This week we are having an informal networking evening with our local friends and acquaintances who are running a small business, social enterprise or are budding entrepreneurs. The idea is to come together to share knowledge and skills with each other – one of us may be excellent at Twitter but struggling with the tax return, another failing to understand how to use facebook for business but really shines in business planning. So we share our strengths and help one-another with our weaknesses and everyone benefits.

I am really looking forward to it – we will tell you how we get on.

Totnes has a wonderful food market once a month – it’s a great place to meet with friends and enjoy a coffee at the Beanbug trike, buy locally baked bread, veg and fantastic and interesting meat! Veal, duck, goat, hogget, lamb, beef, chicken and turkey in the form of chops, steaks, sausages, burgers, joints and much more. This month I bought some delicious free-range pork sausages which I made into a spring stew with veg from my local veg box.

Cider and Sausage stew

serves 2
4 pork sausages
4 small new potatoes, cut in half and par-boiled
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, diced
2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, diced
1 leek, well rinsed and roughly chopped
4 leaves of sage, ripped up
1 carrot, thickly sliced
1/2 pint Devon cider
1/4 pint veg/ chicken stock
4 leaves of spring greens/ swiss chard, chopped

Prick the sausages and roast with the potatoes for 15 mins. Meanwhile, fry the onions until they’re translucent, add the bacon, garlic and leeks. Lower the heat and stir occasionally until the leeks are soft and the bacon is cooked. Add the sage, season and pour in the liquids. Add the carrot slices.
Once roasted, cut the sausages into 3 or 4 and add them and the potatoes to the stew. Put a lid on and simmer on a low heat for 25 mins. Add the chopped chard and cook for another 15mins. Taste and season if necessary.

Last night we went to Ceri’s Moonlight Flit – a 1, 3, 10 or 20 km race accross Sharpham Estate at dusk. The weather gods granted us a beautiful clear, dry, sunny evening. As part of the volunteer marshall brigade, I arrived at 5.30 with everyone else, ready to be briefed on the evening’s proceedings and help out along the route or at the start. Participants began arriving from 6pm and it was my job to register them onto their chosen race. There was a lovely buzz of friendly competitiveness as everyone put on their t-shirts and race numbers and mingled before the main races started.

First to run were the little one’s and those wanting to do a shorter route, who took on the 1 and 3 km route. The youngest participant was about 3 and cute as a button as she trundled across the finishing line with her very proud mum. I’d calligraphed the wooden medals and enjoyed handing them out to the kids who seemed quite pleased with their prize.

After registering everyone to the music of a fantastic blue-grass band, I went on to help Ben at the finishing line which was great fun! Armed with a glass of delicious and summery Sharpham Dart Reserve wine and a pen and paper, we recorded the runners as they came in from the 10km or went past doing the 20. It was a real hoot cheering them on!

Han came in at a very respectable 21st out of 50 runners and I was very proud – she only took up running a month ago!

The BBQ was great, the music fun and the wine lovely so I had a fab evening congratulating the runners and enjoying the sunshine. As the sun set and the musicians packed up, the last of the 10km participants arrived and the air began to chill. We awaited the 20 km runners and cheered even louder for their incredible achievement! They all seemed to have a great time – loved the route and the spectacular weather and scenery.

Well done Ceri and Ben for putting on The Moonlight Flit – it’s no mean feat putting on such event!

The other evening some friends and I were invited to a really special dinner party by Neeta, who I had met through Transition Town Totnes. She and her partner have recently moved to the area and are interested in setting up a pop up restaurant which I thought was a fantastic idea. We were her dry-run before she launches the Totnes Thali club in June. What a feast!!!

The Menu for Neeta and Trevor’s Taste of India Dinner:
1) – Thandai, with almond milk, rose water, spices and alphonso mango iced cubes
2) – Bhel Puri Chaat, Indian street food
3) – Green Bell Pepper and Besan Sabji with Ragi (Millet) Roti
4) – Sai Bhaji, spinach, dill and fenugreek curry with laccha paratha
5) – Potatoes and black chickpea curry with Puris
6) – Aromatice Rice with Kerala Egg Curry
7) – Rava Dosa with Sambhar and Cauliflower Poriyal
8) – Pomegranate Raita
9) – Gajar Halwa, spiced carrot pudding
10) – Banana and Mango cardamom Ice Cream

As each element came out we tasted and swooned over the variety of subtle, familiar and new flavours. Neeta told us about street food and the origins of the different dishes. She made everything dairy-free to accomodate myself and Laura’s dairy intolerance and Trevor and Neeta were both wonderful and attentive, generous and gracious hosts. We all left feeling very spoilt!

