe Grown Up Chocolate Company has revived four childhood classic chocolate bars.

The company, which makes each bar by hand, using only fresh ingredients and a minimum of 38 per cent cocoa milk chocolate, has given the classics a modern twist.

The range comprises: Crunchy Praline Wonder Bar, a caramelised wafer, coated in sumptuous praline, encased in real milk chocolate; Fruit and Nut Hunky Dory, with a mix of nuts and real pieces of fruit, on a bed of milk chocolate Gianduja, in luxury milk chocolate; Glorious Coconut Hocus Pocus, a creamy coconut ganache topped with an indulgent fruit and nut jumble wrapped in milk chocolate; and Salted Peanut Caramel Cracker, an opulent salted caramel in a row of peanuts on a bed of peanut praline swathed in milk chocolate.

the perfect bAcon buttySixty years after Denhay Farms was established as a family business, the team is reminding of the essential ingredients for a bacon butty.

Over the years, Denhay Farms has produced award-winning West Country Farmhouse Cheddar and more recently their famous dry cure bacon, which it says is essential for the perfect bacon butty.

Denhay’s maximum taste comes from dry-curing the bacon with sea salt, never freezing the meat and never adding water.

product news.indd 10 07/06/2012 15:03

On the gO melt in the mOuthBeing on the go doesn’t have to mean foregoing your food enjoyment thanks to the latest addition to Atkins and Potts.

The company has developed the sumptuous Chocolate Dippers, melted chocolate that can be enjoyed on the go.

Made with real Belgian chocolate, they are perfect with fresh fruit, dried fruit, biscuits, mini doughnuts, marshmallows, drizzled over ice cream or whisked into hot milk. They come in Milk or Dark Chocolate, and Butter Toffee flavours.

Shelf LifeWhat’s neW in the WOrld Of great-tasting fOOd

Product news

10 FINE FOODIES summer 2012

ice additiOnsMarshfield Farm Ice Cream has created a new flavour in the shape of Strawberries in Clotted Ice Cream.

Marshfield’s award-winning clotted cream ice cream has been combined with a strawberry ripple, which contains chunks of real strawberries.

Every one of Marshfield’s 26 flavours of ice cream is made on the farm itself, which is owned and run by Will and Dawn Hawking. Some 60 per cent of each tub of ice cream comes from organic milk produced daily by the 250-strong herd of Friesian cows and the rest is made up of double or clotted cream from nearby dairy Cricketer Farm in Somerset.

ButtEr aND mINt makES NEw crISPNew to the award-winning Fairfields Farm Crisps range is the innovative Butter & Mint variety.

There are few things more delicious than a bowl of new potatoes smothered in butter with chopped fresh mint and this has now been harnessed in a bag of hand-cooked crisps by Fairfields Farm.

Using mint sourced from Stangroom Brothers, a Norfolk family farm, and potatoes grown in the fertile soils of the Colne Valley, Butter & Mint crisps are one of three new flavours from the Essex-based crisp producer, alongside Sea Salt & Black Pepper, and No Salt.

savOury and sWeetA new range of popcorn with a twist has been created.

Popcorn producers Savoury & Sweet have unveiled the Lord Poppington’s range, which comes in four flavours: Sweet and Salty, Chilli and Lime, Lightly Sea-Salted, and Four Cheeses.

Kurt Hilder, Director at Savoury & Sweet, explained: “Quality has been at the forefront for this range and that is why we only ever add flavours at the very end of the manufacturing process to ensure a clean, crisp and fuller-flavoured popcorn.”

A trip down memory lAneThe Grown Up Chocolate Company has revived four childhood classic chocolate bars.

The company, which makes each bar by hand, using only fresh ingredients and a minimum of 38 per cent cocoa milk chocolate, has given the classics a modern twist.

The range comprises: Crunchy Praline Wonder Bar, a caramelised wafer, coated in sumptuous praline, encased in real milk chocolate; Fruit and Nut Hunky Dory, with a mix of nuts and real pieces of fruit, on a bed of milk chocolate Gianduja, in luxury milk chocolate; Glorious Coconut Hocus Pocus, a creamy coconut ganache topped with an indulgent fruit and nut jumble wrapped in milk chocolate; and Salted Peanut Caramel Cracker, an opulent salted caramel in a row of peanuts on a bed of peanut praline swathed in milk chocolate.

the perfect bAcon buttySixty years after Denhay Farms was established as a family business, the team is reminding of the essential ingredients for a bacon butty.

Over the years, Denhay Farms has produced award-winning West Country Farmhouse Cheddar and more recently their famous dry cure bacon, which it says is essential for the perfect bacon butty.

Denhay’s maximum taste comes from dry-curing the bacon with sea salt, never freezing the meat and never adding water.

product news.indd 10 07/06/2012 15:03 Pg11 - ADS.indd 1 08/06/2012 10:37

Interview

12 FINE FOODIES Summer 2012

One of the most talked-about qualities during Shelina Permalloo’s time on MasterChef

2012 was her capacity to stay calm and composed, even in the most stressful of kitchen situations.

Ask Shelina how she managed to stay so measured, and she laughs.

“Everyone said I would be a good poker player because I seemed so composed, but my heartbeat was thumping through my chest!” she admits. “In my old job, I had to deal with a lot of senior management so I think that’s perhaps why I came across as so composed, but I was nervous as hell.”

Whatever her secret, it worked, and Shelina is currently basking in the glory of being crowned the champion of MasterChef 2012, the first woman to take the title in seven years.

Speaking ahead of her appearance at the BBC Good Food Show this June, she says: “It has been a bit of a whirlwind but great fun.”

Go back 12 months and Shelina’s life was very different. The 29-year-old decided it was time for a career change and, with the support of her husband, she made her first step on

the MasterChef journey.“I was getting to a point where I

was thinking a lot about my career and felt a bit like I was banging my head against a brick wall – I felt there was something burning in me and I didn’t know what it was,” she recalls.

But she knew she had always coveted a career in food. And so Shelina, along with 25,000 others, decided to fill out the online application form for the show, never dreaming it could take her this far.

“We had saved up the money so I could have a career break to go into food, and I had handed in my notice in the same week MasterChef asked me to come in for a test. The initial trial was just so nerve-wracking and you worry that the food won’t be good enough. Every step of the way I thought it could be my last time.”

Mauritian rootsAlthough she grew up in Southampton, Shelina’s family are Mauritian, with her parents moving to the UK to give their children a better life. She had always wanted to be a chef, but says: “My mum said no, she wanted me to do something professional first. But I was always interested in food.”

As she settles into life as the reigning MasterChef champion, Shelina Permalloo talks to Fine Foodies Editor, Rachel Symonds, about the road ahead.

Shelina’s journey

interview 2.indd 12 07/06/2012 15:04

Interview


One of the most talked-about qualities during Shelina Permalloo’s time on MasterChef

2012 was her capacity to stay calm and composed, even in the most stressful of kitchen situations.

Ask Shelina how she managed to stay so measured, and she laughs.

“Everyone said I would be a good poker player because I seemed so composed, but my heartbeat was thumping through my chest!” she admits. “In my old job, I had to deal with a lot of senior management so I think that’s perhaps why I came across as so composed, but I was nervous as hell.”

Whatever her secret, it worked, and Shelina is currently basking in the glory of being crowned the champion of MasterChef 2012, the first woman to take the title in seven years.

Speaking ahead of her appearance at the BBC Good Food Show this June, she says: “It has been a bit of a whirlwind but great fun.”

Go back 12 months and Shelina’s life was very different. The 29-year-old decided it was time for a career change and, with the support of her husband, she made her first step on

the MasterChef journey.“I was getting to a point where I

was thinking a lot about my career and felt a bit like I was banging my head against a brick wall – I felt there was something burning in me and I didn’t know what it was,” she recalls.

But she knew she had always coveted a career in food. And so Shelina, along with 25,000 others, decided to fill out the online application form for the show, never dreaming it could take her this far.

“We had saved up the money so I could have a career break to go into food, and I had handed in my notice in the same week MasterChef asked me to come in for a test. The initial trial was just so nerve-wracking and you worry that the food won’t be good enough. Every step of the way I thought it could be my last time.”

Mauritian rootsAlthough she grew up in Southampton, Shelina’s family are Mauritian, with her parents moving to the UK to give their children a better life. She had always wanted to be a chef, but says: “My mum said no, she wanted me to do something professional first. But I was always interested in food.”

As she settles into life as the reigning MasterChef champion, Shelina Permalloo talks to Fine Foodies Editor, Rachel Symonds, about the road ahead.

Shelina’s journey

interview 2.indd 12 07/06/2012 15:04

Summer 2012 FINE FOODIES 13

interview 2.indd 13 07/06/2012 15:04

Shelina’s father sadly passed away when she was a teenager, and it became incredibly important to her to do Mauritius proud.

“I learnt the essence of Mauritian food through my mum and that stayed with me through the competition,” she says. “Mum and dad came to this country for a better life for us and that resonated throughout MasterChef and I wanted to do my family proud by putting Mauritian food on the map.”

And do them proud she certainly did.“My family were so supportive during

the show, and I would call my mum regularly for advice. I don’t think the fact that I’m the only woman to win in seven years makes a huge difference, the whole point of food is it brings everyone together, it is all about the food.”

It wasn’t just Shelina’s composure that she became known for. There was also her love of using mangoes in just about every dish.

“I looked a bit crazy on the show because I had mangoes with everything but it is very Mauritian and something I really remember from my childhood.”

Many of the dishes she created on the show had some kind of Mauritian influence, but where does she get her ideas from?

“It is about trying to balance everything out, the flavour combinations, working out what things work well together,” she explained. “I always have a sketchbook with me and whenever I get ideas for recipes I sketch them down.”

The MasterChef experienceThere’s no doubt that contestants on the show are put through their paces, finding themselves working in a professional kitchen – often alongside some of the UK’s most respected chefs – for the first time. This would be enough to daunt anyone, and Shelina admits it was a pressurised time.

“The hardest thing for me was trying to turn my home-cooked food into something that can be restaurant standard. I had no understanding of what professional kitchens would be like. Everything amazed me, and I learnt

something from everything we did,” she says.

“It does teach you about the reality of life in the kitchen and doing more work in the kitchens is something that I really want to do next. It gives you a really important understanding about how professional kitchens work, that it’s hard work and that it’s teamwork.”

That’s not to say she didn’t find things difficult. She did, especially getting the dishes to a high enough standard in terms of aesthetics.

“I had difficulties in terms of presentation. At home, you just serve up food as it comes, but it has to look pretty in a professional kitchen – that was pretty tough so I used to sketch stuff out first about how I would present my dishes,” she explains.

“The innovation tasks were tough as

well because you are only given a few ingredients and you only have a certain amount of time to put something together.”

When asked why she felt judges Gregg Wallace and John Torrode chose her as their winner, she says: “I suppose I stayed true to what I wanted. I make sure my food tasted good, I worked and I kept learning. That’s the whole point of MasterChef, to learn from every experience.”

Going it aloneAs the reigning champion, Shelina is in great demand at the moment, but she says she is going to take her time with the next step. Her long-term goal is to open her own restaurant with a Mauritian flavour but she is under no illusions that she needs to first hone her skills alongside professional chefs.

“I really want to learn properly and take my time – I think going into an industry I don’t know without getting any experience first would be silly,” she explained.

In the more immediate future, she would also like a recipe book focusing on Mauritian cuisine, and would also like to run some cooking classes.

“I’m so enjoying the MasterChef experience but I want to take my time with a restaurant and not rush it.” FF

Interview


Picture courtesy of Shine TV

You can see Shelina at the forthcoming BBC Good Food Show at the NEC in Birmingham from June 13-17. Log onto www.bbcgoodfoodshowsummer.com for more information and tickets

interview 2.indd 14 07/06/2012 15:05

Shelina’s father sadly passed away when she was a teenager, and it became incredibly important to her to do Mauritius proud.

“I learnt the essence of Mauritian food through my mum and that stayed with me through the competition,” she says. “Mum and dad came to this country for a better life for us and that resonated throughout MasterChef and I wanted to do my family proud by putting Mauritian food on the map.”

And do them proud she certainly did.“My family were so supportive during

the show, and I would call my mum regularly for advice. I don’t think the fact that I’m the only woman to win in seven years makes a huge difference, the whole point of food is it brings everyone together, it is all about the food.”

It wasn’t just Shelina’s composure that she became known for. There was also her love of using mangoes in just about every dish.

“I looked a bit crazy on the show because I had mangoes with everything but it is very Mauritian and something I really remember from my childhood.”

Many of the dishes she created on the show had some kind of Mauritian influence, but where does she get her ideas from?

“It is about trying to balance everything out, the flavour combinations, working out what things work well together,” she explained. “I always have a sketchbook with me and whenever I get ideas for recipes I sketch them down.”

The MasterChef experienceThere’s no doubt that contestants on the show are put through their paces, finding themselves working in a professional kitchen – often alongside some of the UK’s most respected chefs – for the first time. This would be enough to daunt anyone, and Shelina admits it was a pressurised time.

