Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.
Beer is an exception I suppose as it can be used as an ingredient or enjoyed on its own. This beer from Compass Brewery is a rather festive beverage; it’s balanced with Oxfordshire spruce needles. Where else could you get something that local and forever varying?
I’m not one for beer usually but I did enjoy a smidgen of this one. I can certainly vouch for the fruit wines available at the farmers’ market. I used some Cassis to poach some quinces a little while ago and it was divine.
Love Food Hate Waste is a campaign I’d heard of before but didn’t know too much about. Over the weekend they attended the Newbury farmers’ market so I got a chance to find out more about it. It is a national campaign to try and get us all to be less wasteful. Every year in the UK we throw away £10 billion worth of food. That’s mad.
Their message is very simple; waste as little food as possible. They’ve got lots of recipes, tips and useful gadgets available to help but if the message is taken on board, you can’t go far wrong. A cookery demonstration was being given by Ilja from the Pudding Pie cookery school making all sorts of things you might throw away into lovely delicious meals.
My favourite thing was Thai chicken with sour cream dressing and curly kale potato cakes. It was such a lovely marriage of flavours and used up left over mash, chicken and salad. I also gobbled up a few pieces of a lovely apple and polenta cake. The potato cakes she made were so good!
None of the ideas make a meal that will be just acceptable, they are meals you’d be more than happy to eat all the time. To be honest, Boxing day is a day of leftovers and it has to be one of my favourite days for stuffing my face. For me, I have found if you have eggs or potatoes, you can mix pretty much anything in and make a pretty good meal. Take last year when I had more broad beans than I knew what to do with, I cracked a few eggs and got myself a lovely omelette. For left over mashed potato, make some bubble and squeak – you could mix anything in.
With leftovers I think a bit of creativity can turn an average meal into a really interesting one.
All That I’m Eating
There were lots of stands doing all sorts of varieties of burger and sausage, coffee, smoothies, pizzas, pasties and all sorts. After much deliberating I settled on having a venison burger and it was delicious. While wandering round I met a man with a very interesting map. It was a map of all the restaurants in the area and the ingredients they used from local suppliers. It was pretty full up and lovely to see how the restaurants supported local producers and businesses.
There were so many stands selling so many different things. The following are a selection of some of my favourites. The first stall I saw, and started salivating at, was Rebecca’s Cupcakes. They all looked lovely but instead of a cupcake, I had rocky road. Unfortunately there is no picture – we ate it far too quickly! The thing that caught my eye about this stand was that the decoration related to the flavour. The cappuccino cake looked like the drink, strawberries and cream were decorated accordingly and my favourite was the cake that looked like a Mr. Whippy ice cream (flake and all).
There were purple carrots, golden beetroot, knobbly lemons, tea, coffee, salt marsh lamb, pheasant sausages, french garlic, books, teacups, cupcakes, supplies for the cupcake maker, wine, white pumpkins… the list goes on. Each stand with someone standing behind it who is enthusiastic about what they sell and can answer any question you have.
We bought many things but for dinner we couldn’t say no to some of this pasta.
I was too busy stuffing my face with delicious pasta to remember the name of the company but they were lovely people. I defy anyone to try some and not end up walking away with any. They source as many of the ingredients as possible from the market which is great.
We very much enjoyed our pasta which was stuffed with slow roasted pork. It had a nutmegy sort of flavour. They also sold some delectable sage butter to melt over the pasta which was incredible.
It seems that now the latest car, bag, phone or gadget is trumped by what we eat. At the golf club while quaffing the finest scotch the topic of conversation is no longer car related. Now, one might be more likely to hear, “Have you tried a rare white truffle.” To which the reply would most likely start off a whole conflab.
Now it becomes interesting. It is now a competition to see who has the best/biggest/most expensive or most exclusive truffle. It seems the truffle is becoming an innuendo. Don’t get me wrong, this is not exclusive to fungi. The winner will be the one who travelled to the Piedmont region, bought a Truffle Hog and hiked around forests to discover his own truffle. Any other truffle related story is overlooked.
Vegetables. There comes a point in everyone’s life where their view on vegetables changes forever. One day one gazes reproachfully at a Jerusalem artichoke, the next, it is seen as an adventure, a culinary experiment. It goes from a, “No way” to a, “Yes” all of a sudden. It creeps up on you and before you know it the vegetables are the star of the meal. The meats and potatoes are a garnish compared to the mighty, majestic broccoli dish that has been lovingly, carefully created.
For some this new discovery takes on a whole other part of their lives. Growing your own. For me, it has been probably the best thing I have taken up. For those who want to have a conversation with me when I’m not covered in soil and have insects frolicking about in my hair it may not be, to them at least, the best thing I’ve ever taken up. It is an obsession. I can’t urge you enough to give it a try – you’ll be surprised at the success (if you choose cleverly). I got a little overexcited this year and was so enamoured with my courgettes and tomatoes I wanted to let them have all the space and nutrients. This meant I planted nothing else and they are still going strong. Looking at my little beauties my eyes glaze over. When I take them into the kitchen I puff out my chest with pride. However, because of my idiocy I now have a gaping hole in my life that cannot be filled until next year. Fortunately I have a fabulous farmers’ market very near that is indispensible for my vegetable ventures. These pictures I hope can capture the beauty, fragility and unctuousness of the vegetables I am fortunate enough to have access to. The marrow I admit does not come across as fragile but when you break its hard, crisp skin it becomes obvious that the seeds and wispy flesh are delicate and need care. Where else but a farmers’ market can you get such a striking purple cauliflower? Think how long it would take to make a man made cauliflower as intricate and uniform as a Romanesco cauliflower. Things that someone has taken the care to grow like this need to be sent off to our digestive tracts with dignity and poise. It is not just the food that is way above even the best supermarket standards, it is the people. They are the reason I go. Imagine asking someone in a supermarket the best way to cook the marrow you have just proudly chosen. Chances are a blank face will be the most helpful response. At the market you can barely stop them talking about their vegetables. They are so proud. And rightly so. The meat, the fish, the bread, the cheeses, the cakes, the plants, the fruit, the beers and wines and the pastries, what a selection and what a great atmosphere. For the quality and service that you receive I think it’s fantastic value for money. And so to try and express my gratitude for the businesses that loyally turn up every other Sunday to sell us their wares, I am creating meals using as many ingredients as possible from the market. I listened to the advice given by the experts and made the most of my veggies. Furthermore I have found that carrying a marrow around with you will deter even the keenest of pick pocketers. Excellent farmer armour.All That I’m Eating