Neeta is also keen to explore ways to make authentic and delicious Indian food with local ingredients and an emphasis on seasonality which I always think is a wonderful exploration and challenge.

The plan is for Neeta and Trevor to host bi-monthly pop ups with different Indian food themes – if you live in Totnes or South Devon I highly recommend you go!

I’ve just been thinking about…salt. One of my most valued kitchen companions (along with BBC 6music) and a mineral humankind cannot do without. Salt, simple, complex, flavour enhancer, taste modifier, food preserver, what would we do without it? Half of the world’s salt comes from the sea, and half from salt mines. My favorite, Cornish Sea Salt – Local, unrefined and delicious.

How about some salty foodie facts then folks?

Dough salt tightens the gluten network making it more elastic.

Green veges – salt in the cooking water will speed softening and minimise the loss of cell content into the water, helping the veg retain vital nutrients and colour.

Potatoes – are different! You want to keep the surface firmness, that’s why we start potatoes off in cold water and omit salt from the water as it encourages early softening of the fragile skins.

Beans – Most cooks agree that adding salt to the cooking water keeps beans hard, however if you pre-soak beans in salted water they cook much faster.

In sauces – Flour and starch used as thickeners in sauces tend to diminish the flavour and aroma, the simple addition of more salt improves both. Magic!

Aubergines – salting before cooking draws out excess water and the bitterness of older aubergines.

That’s all for now, but do email us with any nutritional or geeky food questions and we shall do our very best to answer them. (We love food geekdom!)

Hannah x

• Jamie Doward, The Observer, Saturday 11 May 2013

Britain’s supermarket giants have been accused of caving in to the genetic modification lobby by dropping their decade-long stance against selling chickens fed on genetically modified crops.

The move has been seen as a key victory for GM food giants such as Monsanto which, environmental groups claim, will benefit from the switch. It is also being seen as a precursor to the introduction of GM meat and poultry by “softening up” consumer resistance to the controversial technology.

It has emerged that Marks & Spencer, the Co-operative and Sainsbury’s are following Tesco, Asda and Morrisons and reversing policies that prohibit their suppliers from feeding GM soya to chickens used in the production of their own-brand eggs and poultry. The move came following fierce lobbying from groups such as the National Farmers Union and the British Poultry Council.

The supermarket giants said suppliers had told them that non-GM feed for poultry is now too difficult and too expensive to obtain. There are also concerns that there is a risk non-GM and GM animal feed could become mixed up, making it more difficult to police the UK food chain.

But non-GM feed producers in Brazil, a major source of animal feed to the UK, expressed surprise at the claims, saying they were producing record amounts of animal feed. They said there was no difficulty separating the two types of feed and claimed the move was more about the UK wanting to do more business with US GM companies.

Environmental groups warned that there would be consumer protests if non-GM options were removed. “The supermarkets should stand up for their customers and secure long-term contracts for all their non-GM food and feed supplies,” said Dr Helen Wallace of the campaign group GeneWatch UK, which is critical of the GM lobby. “If access to non-GM feed for chickens is allowed to be blocked today, how long before we have no choices left?

“People have a right to choose what food they want to eat and we must guard against corporate interests, cartels and monopolies taking over global food and feed supplies.”

We had a spectacularly busy and fun time at the School Farm Open Day on Sunday 12th May. From the minute we opened until gone 3pm we were non stop and sold out of absolutely everything we were selling!

On the menu – a selection of wheat flour wraps filled with – roast Sladesdown Farm free-range chicken, organic Riverford chorizo and citrus mayo with School Farm salad leaves, or a trio of dips; carrot humous, British fava bean bissara and roast beetroot humous with the delicious organic salad grown just meters from our stall or Sharpham Rustic cheese and homemade chutney. We were also selling hot wild garlic soup with poppy seeded rolls from Seeds2Bakery, salad boxes with homemade slaw, salad leaves and cous cous, wild nettle and garlic fritatta, chocolate beetroot brownies, soaked Tunisian orange cake and homemade scones with homemade rhubarb jam and Riverford clotted cream. From 11.30am til two, food flew out of our festival gazebo so fast we couldn’t believe it!