“The hardest thing for me was trying to turn my home-cooked food into something that can be restaurant standard. I had no understanding of what professional kitchens would be like. Everything amazed me, and I learnt

something from everything we did,” she says.

“It does teach you about the reality of life in the kitchen and doing more work in the kitchens is something that I really want to do next. It gives you a really important understanding about how professional kitchens work, that it’s hard work and that it’s teamwork.”

That’s not to say she didn’t find things difficult. She did, especially getting the dishes to a high enough standard in terms of aesthetics.

“I had difficulties in terms of presentation. At home, you just serve up food as it comes, but it has to look pretty in a professional kitchen – that was pretty tough so I used to sketch stuff out first about how I would present my dishes,” she explains.

“The innovation tasks were tough as

well because you are only given a few ingredients and you only have a certain amount of time to put something together.”

When asked why she felt judges Gregg Wallace and John Torrode chose her as their winner, she says: “I suppose I stayed true to what I wanted. I make sure my food tasted good, I worked and I kept learning. That’s the whole point of MasterChef, to learn from every experience.”

Going it aloneAs the reigning champion, Shelina is in great demand at the moment, but she says she is going to take her time with the next step. Her long-term goal is to open her own restaurant with a Mauritian flavour but she is under no illusions that she needs to first hone her skills alongside professional chefs.

“I really want to learn properly and take my time – I think going into an industry I don’t know without getting any experience first would be silly,” she explained.

In the more immediate future, she would also like a recipe book focusing on Mauritian cuisine, and would also like to run some cooking classes.

“I’m so enjoying the MasterChef experience but I want to take my time with a restaurant and not rush it.” FF

Interview


Picture courtesy of Shine TV

You can see Shelina at the forthcoming BBC Good Food Show at the NEC in Birmingham from June 13-17. Log onto www.bbcgoodfoodshowsummer.com for more information and tickets

interview 2.indd 14 07/06/2012 15:05 PG15 - ADS.indd 1 08/06/2012 10:38

Wonderful Wiltshire

UK fare


Wiltshire could be considered one of the most diverse counties in England, not just

for its landscape but also for its food offering.

In fact, this is actually where the saying ‘as different as chalk and cheese’ comes from, as the uplands of the county are very different from the dairy-producing lowlands.

Caron Cooper is one local who has been championing Wiltshire food for years. She moved to the county some 26 years ago, starting a food business at Fosse Farmhouse, where she runs a B&B and tearooms. She has done her bit to put Wiltshire on the map, in the 1990s writing and presenting the BBC series Caron Cooper’s Cooking with Confidence.

“I love living here as traditional food in Wiltshire is defined by the landscape,” Caron said. “The area around Swindon has chalk hills and further south, lush valleys.”

Its landscape has helped define what the area is used for in terms of produce.

She explained: “The poor chalk soil was particularly good for pig rearing and the lush valleys for milk production and cheese making. The county of Wiltshire is where the saying ‘like chalk and cheese’ comes from due to the opposing factors of the landscape.”

Famous landscapesWiltshire has certain food types that are of particular note, and in an effort to promote the local offering, tourist organisation Visit Wiltshire has actually established two food trail car tours, one covering the north of the county and the other the south. Both take in scenery and historical sites, showing visitors the best food that the county has to offer.

Fine Foodies takes a closer look at the diverse food culture in the county of Wiltshire.

bacon are still very popular.It was bacon and ham production

that led to the creation of a famous Wiltshire dish, known as lardy cake. Reportedly first made in Castle Combe, the cake consists of lard, bread dough, sugar and currants.

“A delicious by-product of the bacon and ham production was lard (pork fat) and the recipe for lardy cake was produced to utilise this delicious ingredient,” Caron explained. “It is one of my most popular cakes that I serve in the tea garden – although it does take three hours to make so is not available every day!”

Cheese is also famed in Wiltshire, with the Wiltshire Loaf Cheese being created in the county. In fact, it was sought-after in the 18th century, even being worthy of a mention by Jane Austen in the novel Emma. It was particularly known for its intensity of flavour and density, and was also more expensive as it took longer to mature.

Today, there are some amazing food producers operating in the country using traditional methods, such as Bradenham Ham, Sandridge Farmhouse Bacon and Ceri’s Cheese. FF

There is also an abundance of farmers’ markets and, in fact, the county was very forward thinking in that it was the first in the UK to establish them.

There’s no doubt that bacon and ham are among the key Wiltshire exports, with Caron pinpointing the town of Calne as being at the centre of production. She commented: “The famous Harris factory dominated the town during the 1890s and popularised The Wiltshire Cure.”

North Wiltshire, particularly Swindon, has been synonymous with pig farming since Saxon times and Wiltshire ham and

UK FAYRE.indd 16 07/06/2012 15:06

Wonderful Wiltshire

UK fare


Wiltshire could be considered one of the most diverse counties in England, not just

for its landscape but also for its food offering.

In fact, this is actually where the saying ‘as different as chalk and cheese’ comes from, as the uplands of the county are very different from the dairy-producing lowlands.

Caron Cooper is one local who has been championing Wiltshire food for years. She moved to the county some 26 years ago, starting a food business at Fosse Farmhouse, where she runs a B&B and tearooms. She has done her bit to put Wiltshire on the map, in the 1990s writing and presenting the BBC series Caron Cooper’s Cooking with Confidence.

“I love living here as traditional food in Wiltshire is defined by the landscape,” Caron said. “The area around Swindon has chalk hills and further south, lush valleys.”

Its landscape has helped define what the area is used for in terms of produce.

She explained: “The poor chalk soil was particularly good for pig rearing and the lush valleys for milk production and cheese making. The county of Wiltshire is where the saying ‘like chalk and cheese’ comes from due to the opposing factors of the landscape.”

Famous landscapesWiltshire has certain food types that are of particular note, and in an effort to promote the local offering, tourist organisation Visit Wiltshire has actually established two food trail car tours, one covering the north of the county and the other the south. Both take in scenery and historical sites, showing visitors the best food that the county has to offer.

Fine Foodies takes a closer look at the diverse food culture in the county of Wiltshire.

bacon are still very popular.It was bacon and ham production

that led to the creation of a famous Wiltshire dish, known as lardy cake. Reportedly first made in Castle Combe, the cake consists of lard, bread dough, sugar and currants.

“A delicious by-product of the bacon and ham production was lard (pork fat) and the recipe for lardy cake was produced to utilise this delicious ingredient,” Caron explained. “It is one of my most popular cakes that I serve in the tea garden – although it does take three hours to make so is not available every day!”

Cheese is also famed in Wiltshire, with the Wiltshire Loaf Cheese being created in the county. In fact, it was sought-after in the 18th century, even being worthy of a mention by Jane Austen in the novel Emma. It was particularly known for its intensity of flavour and density, and was also more expensive as it took longer to mature.

Today, there are some amazing food producers operating in the country using traditional methods, such as Bradenham Ham, Sandridge Farmhouse Bacon and Ceri’s Cheese. FF

There is also an abundance of farmers’ markets and, in fact, the county was very forward thinking in that it was the first in the UK to establish them.

There’s no doubt that bacon and ham are among the key Wiltshire exports, with Caron pinpointing the town of Calne as being at the centre of production. She commented: “The famous Harris factory dominated the town during the 1890s and popularised The Wiltshire Cure.”

North Wiltshire, particularly Swindon, has been synonymous with pig farming since Saxon times and Wiltshire ham and

UK FAYRE.indd 16 07/06/2012 15:06

Wonderful Wiltshire


The factsAccording to Visit Wiltshire, the county has a population of nearly 430,000, with much of the county being designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It, of course, boasts the World Heritage Sites of Stonehenge and Avebury, and also has the White Horse Trail, where visitors can see the eight white horses carved into the hillsides.

The county includes the cathedral city of Salisbury, as well as busy Swindon. Worthy of note is the expanse of Salisbury Plain, which is home to many rare and endangered species, including the Great Bustard and of course there is also the New Forest.

If you would like to find out more about Wiltshire food, log onto www.visitwiltshire.co.uk

UK FAYRE.indd 17 07/06/2012 15:06

Product news


DISCOVER THESE PRODUCTS IN STORE NOW

In your store

Teas with a sense of ceremonyWhen tea was first discovered, it was savoured as a rare commodity. With it’s rise in popularity and mass production, tea has become a drink that is often consumed in a rush, with no sense of ceremony. Newby aims to bring tea back up to its elevated position and has created a range of flowering Chinese teas. When steeped in hot water, each blossom magically unfurls into a stunning floral display. As only the finest quality green teas are selected to create these hand-made flowering teas, they taste as good as they look. For more information, visit www.newbyteas.com or www.cheztoi.co.uk

AWARD-WINNING MINTSSummerdown grows and harvests traditional Black Mitcham peppermint and distils its pure mint oil. They use it to manufacture their unique brand of peppermint products, including these stylish chocolate peppermint creams, chocolate mint thins and their exceptional peppermint tea ‒ between them they’ve won six Great Taste Awards in three years! The single

estate quality oil has a highly distinctive and smooth taste ‒ a taste that has been lost for generations. Bright, fresh and aromatic, it is very different from the harsher, blended, imported peppermint of the past 60 years. To find out more call 01256 780252 or visit www.summerdownmint.com

A guilty pleasure Tilly Confectionery, or better known as Mrs Tilly’s, is a family run business who pride themselves in the production of high quality confectionery, using traditional methods and only the finest of ingredients. With two Gold Star Great Taste Awards recently under their belt for their Tablet and Fudge, Mrs Tilly’s have just launched their new 150g gift range, along with two new mouth-watering flavours. A delicious Rum & Raisin Fudge and also a luscious all natural Orange Fudge, using natural fruit

pieces. A perfect treat for any Tilly’s fan, or just a nice size to share, to spread the guilt!!!For more information telephone 01259 751846.

A preserve for everybodyThursday Cottage’s Blood Orange Marmalade is made with fresh blood oranges grown on the slopes of Mount Etna. Perhaps its the simplicity of the recipe ‒ just oranges, fruit pectin and pure cane sugar ‒ that makes the product such a success. Hand pouring also helps produce a fine mix of peel and fruit throughout the jar. With over 120 products to choose from, including the award-winning fruit coulis range, Thursday Cottage has a preserve for everybody. Recommended retail is an affordable £2.39.Web: www.thursday-cottage.com.Tel: 01621 815429 Email: [email protected]

CORNISH SMOKED FISHCured to their own secret recipe The Cornish Fishmonger’s award-winning oak smoked salmon and hot smoked Cornish mackerel is available for delivery nationwide. Traditionally smoked in their own smokehouse, the fish has a deep fine flavour and is packaged in a stylish box ‒ perfect to send as a gift and to enjoy at home. Smoked Salmon is available as whole and sliced sides, or in handy sliced packs from just £9.50. Their delicious smoked fish range can be found in Rick Steins deli’s throughout Cornwall and you can order online at www.

thecornishfishmonger.co.uk. They guarantee you will be back for more! For more information please call 01726 861666 or visit our website.

Pg18 - POTP Finefoodies_spring.indd 18 08/06/2012 12:14

Product news


DISCOVER THESE PRODUCTS IN STORE NOW

In your store

Teas with a sense of ceremonyWhen tea was first discovered, it was savoured as a rare commodity. With it’s rise in popularity and mass production, tea has become a drink that is often consumed in a rush, with no sense of ceremony. Newby aims to bring tea back up to its elevated position and has created a range of flowering Chinese teas. When steeped in hot water, each blossom magically unfurls into a stunning floral display. As only the finest quality green teas are selected to create these hand-made flowering teas, they taste as good as they look. For more information, visit www.newbyteas.com or www.cheztoi.co.uk

AWARD-WINNING MINTSSummerdown grows and harvests traditional Black Mitcham peppermint and distils its pure mint oil. They use it to manufacture their unique brand of peppermint products, including these stylish chocolate peppermint creams, chocolate mint thins and their exceptional peppermint tea ‒ between them they’ve won six Great Taste Awards in three years! The single

estate quality oil has a highly distinctive and smooth taste ‒ a taste that has been lost for generations. Bright, fresh and aromatic, it is very different from the harsher, blended, imported peppermint of the past 60 years. To find out more call 01256 780252 or visit www.summerdownmint.com

A guilty pleasure Tilly Confectionery, or better known as Mrs Tilly’s, is a family run business who pride themselves in the production of high quality confectionery, using traditional methods and only the finest of ingredients. With two Gold Star Great Taste Awards recently under their belt for their Tablet and Fudge, Mrs Tilly’s have just launched their new 150g gift range, along with two new mouth-watering flavours. A delicious Rum & Raisin Fudge and also a luscious all natural Orange Fudge, using natural fruit

pieces. A perfect treat for any Tilly’s fan, or just a nice size to share, to spread the guilt!!!For more information telephone 01259 751846.

