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.

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 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!

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

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.”

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!

Today I’ve been busy foraging for the last of the wild garlic for soup and pesto. Up early scampering around in the woods collecting armfuls of the stuff, there’s not much better than that!?

And jam making, of the rhubarb and vanilla variety. Here’s the recipe should you wish to join the preserving fun.

1kg Rhubarb, sliced into chunks

1kg preserving sugar, or sugar and pectin sachet 8g

Juice of one lemon

2 vanilla pods

1. Put a small plate in the freezer. Put the rhubarb into a preserving pan or your largest saucepan with the sugar and halved vanilla pods. Heat gently, stirring, until all the sugar has dissolved, then squeeze in the lemon juice and increase the heat.
2. Boil for about 10 mins, skimming off the scum as you go (the fruit should be soft). Test for setting point by spooning a little onto your chilled plate. After 1-2 mins, push your finger through the jam – if the surface wrinkles it is ready, if not, keep cooking for 2-min intervals, testing in between. (Or if you have a sugar thermometer it should reach 105C)
3. Once the jam is ready, let it cool for about 15 mins before ladling into warm sterilised jars and sealing. Will keep for 6 months in a cool, dark place.

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!

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.