The day started sunny then became drizzly but still people came, ate, enjoyed Rebecca Maze playing beautiful music and all the events, tours and activities on offer across School Farm. It really seemed to be a buzzing day of fun, food and laughter! It was an opportunity for people to learn about The Green Funeral Company, Fungi Futures, School Farm Cut Flowers, the CSA and the tannery. Well done everyone who made it happen. Don’t worry if you didn’t make it – I hear rumours of a harvest festival which we’re really keen to do – so watch this space!

I just had the most wonderful week and weekend! After a glorious few days in Cornwall with my parents, I came back to Totnes for a couple of days of cooking for a wedding and birthday on Saturday.

After Hannah had collected the food to take to the clients, I went with friends to East Prawle for a little dance in The Pigs Nose and my first camp of 2013! The next day we woke gratefully to a clear day and beautiful views of the sea and a top notch camp breakfast of local spinach, mushrooms and Devon free-range pork sausages with Cuckoo Farm free-range eggs broken into the mix. Delicious with a hot cuppa and some brisk sea air.

Next on the agenda was the eagerly awaited International Worm Charming Festival. We arrived with plenty of time to wonder around, eat some hog roast and get an idea of what was happening!

We entered (?!) and moved with the procession down the high street, following a morris dance side to the field and located our plot. When instructed to start, we sang, danced and coached the worms out of the ground. All around us people whooped with glee as another worm surfaced. I lost interest after about 20 minutes of cajoling and no worm! My friends were a little more enthusiastic and committed than me though and we ended the competition with one worm!

I returned home to work and after another stint of cooking and delivery of food to a Hen Party, we went to Bantham beach for a BBQ with friends to watch the sun set.

What a great way to start the summer! May it be long, sunny and sociable!

Twice a year The Kitchen Table likes to go out for staff dinner – for inspiration, downtime catch up, and for the glory of being cooked for. We choose a local restaurant that’s doing something interesting and spend a lovely evening not talking about work and tasting great flavours created by inspiring chefs.

Our most recent jaunt was to the Treby Arms. Some friends of ours had been and highly recommended it – the chef had won Masterchef: The Professionals 2012 and the bistro pub with a difference has quite a name for itself in the area.

Nestled in the village of Sparkwell, between Totnes and Plymouth, The Treby Arms is a lovely old pub with a tasteful and comfortable interior. We were placed within sight of the kitchen so watched as each dish came out, matching it with the menu and finding the decision harder with each passing plate.

I had for my starter a local crab salad with delicately poached eel and an incredibly flavoursome crab mayo. Hannah had pork scratching flavoured popcorn! in her black pudding starter. We were  both pleasantly astounded at the combination of flavours, textures and ideas and they all worked really well together – not to mention how colourful and beautiful the plate looked!!

For my main I had Devon squab pigeon with red cabbage puree (divine!!) game fritter, roast baby parsnips and wild mushrooms which was also absolutely delicious. Again, the flavours and textures were wonderful. Hannah had local fish with a locally foraged nettle homemade pesto crumb and we shared blanched and flash-fried greens which included nettles, green beans and purple sprouting broccoli!

To finish, as I am dairy intolerant, I could only have a trio of sorbet’s but it had tropical fruit salsa, berry puree and violet flavour popping candy – so what could have been a very simple dessert was pretty, tasty and refreshing after the richness of my main,. Hannah had cardamom panacotta.

The service was really great – the staff were aware of our interest in the food and gave us a thorough run down of what we were eating. They were sensitive to my dairy allergy and helped me choose my dinner and were friendly and efficient and made the evening really easy and comfortable!

I feel like I just wrote a restaurant review – but I’m still reeling at how great all the food was and I’m also now a little obsessed with nettles!

Can’t wait for our next outing! We love eating other people’s cooking – seeing how different styles can be used to make local food interesting and delicious.

Monday saw Europe enforcing the world’s first continent-wide ban on bee harming insecticides. A victory for our precious bees, and for the environmental campaigners that helped make it happen. However although the vote by the 27 EU member states on whether to suspend the insect nerve agents was supported by 15 nations, it did not reach the required majority under voting rules. The hung vote hands the final decision to the European commission, which will implement the ban.

The UK voted against the ban. Oh to be in the pocket of the chemical manufacturers. The shame.

Friends of the Earth‘s head of campaigns, Andrew Pendleton, said: “This decision is a significant victory for common sense and our beleaguered bee populations. Restricting the use of these pesticides could be an historic milestone on the road to recovery for these crucial pollinators.”