A preserve for everybodyThursday Cottage’s Blood Orange Marmalade is made with fresh blood oranges grown on the slopes of Mount Etna. Perhaps its the simplicity of the recipe ‒ just oranges, fruit pectin and pure cane sugar ‒ that makes the product such a success. Hand pouring also helps produce a fine mix of peel and fruit throughout the jar. With over 120 products to choose from, including the award-winning fruit coulis range, Thursday Cottage has a preserve for everybody. Recommended retail is an affordable £2.39.Web: www.thursday-cottage.com.Tel: 01621 815429 Email: [email protected]

CORNISH SMOKED FISHCured to their own secret recipe The Cornish Fishmonger’s award-winning oak smoked salmon and hot smoked Cornish mackerel is available for delivery nationwide. Traditionally smoked in their own smokehouse, the fish has a deep fine flavour and is packaged in a stylish box ‒ perfect to send as a gift and to enjoy at home. Smoked Salmon is available as whole and sliced sides, or in handy sliced packs from just £9.50. Their delicious smoked fish range can be found in Rick Steins deli’s throughout Cornwall and you can order online at www.

thecornishfishmonger.co.uk. They guarantee you will be back for more! For more information please call 01726 861666 or visit our website.

Pg18 - POTP Finefoodies_spring.indd 18 08/06/2012 12:14 Pg19 - Newby Teas FPC.indd 1 08/06/2012 10:39

Food focus


Guy Tullberg is head of a company that brings to mind a picture of a bustling Wiltshire country kitchen of inventiveness,

where adventures in the preserving pan result in products that nudge the nation’s tastebuds in new directions.

Tracklements, founded 42 years ago by Guy’s father, William, could fill your larder with dozens upon dozens of pickles and condiments so it’s perhaps a little mean to ask the boss which product he wouldn’t be without at a barbecue.

A line-up of ketchups is a good start, suggests Guy, for marinading chicken to give a lovely sweet, sticky glaze or for a dab on the side of the plate.

“If only allowed one, in the desert island way, I would choose our Sweet Mustard. I really, really like that,” says Guy.

Mustard was how the business started with father William’s frustration at the limited choice of mustards in the late 1960s. When he came across a description of an English equivalent of the French ‘Moutarde à l’Ancienne’, in the diaries of 17th century gentleman John Evelyn, he was inspired to make his own version, grinding mustard seeds in a coffee grinder.

An enterprise was launched and it’s hard to remember now how wholegrain mustard was such a rarity.

Tracklements went on to break further new culinary ground when William alighted upon a ‘Marmulate of Red

The perfect accompanimentWhether it’s relish for a burger, dips to go with nibbles or something sweet to complement ice cream, Fine Foodies loves accompaniments with personality. Jennifer Britt discovers products bursting with quality, taste and the passion of the people who make them.

Currants’ in Sir Kenelm Digby’s 1600s cook book, part of the Tullberg family’s extensive food history library, and fused it with Michel Guerard’s more modern recipe for ‘Marmelade d’Oignons’.

Breaking food groundOnion marmalade may be ubiquitous now but 13 years ago, the concept of a marmalade of onions, rather than citrus fruit, was so novel that it was challenged by Trading Standards. They were eventually persuaded that the product had 300 years of heritage behind it.

The Tullbergs’ drive and their determination to avoid short cuts or second-best quality means that integrity as well as character has seeped into all their products from the roots up, from the first mustard to the latest additions, a trio of salsas, Red Pepper & Tomato, a Hot Habanero, and a Smoked Chipotle.

When Guy says that Tracklements is not just a business, that it is his life, he means it literally. He was seven-years-old when it all began.

“I have never known anything else,” he says.

Over in Tiptree, Essex, the preserve capital of Great Britain, Tim Came is the custodian as Managing Director of Thursday Cottage, a company with half a century behind it, during which it has had three careful owners, the latest being Wilkins & Sons.

“Character brings a brand alive. Fine food producers are often out of a similar

mould. They are people who are very positive about what they do and they come with bags of personality,” says Tim.

Thursday Cottage is the artisan end of the Wilkins business, everything is made in small batches and lots of preparation is done by hand, including the juicing and zesting of at least 30,000 fresh lemons this year alone to make the company’s best seller, Lemon Curd, lovely with ice cream or pavlova as well as on toast.

There is also a sister company, Jules and Sharpie, named after its founders, Julie Fields and Frances Hopewell-Smith, aka Sharpie, making a range of savoury and sweet relishes and preserves, all with Scotch bonnet peppers.

Their friendship goes back 37 years; Jules was a television commercials producer, Sharpie a journalist and both their husbands worked in film. Their business partnership started a decade ago following Sharpie’s move to the rural calm of Suffolk, which motivated her friend to head out of London too, after she experienced idyllic weekends.

Theirs was the proverbial kitchen table business, which outgrew the kitchen, making a hot pepper chilli sauce based on a Jamaican friend’s recipe. They sold the company a year ago but are still 100 per cent involved in new product development and quality control. And yes, although it is a wonderful liberation to have experts take on some of the practical nitty gritty of manufacturing and distribution, it does still feel like their brand.

FOOD FOCUS3.indd 20 07/06/2012 15:07

Food focus


Guy Tullberg is head of a company that brings to mind a picture of a bustling Wiltshire country kitchen of inventiveness,

where adventures in the preserving pan result in products that nudge the nation’s tastebuds in new directions.

Tracklements, founded 42 years ago by Guy’s father, William, could fill your larder with dozens upon dozens of pickles and condiments so it’s perhaps a little mean to ask the boss which product he wouldn’t be without at a barbecue.

A line-up of ketchups is a good start, suggests Guy, for marinading chicken to give a lovely sweet, sticky glaze or for a dab on the side of the plate.

“If only allowed one, in the desert island way, I would choose our Sweet Mustard. I really, really like that,” says Guy.

Mustard was how the business started with father William’s frustration at the limited choice of mustards in the late 1960s. When he came across a description of an English equivalent of the French ‘Moutarde à l’Ancienne’, in the diaries of 17th century gentleman John Evelyn, he was inspired to make his own version, grinding mustard seeds in a coffee grinder.

An enterprise was launched and it’s hard to remember now how wholegrain mustard was such a rarity.

Tracklements went on to break further new culinary ground when William alighted upon a ‘Marmulate of Red

The perfect accompanimentWhether it’s relish for a burger, dips to go with nibbles or something sweet to complement ice cream, Fine Foodies loves accompaniments with personality. Jennifer Britt discovers products bursting with quality, taste and the passion of the people who make them.

Currants’ in Sir Kenelm Digby’s 1600s cook book, part of the Tullberg family’s extensive food history library, and fused it with Michel Guerard’s more modern recipe for ‘Marmelade d’Oignons’.

Breaking food groundOnion marmalade may be ubiquitous now but 13 years ago, the concept of a marmalade of onions, rather than citrus fruit, was so novel that it was challenged by Trading Standards. They were eventually persuaded that the product had 300 years of heritage behind it.

The Tullbergs’ drive and their determination to avoid short cuts or second-best quality means that integrity as well as character has seeped into all their products from the roots up, from the first mustard to the latest additions, a trio of salsas, Red Pepper & Tomato, a Hot Habanero, and a Smoked Chipotle.

When Guy says that Tracklements is not just a business, that it is his life, he means it literally. He was seven-years-old when it all began.

“I have never known anything else,” he says.

Over in Tiptree, Essex, the preserve capital of Great Britain, Tim Came is the custodian as Managing Director of Thursday Cottage, a company with half a century behind it, during which it has had three careful owners, the latest being Wilkins & Sons.

“Character brings a brand alive. Fine food producers are often out of a similar

mould. They are people who are very positive about what they do and they come with bags of personality,” says Tim.

Thursday Cottage is the artisan end of the Wilkins business, everything is made in small batches and lots of preparation is done by hand, including the juicing and zesting of at least 30,000 fresh lemons this year alone to make the company’s best seller, Lemon Curd, lovely with ice cream or pavlova as well as on toast.

There is also a sister company, Jules and Sharpie, named after its founders, Julie Fields and Frances Hopewell-Smith, aka Sharpie, making a range of savoury and sweet relishes and preserves, all with Scotch bonnet peppers.

Their friendship goes back 37 years; Jules was a television commercials producer, Sharpie a journalist and both their husbands worked in film. Their business partnership started a decade ago following Sharpie’s move to the rural calm of Suffolk, which motivated her friend to head out of London too, after she experienced idyllic weekends.

Theirs was the proverbial kitchen table business, which outgrew the kitchen, making a hot pepper chilli sauce based on a Jamaican friend’s recipe. They sold the company a year ago but are still 100 per cent involved in new product development and quality control. And yes, although it is a wonderful liberation to have experts take on some of the practical nitty gritty of manufacturing and distribution, it does still feel like their brand.

FOOD FOCUS3.indd 20 07/06/2012 15:07


FOOD FOCUS3.indd 21 07/06/2012 15:07

Food focus


“It bears our names. It’s almost inseparable. We still take it personally if something isn’t right or if there is something particularly good we are bursting with pride,” says Sharpie.

Character cuisineMr Organic, purveyor of ketchup and sauces and other things tomato, may only be a cheerful little character drawn on the tin but he is invested with the enthusiasm and vision of the three people behind the brand.

There’s Valerio Simonetti in Italy, where his family have been processing tomatoes at Pontinia, 70 kilometres south of Rome, for more than 40 years, Anglo-Italian Carlo Buckley in London, and then the creative in the team, a Greek bearing a gift for wonderful design and ideas, Kostas Papakostas.

“Our philosophy is being positive about food and that goes right back to the growing of the tomato plants,” explains Carlo.

Fair deals for the growers are the starting point, with the business pre-financing the crop for its suppliers, all farmers within the vicinity of the factory. The nearest farm is a neighbour and has a positive discrimination policy of providing a proportion of jobs for people with learning difficulties. The tomatoes are processed within five hours of harvest and a load of them are crammed into the finished product... two and a half kilos per 480g jar of tomato ketchup, which is five times the amount in standard ketchup, says Carlo.

While Mr Organic has a youthful feel about it, Uncle Roy’s is a company that has deliberately cultivated a vintage style.

But Roy Anderton-Tyers, a former deli shop proprietor from Moffat, Dumfriesshire, who started making his own “comestible concoctions”, says there is no artifice to it. It is simply true to the man behind the brand.

“I’m an uncle, a father, a grandfather and being a bit long in the tooth and a bit old fashioned myself, I set out to create an old-fashioned image,” he explains.

He has also created what can only be described as a cornucopia of products. Where to start? Perhaps with the

mustards, which is where he began. Pride of place goes to the Original Mild but only the incurious wouldn’t want to try a little taste of Earl Grey Mustard, Honey & Whiskey, or Chocolate Chip Mustard.

Uncle Roy makes sauces, relishes, chutneys, preserves but only one salad dressing, called the The One and Only because he always said he would never make a dressing until he discovered some delicious mustard oils and then this tireless kitchen experimenter just couldn’t resist.

His prettiest products are the flower seasonings, petals with herbs, spices,

seaweeds, salts and fruits such as Moffat Meadows and Flowers of Scotland.

Family heritageThere are officially two generations working in the business at Mrs Darlington’s, based at Crewe in Cheshire, but three if you count the enduring contribution of Mrs D’s mother and her mother-in-law, whose recipes have been the starting point for so many of their curds, jams, chutneys and sauces over nearly 30 years.

It started with cracked eggs at Marion Darlington’s farm, which she couldn’t sell so she made lemon curd. The farm and hens have long gone but the preserve making goes from strength to strength.

Her daughters, Sarah and Wendy, were teenagers in the early days, so they didn’t just have homework to get on with when they arrived home from school. There was always plenty of juicing to be done on the family Kenwood mixer.

Sarah had a job in a bank but wasn’t happy so when her father suggested he would pay her “to come and help your mother” she jumped at the offer as a stopgap. And you can guess the next bit – she’s still there. Her sister is also now working in the family business, so it is now very much Mrs Darlington and daughters.

Mr Darlington – Tom – is completely happy about the female slant because he prefers to stay in the background, where he is extremely busy looking after the warehouse and logistics and is still not contemplating retirement, even though he’s 85.

“He has just designed and built a pallet-wrapping machine and he’s now working on the design for a labelling machine,” says Sarah.

Her mother, now 74, takes the lead in developing new products, the latest additions for summer 2012 being Sweet Chilli Relish and Caramelised Onion Chutney. And on the company website, she shares some of her favourite family dishes such as lemon and lime curd ice cream and apple and garlic chicken.

“Hopefully, the fact that we are a family business tells people that we care. We put on the label the words, ‘made with love’ and that’s not just a slogan, our products really are made with love,” says Sarah. FF

✽ Potato salad with a swirl of Tracklements wholegrain mustard.✽ Aubergine dip with Mr Organic’s Genovese pesto (and chilli, garlic and crème fraiche). ✽ A scone cream tea or a gravy for game with Uncle Roy’s Blackcurrant and Licorice Sauce.✽ Ice cream with Thursday Cottage’s 80 per cent fruit Damson Fruit Coulis, ✽ A three-course meal with Jules and Sharpie Hot Mint Jelly. Stir into yogurt with some ground cumin for a dip, use it as a marinade or an accompaniment to lamb or halloumi, stir into peas for the vegetable dish and for afters, chop a fresh pineapple, soak it in the jelly for a couple of hours and then you just need some spoons.

Add more personality to...

FOOD FOCUS3.indd 22 07/06/2012 15:08

Food focus


“It bears our names. It’s almost inseparable. We still take it personally if something isn’t right or if there is something particularly good we are bursting with pride,” says Sharpie.

Character cuisineMr Organic, purveyor of ketchup and sauces and other things tomato, may only be a cheerful little character drawn on the tin but he is invested with the enthusiasm and vision of the three people behind the brand.

There’s Valerio Simonetti in Italy, where his family have been processing tomatoes at Pontinia, 70 kilometres south of Rome, for more than 40 years, Anglo-Italian Carlo Buckley in London, and then the creative in the team, a Greek bearing a gift for wonderful design and ideas, Kostas Papakostas.

“Our philosophy is being positive about food and that goes right back to the growing of the tomato plants,” explains Carlo.

Fair deals for the growers are the starting point, with the business pre-financing the crop for its suppliers, all farmers within the vicinity of the factory. The nearest farm is a neighbour and has a positive discrimination policy of providing a proportion of jobs for people with learning difficulties. The tomatoes are processed within five hours of harvest and a load of them are crammed into the finished product... two and a half kilos per 480g jar of tomato ketchup, which is five times the amount in standard ketchup, says Carlo.

While Mr Organic has a youthful feel about it, Uncle Roy’s is a company that has deliberately cultivated a vintage style.

But Roy Anderton-Tyers, a former deli shop proprietor from Moffat, Dumfriesshire, who started making his own “comestible concoctions”, says there is no artifice to it. It is simply true to the man behind the brand.

“I’m an uncle, a father, a grandfather and being a bit long in the tooth and a bit old fashioned myself, I set out to create an old-fashioned image,” he explains.

He has also created what can only be described as a cornucopia of products. Where to start? Perhaps with the

mustards, which is where he began. Pride of place goes to the Original Mild but only the incurious wouldn’t want to try a little taste of Earl Grey Mustard, Honey & Whiskey, or Chocolate Chip Mustard.

Uncle Roy makes sauces, relishes, chutneys, preserves but only one salad dressing, called the The One and Only because he always said he would never make a dressing until he discovered some delicious mustard oils and then this tireless kitchen experimenter just couldn’t resist.

His prettiest products are the flower seasonings, petals with herbs, spices,

seaweeds, salts and fruits such as Moffat Meadows and Flowers of Scotland.

Family heritageThere are officially two generations working in the business at Mrs Darlington’s, based at Crewe in Cheshire, but three if you count the enduring contribution of Mrs D’s mother and her mother-in-law, whose recipes have been the starting point for so many of their curds, jams, chutneys and sauces over nearly 30 years.

It started with cracked eggs at Marion Darlington’s farm, which she couldn’t sell so she made lemon curd. The farm and hens have long gone but the preserve making goes from strength to strength.

Her daughters, Sarah and Wendy, were teenagers in the early days, so they didn’t just have homework to get on with when they arrived home from school. There was always plenty of juicing to be done on the family Kenwood mixer.

Sarah had a job in a bank but wasn’t happy so when her father suggested he would pay her “to come and help your mother” she jumped at the offer as a stopgap. And you can guess the next bit – she’s still there. Her sister is also now working in the family business, so it is now very much Mrs Darlington and daughters.

Mr Darlington – Tom – is completely happy about the female slant because he prefers to stay in the background, where he is extremely busy looking after the warehouse and logistics and is still not contemplating retirement, even though he’s 85.

“He has just designed and built a pallet-wrapping machine and he’s now working on the design for a labelling machine,” says Sarah.

Her mother, now 74, takes the lead in developing new products, the latest additions for summer 2012 being Sweet Chilli Relish and Caramelised Onion Chutney. And on the company website, she shares some of her favourite family dishes such as lemon and lime curd ice cream and apple and garlic chicken.

“Hopefully, the fact that we are a family business tells people that we care. We put on the label the words, ‘made with love’ and that’s not just a slogan, our products really are made with love,” says Sarah. FF

✽ Potato salad with a swirl of Tracklements wholegrain mustard.✽ Aubergine dip with Mr Organic’s Genovese pesto (and chilli, garlic and crème fraiche). ✽ A scone cream tea or a gravy for game with Uncle Roy’s Blackcurrant and Licorice Sauce.✽ Ice cream with Thursday Cottage’s 80 per cent fruit Damson Fruit Coulis, ✽ A three-course meal with Jules and Sharpie Hot Mint Jelly. Stir into yogurt with some ground cumin for a dip, use it as a marinade or an accompaniment to lamb or halloumi, stir into peas for the vegetable dish and for afters, chop a fresh pineapple, soak it in the jelly for a couple of hours and then you just need some spoons.

Add more personality to...

FOOD FOCUS3.indd 22 07/06/2012 15:08 Pg23 - ADS.indd 1 08/06/2012 10:40

Home-grownsummerIn season


After the ‘hungry gap’ of late spring, summer is a wonderful time for vegetable growers and cooks. If you’re not growing

your own, consider a vegbox ‒ it’s the next best thing.

The first home-grown strawberries, broad beans, gooseberries, courgettes, Charlotte potatoes and bunched carrots appear and with them, a sense of new life

in the kitchen. Keep your cooking simple and light; these new season vegetables need very little cooking or sauces.

Broad beans are an iconic summer vegetable, and certainly one that benefits from the ‘keep it simple’ treatment. When they are very young, you can pod them and eat them raw, served with slivers of pecorino cheese and olive oil. They are also very good blanched (boil for two minutes then refresh in cold

water), then puréed or mashed with crushed garlic, shredded fresh mint, grated pecorino and extra virgin olive oil. Spread on bruschetta.

To make broad beans go further, add a few tablespoons of cooked Puy lentils to blanched broad beans with crushed garlic and shredded mint. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Also try the wild rice, spinach and broad bean salad recipe from Riverford cook Francesca Melman.

Ingredients:• 125g wild rice

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2 onions, thinly sliced

• 4tbsp olive oil

• 200g broad beans, shelled weight

• 2tbsp pomegranate molasses

• 100g young spinach leaves

Method: • Cook the wild rice in boiling salted water for 30-40 minutes, until tender. Drain and allow to cool. • Cook the onions in the olive oil for 20-30 minutes, until soft

and slightly caramelised. Drain and reserve the cooking oil.

Blanch the broad beans in boiling salted water for three minutes. Drain. Peel any large beans with tough skins. • Add the pomegranate molasses to the onion cooking oil and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl, season and toss with the molasses

dressing. Serve.

Wild rice, spinach and broad bean salad Serves 4-6By Francesca Melman, from Everyday and Sunday ‒ recipes from Riverford Farm

What makes this recipe distinctive is using the oil that the onions have been cooked in for the dressing. The sweet onions are freshened by the sharpness of the

pomegranate molasses. This is available from Middle Eastern and health food shops.

in season.indd 24 07/06/2012 15:09

Home-grownsummerIn season


After the ‘hungry gap’ of late spring, summer is a wonderful time for vegetable growers and cooks. If you’re not growing

your own, consider a vegbox ‒ it’s the next best thing.

The first home-grown strawberries, broad beans, gooseberries, courgettes, Charlotte potatoes and bunched carrots appear and with them, a sense of new life

in the kitchen. Keep your cooking simple and light; these new season vegetables need very little cooking or sauces.

Broad beans are an iconic summer vegetable, and certainly one that benefits from the ‘keep it simple’ treatment. When they are very young, you can pod them and eat them raw, served with slivers of pecorino cheese and olive oil. They are also very good blanched (boil for two minutes then refresh in cold

water), then puréed or mashed with crushed garlic, shredded fresh mint, grated pecorino and extra virgin olive oil. Spread on bruschetta.

To make broad beans go further, add a few tablespoons of cooked Puy lentils to blanched broad beans with crushed garlic and shredded mint. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Also try the wild rice, spinach and broad bean salad recipe from Riverford cook Francesca Melman.

Ingredients:• 125g wild rice

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2 onions, thinly sliced

• 4tbsp olive oil

• 200g broad beans, shelled weight

• 2tbsp pomegranate molasses

• 100g young spinach leaves

Method: • Cook the wild rice in boiling salted water for 30-40 minutes, until tender. Drain and allow to cool. • Cook the onions in the olive oil for 20-30 minutes, until soft

and slightly caramelised. Drain and reserve the cooking oil.

Blanch the broad beans in boiling salted water for three minutes. Drain. Peel any large beans with tough skins. • Add the pomegranate molasses to the onion cooking oil and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl, season and toss with the molasses

dressing. Serve.

Wild rice, spinach and broad bean salad Serves 4-6By Francesca Melman, from Everyday and Sunday ‒ recipes from Riverford Farm

What makes this recipe distinctive is using the oil that the onions have been cooked in for the dressing. The sweet onions are freshened by the sharpness of the

pomegranate molasses. This is available from Middle Eastern and health food shops.

in season.indd 24 07/06/2012 15:09


Ingredients:• 1kg new potatoes• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 150g picked white crab meat• Juice of 1 lemon, plus more if needed

• 1 garlic clove, crushed

• 1 red chilli, deseeded if preferred, chopped

• 2tbsp chopped parsley• 3tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method: • Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 15-20 minutes,

then drain. • Allow to cool, then cut them into halves or quarters. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and toss through the potatoes. Adjust the seasoning and add extra lemon juice if required.

New potatoes with crab, chilli, parsley and lemon Serves 4By Jane Baxter, from Everyday and Sunday ‒ recipes from Riverford Farm

in season.indd 25 07/06/2012 15:09

Simple and seasonal

Be inspired to cook fresh and seasonal dishes for the whole family with the help of Romilla Arber’s new book, What’s For Dinner?

Recipes


Ingredients:• 450g ready-rolled puff pastry • 100g frozen petit pois • 100g asparagus spears • 70g pancetta, chopped • 4tbsp crème fraiche • 1 egg, beaten • 1tbsp chopped fresh basil • 1tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

• 4-5 cherry tomatoes, sliced • Sea salt • Freshly ground black pepper

Method:• Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Line the tartlet tins with puff pastry and set them aside in the fridge. • Cook the peas in boiling water

and drain. Steam the asparagus spears until tender, then drain and cut them into 1cm pieces. • Fry the pancetta until golden brown, put it in a bowl and add the peas, asparagus, crème fraiche, egg, basil and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper and mix everything together gently.

• Spoon this mixture into the tart cases and garnish each one with the sliced tomatoes. Place the tart cases on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. If making one big tart, cook it for 30 minutes. • Let the tarts cool slightly before turning them out. Best served warm.

Puff pastry tartlets Makes 8 individual tarts or 1 big tart

These tartlets are a doddle to make. If you don’t have tartlet tins, you can make one large tart.

recipe.indd 26 07/06/2012 15:10

Simple and seasonal

Be inspired to cook fresh and seasonal dishes for the whole family with the help of Romilla Arber’s new book, What’s For Dinner?

Recipes


Ingredients:• 450g ready-rolled puff pastry • 100g frozen petit pois • 100g asparagus spears • 70g pancetta, chopped • 4tbsp crème fraiche • 1 egg, beaten • 1tbsp chopped fresh basil • 1tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

• 4-5 cherry tomatoes, sliced • Sea salt • Freshly ground black pepper

Method:• Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Line the tartlet tins with puff pastry and set them aside in the fridge. • Cook the peas in boiling water

and drain. Steam the asparagus spears until tender, then drain and cut them into 1cm pieces. • Fry the pancetta until golden brown, put it in a bowl and add the peas, asparagus, crème fraiche, egg, basil and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper and mix everything together gently.

• Spoon this mixture into the tart cases and garnish each one with the sliced tomatoes. Place the tart cases on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. If making one big tart, cook it for 30 minutes. • Let the tarts cool slightly before turning them out. Best served warm.



recipe.indd 26 07/06/2012 15:10


Ingredients:• 1.2kg belly pork • Olive oil • Sea salt • Freshly ground black pepper

Bread rolls: • 1 x 7g sachet dried yeast • 1tsp sugar • 350ml mix of warm water and warm milk • 500g strong bread flour, warmed briefly in a

microwave • 1½ tsp salt

Apple sauce:• 3 eating apples, peeled, cut into quarters

and cored • 1dsrtsp brown sugar • 2tbsp water

Method:• Preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas 2. Dry the pork rind with a piece of kitchen paper, then massage the olive oil into the rind and sprinkle with salt. • Place the joint in a roasting tin and roast for two hours. For the last 30 minutes, turn the heat up to 200°C/Gas 6 to ensure nice crispy crackling. Remove the meat from the oven and place it on a board to rest for about 15 minutes before carving and serving in the rolls with some apple sauce.

To make the bread rolls:• Mix the yeast and sugar with a little of the warm milk and water and leave for five minutes. • Measure the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the yeasted milk and water and the rest of the liquid and mix to a dough. Turn out on to a work surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and pliable. Place back in the bowl, cover and leave in a draught-free place for one hour. • Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Cut the dough into six equal pieces and shape each piece into a roll. Place the rolls on a greased baking sheet and brush them with a little

milk, then cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for 30 minutes. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, then remove and take them off the baking sheet as soon as they are cool enough to handle.

To make the apple sauce:• Place the apples, sugar and water in a small saucepan. Place on a medium heat on the stove and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for about 15 minutes, until the apples are beginning to fall apart. Break them up with a fork.

Crispy pork sandwiches with apple sauce Serves 6

In most markets in Italy you’ll see pork-filled ciabatta rolls being sold from the hatches of white vans. They are utterly delicious and filling enough to be served up as a weekend dinner. If you don’t have time to make the bread rolls, buy ciabatta rolls from the supermarket.



recipe.indd 27 07/06/2012 15:10

Recipes


Recipes

Ingredients:• 6 pork steaks• Olive oil • Juice of 1 or 2 lemons • Sea salt • Freshly ground black pepper

Tuscan beans:• 1tbsp olive oil • 2 x 400g cans of cannellini beans,

drained and rinsed

• 1 onion, finely chopped• 6 sage leaves, roughly chopped • 1 x 400g can of chopped tomatoes • Sea salt • Freshly ground black pepper

Method:• First prepare the beans. Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan and add the onion. Cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add the beans, sage and

tomatoes. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. • Preheat the grill. Season the pork steaks with pepper and brush them with a little olive oil. Place the steaks under the grill and cook for five minutes on each side. Sprinkle with lemon juice and salt and serve.

Pork steaks with Tuscan beans Serves 6

I’ve eaten this many times in Italy, but it tastes just as fine at home in England.

recipe.indd 28 07/06/2012 15:11

Recipes


Recipes

Ingredients:• 6 pork steaks• Olive oil • Juice of 1 or 2 lemons • Sea salt • Freshly ground black pepper

Tuscan beans:• 1tbsp olive oil • 2 x 400g cans of cannellini beans,

drained and rinsed

• 1 onion, finely chopped• 6 sage leaves, roughly chopped • 1 x 400g can of chopped tomatoes • Sea salt • Freshly ground black pepper

Method:• First prepare the beans. Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan and add the onion. Cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add the beans, sage and

tomatoes. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. • Preheat the grill. Season the pork steaks with pepper and brush them with a little olive oil. Place the steaks under the grill and cook for five minutes on each side. Sprinkle with lemon juice and salt and serve.

Pork steaks with Tuscan beans Serves 6

I’ve eaten this many times in Italy, but it tastes just as fine at home in England.

recipe.indd 28 07/06/2012 15:11 Pg29 - ADS.indd 1 08/06/2012 10:40

Recipes


What’s for Dinner? Second Helpings is a new cookery book that has a recipe for every day of the year, including two weekly teatime treats that the whole family will enjoy. Written by mum of four, Romilla Arber, it’s the only cookery book in the UK, where all sale proceeds go directly to charity, The Food Education Trust (www.foodeducationtrust.com).

Ingredients:• 200ml whipping cream

• 200ml double cream • 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways

• 7 egg yolks • 75g caster sugar, plus 6tsp of caster sugar for the topping

• 225g fresh raspberries • Mint leaves and extra raspberries for decoration (optional)

Raspberry crème brûlées Serves 6I use shallow brûlée dishes for these, but you could use ramekins instead.

Method:• Preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas 2. Combine both creams in a saucepan and scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod into them. Bring to the boil and then set the pan aside. • Using an electric hand-whisk, beat the yolks and sugar together in a glass bowl until thick and mousse-like. Pour the warm cream and vanilla seeds on to the eggs and sugar, whisking as you do so. Place the glass bowl over a

saucepan of simmering water, taking care that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a wooden spoon, then set to one side. • Divide the raspberries evenly between the dishes. Pour the custard into each ramekin over the raspberries. Place the ramekins in a deep ovenproof dish and pour in enough boiling water from a kettle to come halfway up the sides of the ramekin dishes. Place in the oven

and cook for 30 minutes. Leave the brûlées to cool, then put them in the fridge until you need them. • Before serving, preheat your grill. Sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over each ramekin and place under the grill until the sugar starts to go dark brown and caramelise. Alternatively, use a kitchen blowtorch to produce the same result. Serve immediately, decorated with a few more raspberries and some mint leaves if you like.

recipe.indd 30 07/06/2012 15:11

Recipes


What’s for Dinner? Second Helpings is a new cookery book that has a recipe for every day of the year, including two weekly teatime treats that the whole family will enjoy. Written by mum of four, Romilla Arber, it’s the only cookery book in the UK, where all sale proceeds go directly to charity, The Food Education Trust (www.foodeducationtrust.com).

Ingredients:• 200ml whipping cream

• 200ml double cream • 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways

• 7 egg yolks • 75g caster sugar, plus 6tsp of caster sugar for the topping

• 225g fresh raspberries • Mint leaves and extra raspberries for decoration (optional)

Raspberry crème brûlées Serves 6I use shallow brûlée dishes for these, but you could use ramekins instead.

Method:• Preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas 2. Combine both creams in a saucepan and scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod into them. Bring to the boil and then set the pan aside. • Using an electric hand-whisk, beat the yolks and sugar together in a glass bowl until thick and mousse-like. Pour the warm cream and vanilla seeds on to the eggs and sugar, whisking as you do so. Place the glass bowl over a

saucepan of simmering water, taking care that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a wooden spoon, then set to one side. • Divide the raspberries evenly between the dishes. Pour the custard into each ramekin over the raspberries. Place the ramekins in a deep ovenproof dish and pour in enough boiling water from a kettle to come halfway up the sides of the ramekin dishes. Place in the oven

and cook for 30 minutes. Leave the brûlées to cool, then put them in the fridge until you need them. • Before serving, preheat your grill. Sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over each ramekin and place under the grill until the sugar starts to go dark brown and caramelise. Alternatively, use a kitchen blowtorch to produce the same result. Serve immediately, decorated with a few more raspberries and some mint leaves if you like.

recipe.indd 30 07/06/2012 15:11 Pg31 - ADS.indd 1 08/06/2012 10:40

Chinese cuisineat home Fuchsia Dunlop explores the beauty

of home-cooked Chinese fare in her new book, Every Grain of Rice.

Recipes


Ingredients:• 450g plain white tofu• 200ml cooking oil, for

deep-frying• 2tbsp Sichuanese chilli bean

paste• 3 garlic cloves, sliced• An equivalent amount of

ginger, also sliced• 3 baby leeks or spring onions,

sliced diagonally into ‘horse ears’, white and green parts separated

• 200ml stock• ½ tsp caster sugar• ½-1tsp light soy sauce• ½ tsp potato flour mixed with

2tsp cold water

Method:• Cut the tofu into 4–5cm squares or rectangles, about 1cm thick. Heat the oil in a seasoned wok over a high flame to 180-190°C (350–375°F). Fry the tofu slices in a few batches for a few minutes until golden, then set aside.• Pour all but 3tbsp of the oil into a heatproof container. Reduce the heat to medium, then return the wok to the stove with the chilli bean paste. Stir-fry until the oil is red and richly fragrant. Add the garlic, ginger and leek or spring onion whites and fry until

they, too, are fragrant. Then tip in the stock and the tofu and bring to a boil.• Reduce the heat slightly, season with the sugar and soy sauce and simmer for three to four minutes until the liquid is reduced and the tofu has absorbed some of the flavours of the sauce.• Add the leek or spring onion greens and stir briefly until just cooked. Finally, stir the potato flour mixture, scatter it into the centre of the wok, and stir until the sauce has thickened. Turn out on to a serving dish.

Bear’s paw tofu (Xiong zhang dou fu)This exotic-sounding dish is actually just a version of the everyday Sichuanese dish ‘homestyle tofu’ (jia chang dou fu). It takes its name from the fact that the fried slices of tofu have a puckered appearance like that of bear’s paw, a legendary (and now notorious) banquet delicacy. Most Sichuanese cooks would add a little pork to the dish, frying it off in the oil before they add the chilli bean sauce, but it’s equally delicious without. You can shallow-fry the tofu slices if you prefer; they’ll be equally tasty, but may disintegrate in the sauce. With a dish of leafy greens and plenty of rice, bear’s paw tofu makes a very satisfying supper for two.

recipe 2.indd 32 07/06/2012 15:12

Chinese cuisineat home Fuchsia Dunlop explores the beauty

of home-cooked Chinese fare in her new book, Every Grain of Rice.

Recipes


Ingredients:• 450g plain white tofu• 200ml cooking oil, for

deep-frying• 2tbsp Sichuanese chilli bean

paste• 3 garlic cloves, sliced• An equivalent amount of

ginger, also sliced• 3 baby leeks or spring onions,

sliced diagonally into ‘horse ears’, white and green parts separated

• 200ml stock• ½ tsp caster sugar• ½-1tsp light soy sauce• ½ tsp potato flour mixed with

2tsp cold water

Method:• Cut the tofu into 4–5cm squares or rectangles, about 1cm thick. Heat the oil in a seasoned wok over a high flame to 180-190°C (350–375°F). Fry the tofu slices in a few batches for a few minutes until golden, then set aside.• Pour all but 3tbsp of the oil into a heatproof container. Reduce the heat to medium, then return the wok to the stove with the chilli bean paste. Stir-fry until the oil is red and richly fragrant. Add the garlic, ginger and leek or spring onion whites and fry until

they, too, are fragrant. Then tip in the stock and the tofu and bring to a boil.• Reduce the heat slightly, season with the sugar and soy sauce and simmer for three to four minutes until the liquid is reduced and the tofu has absorbed some of the flavours of the sauce.• Add the leek or spring onion greens and stir briefly until just cooked. Finally, stir the potato flour mixture, scatter it into the centre of the wok, and stir until the sauce has thickened. Turn out on to a serving dish.

Bear’s paw tofu (Xiong zhang dou fu)This exotic-sounding dish is actually just a version of the everyday Sichuanese dish ‘homestyle tofu’ (jia chang dou fu). It takes its name from the fact that the fried slices of tofu have a puckered appearance like that of bear’s paw, a legendary (and now notorious) banquet delicacy. Most Sichuanese cooks would add a little pork to the dish, frying it off in the oil before they add the chilli bean sauce, but it’s equally delicious without. You can shallow-fry the tofu slices if you prefer; they’ll be equally tasty, but may disintegrate in the sauce. With a dish of leafy greens and plenty of rice, bear’s paw tofu makes a very satisfying supper for two.

recipe 2.indd 32 07/06/2012 15:12

Clams in black bean sauce (Chi zhi chao xi an)This Cantonese dish is messy to eat and gorgeously flavoured; the home-made black bean sauce is in a different league from the dull bottled versions. Its robust flavours are an equally magnificent match for mussels. Do make sure you don’t overcook the clams, or they will become what the Chinese call ‘old’ (tired and leathery).


Ingredients:• 1kg clams, in their shells• 3tbsp cooking oil• 2½ tbsp fermented black beans, rinsed and drained

• 2tsp finely chopped ginger• 1tbsp finely chopped garlic• 1½ fresh red chillies, cut into thin diagonal slices

• 3tbsp finely chopped green pepper

• 2tbsp Shaoxing wine• 1tsp dark soy sauce• 1tsp light soy sauce

• Salt (optional)• 1tsp potato flour mixed with 2tbsp cold water

• 2tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens

Method: • Rinse the clams thoroughly in cold water. Discard any with broken shells and those that are open and do not close when tapped. Pour 500ml water into a lidded saucepan large enough to hold all the clams and bring to a boil. Then add the clams, cover

and heat over a high flame for three to four minutes, until all the shells have opened, opening the lid briefly from time to time to stir them.• Remove the clams with a slotted spoon and set aside, discarding any that have failed to open. Keep the cooking liquor in the pan. Heat a seasoned wok over a high flame. Add the oil, followed by the black beans, ginger, garlic, chillies and green pepper, and stir-fry briefly until they all smell wonderful.

• Pour in 150ml of the clams’ cooking liquor. Bring to a boil, skim if necessary, then season with the Shaoxing wine and soy sauces and a little salt, if desired.• Give the potato flour mixture a stir and add it to the wok in two or three stages, using just enough to thicken the liquid to the consistency of single cream. Then, off the heat, stir in the clams and spring onion greens and mix everything together. Tip into a dish and serve.

VariationMussels in black bean sauce ‒ You can cook and serve mussels in exactly the same way: the only difference is that they will take a little longer to open than the clams.

recipe 2.indd 33 07/06/2012 15:13

Red-braised beef with tofu ‘bamboo’ (Fu zhu shao niu rou)This gently spicy, slow-cooked stew is the perfect thing for a winter’s evening. The tofu soaks up the flavours of the meat and has a delightful texture. If you’d rather, you can use chunks of winter vegetables instead; carrot, potato and turnip all work well. Dried bamboo shoots, soaked to soften then cooked with the beef from the beginning, make another wonderful variation.

Recipes


Ingredients:• 450g stewing beef or beef shin• 2tbsp cooking oil• 2½ tbsp Sichuan chilli bean paste• 25g piece of ginger, unpeeled, crushed slightly

• 2 spring onions, white parts only, crushed slightly

• 1 star anise• 1½ tsp sweet fermented sauce• 750ml stock, plus a little more, if needed

• 2tbsp Shaoxing wine• 2 sticks of tofu ‘bamboo’, or dried tofu knots

Method:• Cut the beef into 2-3cm chunks. Bring a panful of water to the boil, add the beef and return to the boil. When a froth has risen to the surface, tip the beef into a colander, drain and rinse.• Heat the oil in a seasoned wok over a medium flame. Add the chilli bean paste and stir-fry until the oil is red and richly fragrant. Tip in the ginger, spring onions and star anise

and continue to stir until you can smell them. Add the sweet fermented sauce and stir-fry for a few moments more before pouring in the stock.• Place the beef and Shaoxing wine in a saucepan or a clay pot and pour over the contents of the wok. Bring to a boil, then partially cover the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for a couple of hours, until the meat is beautifully tender. When the

beef has started its slow cooking, set the tofu to soak in hot water from the kettle.• Shortly before you wish to serve the dish, drain the tofu and cut on the diagonal into 2-3cm sections to complement the beef, discarding any pieces that remain hard. Add it to the stew and heat through (you may add a little more stock or hot water from the kettle if you need it), then serve.

Every Grain of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop is published by Bloomsbury, £25.

recipe 2.indd 34 07/06/2012 15:14

Red-braised beef with tofu ‘bamboo’ (Fu zhu shao niu rou)This gently spicy, slow-cooked stew is the perfect thing for a winter’s evening. The tofu soaks up the flavours of the meat and has a delightful texture. If you’d rather, you can use chunks of winter vegetables instead; carrot, potato and turnip all work well. Dried bamboo shoots, soaked to soften then cooked with the beef from the beginning, make another wonderful variation.

Recipes


Ingredients:• 450g stewing beef or beef shin• 2tbsp cooking oil• 2½ tbsp Sichuan chilli bean paste• 25g piece of ginger, unpeeled, crushed slightly

• 2 spring onions, white parts only, crushed slightly

• 1 star anise• 1½ tsp sweet fermented sauce• 750ml stock, plus a little more, if needed

• 2tbsp Shaoxing wine• 2 sticks of tofu ‘bamboo’, or dried tofu knots

Method:• Cut the beef into 2-3cm chunks. Bring a panful of water to the boil, add the beef and return to the boil. When a froth has risen to the surface, tip the beef into a colander, drain and rinse.• Heat the oil in a seasoned wok over a medium flame. Add the chilli bean paste and stir-fry until the oil is red and richly fragrant. Tip in the ginger, spring onions and star anise

and continue to stir until you can smell them. Add the sweet fermented sauce and stir-fry for a few moments more before pouring in the stock.• Place the beef and Shaoxing wine in a saucepan or a clay pot and pour over the contents of the wok. Bring to a boil, then partially cover the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for a couple of hours, until the meat is beautifully tender. When the

beef has started its slow cooking, set the tofu to soak in hot water from the kettle.• Shortly before you wish to serve the dish, drain the tofu and cut on the diagonal into 2-3cm sections to complement the beef, discarding any pieces that remain hard. Add it to the stew and heat through (you may add a little more stock or hot water from the kettle if you need it), then serve.

Every Grain of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop is published by Bloomsbury, £25.

recipe 2.indd 34 07/06/2012 15:14 Pg35 - Hampstead Teas FPC.indd 1 08/06/2012 11:38

Global foodie


Think of Brazil and you think of soccer, samba, bossa-nova, beaches, and carnival.

As a native Brazilian, I am fascinated by my culture; we

are a mixture of the African, Portuguese, and native Indian cultures and we are proud of our origins.

This mixture can be seen in the music we hear, in the faces of our people, and in the foods we eat.

And talking about the foods that we eat, Brazilian cuisine is finally having a place in the sun. With mega sports events coming to Brazil – the World Cup 2014 and Olympics 2016 – as well as pretty awesome chefs putting our Brazilian restaurants on the map (Alex Atala’s D.O.M was rated seventh best in the world according to the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants), the world is finally turning to pay attention to Brazilian cuisine.

A flavour of BrazilBrazil has a vast arrary of traditional dishes, and the list can go on and on. Worthy of note is Moqueca de Peix, a fish stew made with dendê oil, hearts of palm, ginger, tomatoes, lemongrass, fish and coconut milk.

Also featuring heavily in Brazilian cuisine is Bobó de Camarão (shrimp and yucca stew), Vatapá (fish puree Bahian style) featuring dendê oil, coconut milk, onions, garlic, peanuts, cashews, bell peppers, tomatoes, fish, and bread, and Feijoada (black beans stew with lots of different meats cooked inside).

Cod fritters are the granddaddy of all bar foods served in Boutequins (a type of tapas restaurant) all over Brazil. An exquisite deep-fried morsel that usually comes in a basket, cod fritters, or in Portuguese bolinho de bacalhau, has many versions. What makes this recipe so delicious and different from other cod

fritters are the egg whites mixed into the batter, which provides them with a delicate, airy texture.

When using salt cod, always allow a bit of planning since you need to soak the cod for at least 24 hours, preferably for two to three days, in cold water in the refrigerator, changing the water at least three times per day. Then the cod is gently poached in milk and cut into tender shreds before being mixed with the mashed potatoes. The result is a tender and fluffy cod–potato mixture surrounded by a golden crunchy crust. Once the fritters are done, they reheat quite nicely in the oven.

The national drinkOf all things Brazilian, you’ve probably heard of the caipirinha, our heraldic emblem and one of Brazil’s greatest contributions to the food and wine world. Refreshing, cool, sweet, and relaxing, caipirinha is Brazil. And if caipirinha is Brazil, then cachaça is our national shrine.

The spirit was invented in the mid 1500s in Brazil, when Portuguese colonisers began to cultivate sugar cane. Back then, somewhere in a sugar mill around São Paulo some stems of rough cane were forgotten, left to sit around and yielded a foamy, non-alcoholic juice that naturally fermented. The drink had a strong effect on the body, was frequently used as a painkiller, and was served to slaves at the time.

Eventually, the Portuguese decided to distil and age it, creating a new type of aguardente (spirits distilled from fruits or vegetables) and named it cachaça. There are many different kinds of wood (oak, cherry, and jequitiba rosa among them) used for ageing the spirit, each leaving different traces of taste; some with a more floral flavour, others with a hint of vanilla or cinnamon.

Cachaça was considered a poor man’s

Brazilian food writer Letícia Schwartz takes us on a flavour-filled journey through Brazil.

drink, and the disdain lingered for quite some time. But in Brazil, in the current wave of waking up to our own ingredients, the culture has changed a lot, and today cachaça couldn’t be more in vogue and caipirinhas have reached a global audience.

Around the globe, cachaça is also called Brazilian rum and the distillation process is quite similar. The difference, however, is that rum is distilled from molasses (which also comes from sugar cane) while cachaça is distilled from the fresh sugar cane juices. Good cachaça has an intense aroma and flavours of fresh sugar cane.

If you have a chance to visit Brazil (I hope you do), and would like to sniff deeper into hundreds of different cachacas, step out of the beach for an afternoon and visit Academia da Cachaça, in Rio de Janeiro, a rickety bar devoted entirely to the spirit. You can taste cachaça until you end up under the table. Or, you can do what I do as a devoted Brazilian; I practice my devotion eating some petiscos, with a caipirinha on the side. Bolinho de Bacalhau (cod fritters) is the granddaddy of all bar foods and he loves a good caipirinha!

Essentially, caipirinha is a simple cocktail based on a mixture of mashed lime with sugar, ice, and cachaça. As elementary as it is, there are a few variables that could make all the difference in your drink.

Best of Brazil

GLOBAL FOOD.indd 36 07/06/2012 15:15

Global foodie


Think of Brazil and you think of soccer, samba, bossa-nova, beaches, and carnival.

As a native Brazilian, I am fascinated by my culture; we

are a mixture of the African, Portuguese, and native Indian cultures and we are proud of our origins.

This mixture can be seen in the music we hear, in the faces of our people, and in the foods we eat.

And talking about the foods that we eat, Brazilian cuisine is finally having a place in the sun. With mega sports events coming to Brazil – the World Cup 2014 and Olympics 2016 – as well as pretty awesome chefs putting our Brazilian restaurants on the map (Alex Atala’s D.O.M was rated seventh best in the world according to the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants), the world is finally turning to pay attention to Brazilian cuisine.

A flavour of BrazilBrazil has a vast arrary of traditional dishes, and the list can go on and on. Worthy of note is Moqueca de Peix, a fish stew made with dendê oil, hearts of palm, ginger, tomatoes, lemongrass, fish and coconut milk.

Also featuring heavily in Brazilian cuisine is Bobó de Camarão (shrimp and yucca stew), Vatapá (fish puree Bahian style) featuring dendê oil, coconut milk, onions, garlic, peanuts, cashews, bell peppers, tomatoes, fish, and bread, and Feijoada (black beans stew with lots of different meats cooked inside).

Cod fritters are the granddaddy of all bar foods served in Boutequins (a type of tapas restaurant) all over Brazil. An exquisite deep-fried morsel that usually comes in a basket, cod fritters, or in Portuguese bolinho de bacalhau, has many versions. What makes this recipe so delicious and different from other cod

fritters are the egg whites mixed into the batter, which provides them with a delicate, airy texture.

When using salt cod, always allow a bit of planning since you need to soak the cod for at least 24 hours, preferably for two to three days, in cold water in the refrigerator, changing the water at least three times per day. Then the cod is gently poached in milk and cut into tender shreds before being mixed with the mashed potatoes. The result is a tender and fluffy cod–potato mixture surrounded by a golden crunchy crust. Once the fritters are done, they reheat quite nicely in the oven.

The national drinkOf all things Brazilian, you’ve probably heard of the caipirinha, our heraldic emblem and one of Brazil’s greatest contributions to the food and wine world. Refreshing, cool, sweet, and relaxing, caipirinha is Brazil. And if caipirinha is Brazil, then cachaça is our national shrine.

The spirit was invented in the mid 1500s in Brazil, when Portuguese colonisers began to cultivate sugar cane. Back then, somewhere in a sugar mill around São Paulo some stems of rough cane were forgotten, left to sit around and yielded a foamy, non-alcoholic juice that naturally fermented. The drink had a strong effect on the body, was frequently used as a painkiller, and was served to slaves at the time.

Eventually, the Portuguese decided to distil and age it, creating a new type of aguardente (spirits distilled from fruits or vegetables) and named it cachaça. There are many different kinds of wood (oak, cherry, and jequitiba rosa among them) used for ageing the spirit, each leaving different traces of taste; some with a more floral flavour, others with a hint of vanilla or cinnamon.

Cachaça was considered a poor man’s

Brazilian food writer Letícia Schwartz takes us on a flavour-filled journey through Brazil.

drink, and the disdain lingered for quite some time. But in Brazil, in the current wave of waking up to our own ingredients, the culture has changed a lot, and today cachaça couldn’t be more in vogue and caipirinhas have reached a global audience.

Around the globe, cachaça is also called Brazilian rum and the distillation process is quite similar. The difference, however, is that rum is distilled from molasses (which also comes from sugar cane) while cachaça is distilled from the fresh sugar cane juices. Good cachaça has an intense aroma and flavours of fresh sugar cane.

If you have a chance to visit Brazil (I hope you do), and would like to sniff deeper into hundreds of different cachacas, step out of the beach for an afternoon and visit Academia da Cachaça, in Rio de Janeiro, a rickety bar devoted entirely to the spirit. You can taste cachaça until you end up under the table. Or, you can do what I do as a devoted Brazilian; I practice my devotion eating some petiscos, with a caipirinha on the side. Bolinho de Bacalhau (cod fritters) is the granddaddy of all bar foods and he loves a good caipirinha!

Essentially, caipirinha is a simple cocktail based on a mixture of mashed lime with sugar, ice, and cachaça. As elementary as it is, there are a few variables that could make all the difference in your drink.

Best of Brazil

GLOBAL FOOD.indd 36 07/06/2012 15:15


lots of different kinds of desserts prepared with caipirinha. Dancing in my head were visions of tender caipirinha cake, exploding with Brazilian flavours.

I must include coconut, I thought. Lime, cachaça, butter, eggs and coconut milk are a no-brainer. I made the recipe and was rewarded with a nutty, light, gently flavoured caipirinha cake. When it was all gone I immediately wanted to make it again and invited some friends over for dinner as an excuse.

This time, when I went to the supermarket, coconut milk was sold out, and only cream of coconut was available. I hesitated but decided to give it a try. I whipped up the cake, sneaking a spoonful for quality control purposes.

The flavour was markedly different from the previous batch, more elusive, creamier, perhaps because there is more fat in cream of coconut than in coconut milk.

Then I decided my cake needed to be drunk, so I made a caipirinha syrup. To round off my creation I came up with a caipirinha whipped cream. The cake was so much fun to make and so easy to eat we nearly devoured it all in one sitting.

I nicknamed it Caipi Coco Cake, and it is now a typical Saturday night dinner fare in my house, along with caipirinhas, of course.

The lime should be cut into medium-sized chunks. It is then mashed with sugar by a wooden muddler until the lime releases its oils. Transfer this mixture to a shaker, add some ice, cachaça, shake it, and pour. Done!

Some recipes advise against mashing the lime too hard, as the oil can taste bitter. That’s a very legitimate argument, but with the guardian angel sugar there to protect it, the more you release those oils, the better. Plus, remember that caipirinha calls for lime and not lemon. And there’s a big difference; the lemon skin is much thicker and carries a heavier white layer, giving a bitter taste. Finally, we don’t have lemon in Brazil, only lime.

Other recipes will tell you to mash the lime with sugar in the glass, then add ice and cachaça and stir. Any Brazilian will tell you that a cocktail shaker is of vital importance to a good caipirinha, allowing all the ingredients to samba together.

I like my caipirinha on the lighter side, although it’s very common to use a bit of a stronger dose than suggested here.

Another important point is that caipirinha is not the type of drink to serve out of a pitcher. It’s also not the type of drink you can prepare in advance. For the sake of great taste, each must be prepared individually, shaken individually, and

immediately poured into a wide sturdy glass. Of course, this creates catering obstacles. Once I bought the biggest shaker I could find and when I needed to serve a large group of people, I could assemble two to three caipirinhas at a time. On the other hand, making caipirinha doesn’t take more than a minute per cocktail, and part of the fun is making them.

Having a very sweet tooth, often when I make caipirinhas, I get inspired by its flavours. The other day I started to think of

GLOBAL FOOD.indd 37 07/06/2012 15:15

Global foodie


Caipirinha coconut cakeServes 8 to 10 people

For the cake:Ingredients: • 190g cream of coconut• 3 (90g) large egg whites • 2tbsp (30ml) cachaça• 1tsp (5ml) lemon extract• 1/3 cup and 1tbsp (90g) sugar• ½ cup (35g) unsweetened grated coconut• Grated zest of 1 lime• 1½ cup and 1tbsp (200g) cake flour (I used

Swans Down)• 2¼ tsp baking powder• ½ tsp salt• 10tbsp (150g) unsalted butter

For the caipirinha syrup:• ½ cup (120g) sugar

• ¼ cup (60ml) lime juice• 2tbsp (30ml) cachaça

For the Caipi-Coco whipped cream:• 1½ cups (350g) heavy cream• 1-2tbsp confectioner’s sugar, sifted• 1tsp (5ml) cachaça• Grated zest of 1 lime• ½ cup unsweetened coconut chips (40g)

Method:Prepare the cake:• Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, coat with butter again, and dust with flour, tapping out the excess.• In a medium bowl, combine the cream of coconut, egg whites, cachaça, and lemon extract, and whisk until well combined. In a food processor, process the sugar with coconut and lime zest until the oils of both infuse the sugar, about one minute.• In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. • In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the coconut, lime, sugar mixture at medium speed until light and creamy, about three minutes, scraping the sides occasionally.• Reduce the speed to low, and add half of the coconut mixture – the batter will curdle, and that’s OK, it will come together as you add the remaining ingredients. Continue beating slowly.• Add half the dry ingredients, alternating

with the remaining coconut mixture (begin with the liquid and end with the dry ingredients) and beat until just combined, scraping the sides of the bowl. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and flatten out with an offset spatula.• Bake the cake until nicely golden brown and the sides start to pull from the mould, or a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the caipirinha syrup:• Place the sugar and lime juice on a small saucepan and gently warm it over low heat, whisking constantly until the sugar is almost all dissolved, about four minutes. Don’t let it boil. Transfer to a bowl and add the cachaça. • Remove the cake from the oven and transfer the pan to a wire rack. Immediately poke the cake several times with a thin skewer and brush the cake with the syrup (it’s important to soak the cake while still hot). Cool inside the pan for at least 30 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate.

Prepare the whipped cream:• Preheat the oven to 300ºF. Spread the coconut on a small sheet pan and toast until lightly golden brown, about four to six minutes.• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream and sugar until it reaches soft peaks.• Turn off the mixer, add the cachaça and lime zest, and whisk it by hand. Mound the cream on top of the cake and sprinkle evenly with the coconut chips. Serve immediately.

Makes 1 caipirinhaIngredients:• 2 limes• 1tbs sugar• 2 to 3tbs cachaça (adjust amount to taste)• Ice cubes

Method: • Cut the two ends of the lime and cut lime into medium chunk wedges.• Using a muddler, mash the lime with sugar, making sure to squeeze all the juices and to dissolve the sugar in the juice.• Transfer the lime mixture to a shaker. Add the cachaça and ice cubes. Shake well (about eight to 10 times) and pour into a large (but not tall) sturdy glass.

Caipirinha

GLOBAL FOOD.indd 38 07/06/2012 15:16

Global foodie


Caipirinha coconut cakeServes 8 to 10 people

For the cake:Ingredients: • 190g cream of coconut• 3 (90g) large egg whites • 2tbsp (30ml) cachaça• 1tsp (5ml) lemon extract• 1/3 cup and 1tbsp (90g) sugar• ½ cup (35g) unsweetened grated coconut• Grated zest of 1 lime• 1½ cup and 1tbsp (200g) cake flour (I used

Swans Down)• 2¼ tsp baking powder• ½ tsp salt• 10tbsp (150g) unsalted butter

For the caipirinha syrup:• ½ cup (120g) sugar

• ¼ cup (60ml) lime juice• 2tbsp (30ml) cachaça

For the Caipi-Coco whipped cream:• 1½ cups (350g) heavy cream• 1-2tbsp confectioner’s sugar, sifted• 1tsp (5ml) cachaça• Grated zest of 1 lime• ½ cup unsweetened coconut chips (40g)

Method:Prepare the cake:• Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, coat with butter again, and dust with flour, tapping out the excess.• In a medium bowl, combine the cream of coconut, egg whites, cachaça, and lemon extract, and whisk until well combined. In a food processor, process the sugar with coconut and lime zest until the oils of both infuse the sugar, about one minute.• In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. • In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the coconut, lime, sugar mixture at medium speed until light and creamy, about three minutes, scraping the sides occasionally.• Reduce the speed to low, and add half of the coconut mixture – the batter will curdle, and that’s OK, it will come together as you add the remaining ingredients. Continue beating slowly.• Add half the dry ingredients, alternating

with the remaining coconut mixture (begin with the liquid and end with the dry ingredients) and beat until just combined, scraping the sides of the bowl. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and flatten out with an offset spatula.• Bake the cake until nicely golden brown and the sides start to pull from the mould, or a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the caipirinha syrup:• Place the sugar and lime juice on a small saucepan and gently warm it over low heat, whisking constantly until the sugar is almost all dissolved, about four minutes. Don’t let it boil. Transfer to a bowl and add the cachaça. • Remove the cake from the oven and transfer the pan to a wire rack. Immediately poke the cake several times with a thin skewer and brush the cake with the syrup (it’s important to soak the cake while still hot). Cool inside the pan for at least 30 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate.

Prepare the whipped cream:• Preheat the oven to 300ºF. Spread the coconut on a small sheet pan and toast until lightly golden brown, about four to six minutes.• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream and sugar until it reaches soft peaks.• Turn off the mixer, add the cachaça and lime zest, and whisk it by hand. Mound the cream on top of the cake and sprinkle evenly with the coconut chips. Serve immediately.

Makes 1 caipirinhaIngredients:• 2 limes• 1tbs sugar• 2 to 3tbs cachaça (adjust amount to taste)• Ice cubes

Method: • Cut the two ends of the lime and cut lime into medium chunk wedges.• Using a muddler, mash the lime with sugar, making sure to squeeze all the juices and to dissolve the sugar in the juice.• Transfer the lime mixture to a shaker. Add the cachaça and ice cubes. Shake well (about eight to 10 times) and pour into a large (but not tall) sturdy glass.

Caipirinha

GLOBAL FOOD.indd 38 07/06/2012 15:16

SUMMER 2012 FINE FOODIES 39Continued on page 38

Makes about 25 fritters

Ingredients:• 1½ lb salt cod (this makes 1½

cups of shredded cod)• 3 cups milk• 1 large Idaho potato (about 11oz)• 1tbsp finely chopped onion• 1tsp finely chopped garlic (about

2 cloves)• 2tbsp fresh chopped parsley• 4 eggs, separated• 1tbsp olive oil• ½ tsp ground cayenne pepper • Kosher salt and freshly ground

black pepper • Pinch of ground nutmeg• 2 cups vegetable or canola oil for

deep-frying and a deep fat thermometer

Method: De-salt the cod• When buying the salt cod, try to find a piece that looks very meaty. Trim away all the dark parts around the belly and tail. Rinse the fish in cold water and place it inside a large container. The volume of water should be 10 to 15 times the size of the cod, so use a very big container. Fill with cold water, and store it in the refrigerator to soak for two to three days. Change the water at least three times per day; it is very

important to de-salt the cod properly, otherwise the dish will taste too salty. • Remove from the container and place the cod in a medium-sized saucepan. Cover with cold milk. Bring to the boil over medium heat; reduce the heat to low, and cook the cod, uncovered until it becomes opaque, about 15 minutes. • Using a slotted spoon, remove the cod and discard the milk. Flake the meat with your hands into big chunks, then shred the fish by either chopping with a chef’s knife or passing through a food processor on the pulse mode. The fish will have lost about half its weight after being desalted and cooked, so you should have about ½ lb (1½ cups) of shredded fish. Place the cod in a plastic container covered with a tightly-fitting lid and refrigerate until ready to use (you can keep the cooked shredded cod for up to six hours before using). • Prepare the mashed potatoes; peel the potato and cut it into similar-size pieces to ensure even cooking. Place the pieces in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and cover them with cold water, add a pinch of salt. • Cover the pan, bring the water to

the boil then reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender, about eight to 10 minutes; drain them in a colander. While they are still hot, pass the potatoes through a ricer or food mill. Expect about 11/3 cup of mashed potatoes. You should assemble the cod fritters while the potatoes are still warm.

Assemble the fritters:• In a large bowl, mix the shredded cod, mashed potatoes, onions, garlic, parsley, egg yolks, olive oil, and cayenne. If this batter gets too hard to mix by hand you can use an electric mixer with the paddle attachment at low speed. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. • In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer with the whisk attachment to beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Be advised that egg whites without sugar can easily overbeat and go lumpy, so be careful.• Carefully incorporate the egg whites into the cod/potato mixture by folding with a rubber spatula. At this point the batter should feel light, airy, and a bit runny. You won’t be able to shape the fritters with your hands since

the dough is so light, so you will need to spoon the batter directly into the hot oil.

Fry the fritters:• Pour the vegetable oil into a heavy-bottomed pot or casserole and heat the oil to 350ºF, as measured with a deep fat thermometer. If you don’t have a thermometer, pour a drip of batter into the oil; if you hear a sizzling sound and see the batter turning golden brown, then the oil is ready.• Using a small ice-cream scoop or tablespoon, drop each spoonful into the oil. Only add as many as will fit without touching each other otherwise they won’t fry evenly. Turn them occasionally with a long slotted spoon, making sure both sides are browned evenly.• When each fritter is lightly browned all over, remove it from the oil and place it onto a half sheet pan covered with a double thickness of paper towels. Continue working in batches until all fritters are cooked; keep the finished batches in a warm oven until serving. Serve immediately with tartare sauce. These can be reheated in a 300ºF oven for five to 10 minutes.

Cod fritters (Bolinho de Bacalhau)

Leticia Moreinos Schwartz is the author of The Brazilian Kitchen:100 Classic and Contemporary Recipes for the Home Cook. Log onto www.chefleticia.com

GLOBAL FOOD.indd 39 07/06/2012 15:16

Drink upDrinks update


Ingredients:• 1 rosemary sprig, leaves stripped• ½ lime, cut into wedges• 40ml Godminster Vintage

Elderflower Spirit drink• 150ml cloudy apple juice• Ice

Method: Muddle together rosemary sprigs and lime, then shake together with Godminster Vintage Elderflower Spirit drink, apple juice and ice, strain into a martini glass and serve.

refreSh your Summer

Cool CoCktailThe people at Godminster are tempting the tastebuds with a selection of new cocktails.

This summer there is more to celebrate than ever before and so Godminster has created new summer cocktails to help celebrations go with a swing.

A key ingredient is Godminster’s Organic Elderflower Vodka Spirit, which is made using pure English vodka and gently infused for months on the Godminster Farm in Somerset. Here is one to try out:

GodminSter aromatiC Garden CoCktail Serves 1

Pomegranate juice has been combined with blueberries to offer a refreshing new drink.

POM Wonderful, renowned for its 100 per cent pomegranate juice, has created POM Wonderful Pomegranate and Blueberry 100 per cent juice.

Blueberries are blended with tangy pomegranates for a delicious fruity combination that has no added preservatives or colours.

OlIvE FOr tEa?A new tea brand has created a rather innovative new product made from olives.

Mirabilia has launched the first-ever certified organic tea, made in Italy from organic olive leaves.

Olive leaf tea was made locally for hundreds of years, and is prized for its health-enhancing properties.

The Mirabilia tea leaves are harvested to make the tea all year round, hand-picking the best leaves every morning once the dews have dried. They are then slow-dried in the oven within hours of being picked to retain maximum benefit and ensure that the antioxidants and oleuropein are maintained.

It is caffeine- and tannin-free, contains no bitterness and is equally refreshing when drunk cold.

British is bestIt seems that British bottled water is going from strength to strength.

That’s according to the organisation British Bottled Water Producers, which has found that Britain is not only producing more packaged water but also enjoying consuming more of this healthy form of hydration.

Now valued at more than £1.5 billion, according to research experts Zenith International the market has grown to 2.1 billion litres, of which 1,692 million litres is sourced in the UK. This is up from 1,627 million litres in 2010. UK bottled water consumption per capita is now 34 litres p.a., up from 26.9 litres in 2001.

drinks.indd 40 07/06/2012 15:17

Drink upDrinks update


Ingredients:• 1 rosemary sprig, leaves stripped• ½ lime, cut into wedges• 40ml Godminster Vintage

Elderflower Spirit drink• 150ml cloudy apple juice• Ice

Method: Muddle together rosemary sprigs and lime, then shake together with Godminster Vintage Elderflower Spirit drink, apple juice and ice, strain into a martini glass and serve.

refreSh your Summer

Cool CoCktailThe people at Godminster are tempting the tastebuds with a selection of new cocktails.

This summer there is more to celebrate than ever before and so Godminster has created new summer cocktails to help celebrations go with a swing.

A key ingredient is Godminster’s Organic Elderflower Vodka Spirit, which is made using pure English vodka and gently infused for months on the Godminster Farm in Somerset. Here is one to try out:

GodminSter aromatiC Garden CoCktail Serves 1

Pomegranate juice has been combined with blueberries to offer a refreshing new drink.

POM Wonderful, renowned for its 100 per cent pomegranate juice, has created POM Wonderful Pomegranate and Blueberry 100 per cent juice.

Blueberries are blended with tangy pomegranates for a delicious fruity combination that has no added preservatives or colours.

OlIvE FOr tEa?A new tea brand has created a rather innovative new product made from olives.

Mirabilia has launched the first-ever certified organic tea, made in Italy from organic olive leaves.

Olive leaf tea was made locally for hundreds of years, and is prized for its health-enhancing properties.

The Mirabilia tea leaves are harvested to make the tea all year round, hand-picking the best leaves every morning once the dews have dried. They are then slow-dried in the oven within hours of being picked to retain maximum benefit and ensure that the antioxidants and oleuropein are maintained.

It is caffeine- and tannin-free, contains no bitterness and is equally refreshing when drunk cold.

British is bestIt seems that British bottled water is going from strength to strength.

That’s according to the organisation British Bottled Water Producers, which has found that Britain is not only producing more packaged water but also enjoying consuming more of this healthy form of hydration.

Now valued at more than £1.5 billion, according to research experts Zenith International the market has grown to 2.1 billion litres, of which 1,692 million litres is sourced in the UK. This is up from 1,627 million litres in 2010. UK bottled water consumption per capita is now 34 litres p.a., up from 26.9 litres in 2001.

drinks.indd 40 07/06/2012 15:17


Described as London’s most carnivorous cocktail bar, Shaka Zulu is set to shake things up.

That’s because this South African restaurant has launched The Meat Bar, serving a unique selection of meat-infused cocktails.

For example, there’s Bloody Bacon, made from a 24-hour mature Bloody Mary mix, bacon vodka, garnished with celery, crispy smoked bacon and a skewer of soft cheese and cherry tomatoes. Or there’s the equally unusual Meatequita, a blend of tequila reposado infused with chorizo, vegetable juice, balsamic vinegar, smoked sea salt, pepper and port, which is

served either straight up or, for the real meat lovers, with beef biltong strips and chorizo. And there’s even something to appeal to fish eaters – Wheeling Salmon is made with smoked salmon-infused vodka with lemon pepper and ice, served with a host of traditional martini accompaniments including smoked salmon, stuffed baby red peppers and olives.

Meat not just for eating, says new bar

A pAlAte cleAnserThere’s a time in every day that the people at Tio Pepe call the ‘hungry moment’, when, during the pre-dinner hour, nibbles are consumed to curb appetites.

Whether it’s nuts and olives, breads or salted crisps, you need something to accompany this, and Tio Pepe says its dry fino sherry is the perfect choice to hold up against those strong flavours.

Helping to cleanse the palate, Tio Pepe’s nutty, almond character is a great accompaniment, especially with tapas.

crew brew An independent Cornish brewery has created 3,000 bottles of commemorative beer to celebrate the 30th birthday of aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious.

Lusty 30 – No Uncertain Beer is a unique ale that is available only to the crew of the ship, which is affectionately known as Lusty. Her motto ‘Vox Non Incerta’ translates to ‘no uncertain sound’, hence the beer’s original name.

Sales of the celebratory beer will raise £600 for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC).

drinks.indd 41 07/06/2012 15:17


Fine Foodie hero

The old adage ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself’ would

certainly fit with the ethos at Gilchesters Organics.

In their quest to find the perfect wheat variety for bread making, they spent some years researching and testing, including types dating back many centuries. So, they first grew the crops at their 600-acre farm in Northumberland and, when they found they couldn’t get anyone to mill these varieties for them, they decided to do it themselves!

The result today is Gilchesters Organics, which has two elements to it. The main part of the business is flour of bread-making quality. They farm and mill the flour themselves, and then a few years ago, also introduced their own range of savoury biscuits, which use their milled flours.

Sybille Wilkinson co-founded the company with her farmer husband, Andrew, who bought the farm in 1992. It was a conventional farm, rather than organic, which involved the use of pesticides. The pair met in 1999, at which time Andrew was contemplating moving from conventional farming to an organic model.

“He thought that was the way forward, not just financially but for the planet because he felt it was not what he wanted to do. He wanted to help leave the planet in a better state,” explained Sybille, who originally comes from Bavaria.

“When we met, my first question to him was ‘why are you not organic already?’

because in Bavaria and Austria, it is mainly organic, it’s always been quite far ahead in that respect.”

The pair later became engaged and settled at the farm, during which time they went through the process of converting the land to organic. This is something that can take a few years and means that you are restricted to the use of the land. It was during this time their research on wheat really began.

“Andrew was always puzzled why he couldn’t grow bread-making quality here, it was never good enough to make bread when he was farming conventionally,” Sybille explained. “So we started by testing 35 different varieties of wheat from all across Europe. We did this over three years, during the period we were converting the farm from conventional to organic.”

This included discovering some rather old varieties of wheat.

“Two varieties worthy of note are Emmer and Einkorn, which are very old. These varieties are so old that people with wheat sensitivities will be able to eat them and they bake lovely bread,” she said.

“And there were some that came up best and the flavour in these varieties was very good. They have a real earthy, tremendous flavour so we started growing these varieties,” she recalled.

But after their first harvest, when they found they couldn’t get anyone to mill the crops, they decided that wouldn’t stop them.

“We thought if no one would mill, we would do it ourselves,” she said. “It was the perfect timing as we managed to get a miller from the last milling factory in

Northumberland, which was closing down. Milling is a skill not a lot of people have and we had to find a miller.”

From there, the couple developed a range of flours and have been growing ever since.

“We also now grow spelt on the farm, which is really growing in popularity at the moment and is such a good flour.”

As well as the flours, a few years ago they decided to link up with a company called Shropshire Fine Herbs, which suggested producing a range of biscuits using Gilchesters’ spelt and wheat flour.

“That is a range of savoury biscuits and we have a fifth variety coming soon – the biscuits are great with cheese and paté,” explained Sybille, whose own background is in sales and marketing.

Next up, Sybille would like to develop some children’s baking products to encourage youngsters to learn how to cook bread. Growing rye is also in the plans.

Flours are still the main part of the business, as Sybille points out this is where their skills and hearts lie.

“Flour is what we know, we know how to grow, and to produce. Andrew is involved from when the seed goes into the ground to the milling,” she explained.

“Our ethos is about organic, natural and quality products with a lot of integrity. We grow and mill on our farm and we hope that people see that we really care about our product – Andrew is on the farm every day to make sure we maintain the quality and we very much believe in what we are doing,” she said. FF

Sybille WilkinsonFine Foodies celebrates those making great food and drinks. Here, we talk to Sybille Wilkinson of Gilchesters Organics.

foodie hero.indd 42 07/06/2012 15:18


Fine Foodie hero

The old adage ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself’ would

certainly fit with the ethos at Gilchesters Organics.

In their quest to find the perfect wheat variety for bread making, they spent some years researching and testing, including types dating back many centuries. So, they first grew the crops at their 600-acre farm in Northumberland and, when they found they couldn’t get anyone to mill these varieties for them, they decided to do it themselves!

The result today is Gilchesters Organics, which has two elements to it. The main part of the business is flour of bread-making quality. They farm and mill the flour themselves, and then a few years ago, also introduced their own range of savoury biscuits, which use their milled flours.

Sybille Wilkinson co-founded the company with her farmer husband, Andrew, who bought the farm in 1992. It was a conventional farm, rather than organic, which involved the use of pesticides. The pair met in 1999, at which time Andrew was contemplating moving from conventional farming to an organic model.

“He thought that was the way forward, not just financially but for the planet because he felt it was not what he wanted to do. He wanted to help leave the planet in a better state,” explained Sybille, who originally comes from Bavaria.

“When we met, my first question to him was ‘why are you not organic already?’

because in Bavaria and Austria, it is mainly organic, it’s always been quite far ahead in that respect.”

The pair later became engaged and settled at the farm, during which time they went through the process of converting the land to organic. This is something that can take a few years and means that you are restricted to the use of the land. It was during this time their research on wheat really began.

“Andrew was always puzzled why he couldn’t grow bread-making quality here, it was never good enough to make bread when he was farming conventionally,” Sybille explained. “So we started by testing 35 different varieties of wheat from all across Europe. We did this over three years, during the period we were converting the farm from conventional to organic.”

This included discovering some rather old varieties of wheat.

“Two varieties worthy of note are Emmer and Einkorn, which are very old. These varieties are so old that people with wheat sensitivities will be able to eat them and they bake lovely bread,” she said.

“And there were some that came up best and the flavour in these varieties was very good. They have a real earthy, tremendous flavour so we started growing these varieties,” she recalled.

But after their first harvest, when they found they couldn’t get anyone to mill the crops, they decided that wouldn’t stop them.

“We thought if no one would mill, we would do it ourselves,” she said. “It was the perfect timing as we managed to get a miller from the last milling factory in

Northumberland, which was closing down. Milling is a skill not a lot of people have and we had to find a miller.”

From there, the couple developed a range of flours and have been growing ever since.

“We also now grow spelt on the farm, which is really growing in popularity at the moment and is such a good flour.”

As well as the flours, a few years ago they decided to link up with a company called Shropshire Fine Herbs, which suggested producing a range of biscuits using Gilchesters’ spelt and wheat flour.

“That is a range of savoury biscuits and we have a fifth variety coming soon – the biscuits are great with cheese and paté,” explained Sybille, whose own background is in sales and marketing.

Next up, Sybille would like to develop some children’s baking products to encourage youngsters to learn how to cook bread. Growing rye is also in the plans.

Flours are still the main part of the business, as Sybille points out this is where their skills and hearts lie.

“Flour is what we know, we know how to grow, and to produce. Andrew is involved from when the seed goes into the ground to the milling,” she explained.

“Our ethos is about organic, natural and quality products with a lot of integrity. We grow and mill on our farm and we hope that people see that we really care about our product – Andrew is on the farm every day to make sure we maintain the quality and we very much believe in what we are doing,” she said. FF

Sybille WilkinsonFine Foodies celebrates those making great food and drinks. Here, we talk to Sybille Wilkinson of Gilchesters Organics.

foodie hero.indd 42 07/06/2012 15:18

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