Tag Archives: Devon

Moretonhampstead food festival 2013

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The second weekend in March this year saw us rising at the ridiculous time of 5.30am on a Saturday morning! We got to Moretonhampstead, near Dartmoor at 7.15am to set up for the food and arts festival we had heard a great deal about. We had hoped for a nice spring day so made a trio of seasonal salads (pasta with local kale, locally marinated olives and red onions, a local celeriac roumalade made with Riverford celeriac, mustard, blood orange and red onion and the lovely organic mixed salad leaves we always source from School Farm, Dartington), two quiches, leek and potato soup and four types of wraps – lemon and garlic marinated free-range Devon chicken, homemade roast ,local organic, carrot humous, North Devon Organic cheese and homemade chutney and homemade falafel’s using Hodemoded British grown and dried fava beans.

It was a great day – we loved taking it in turns to roam the festival, meet other stall holders and catch up with friends we see regularly at these lovely local events. We each went to the fantastic kitchen jumble sale and for just a few pounds, came back laden with goodies!

It rained. And rained. The sun came out and we all sighed with relief and then it rained again. But with true British grit, people still came and we had a successful day. Not a sell-out, but a lovely local, festive and foodie day, meeting prospective clients, current and  future suppliers, interesting businesses and visiting friends.

Spring has sprung

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I’m pretty sure it’s almost exactly this time last year I was writing a post with a simliar sentiment – Spring!!! The glory of sunshine, daffodils, blue skies and fresh air! But it never ceases to please me. This year, my relationship with the winter has been very different from any other… Normally, I am clawing my way to Spring, desperate to leave the darkness and cold of Winter behind me. This year, we took January off (in case this passed you by somehow! We went to Morocco) and came back to a fairly mild and relatively sunny February which seems to be quickly turning into March and the year seems in full swing! Yesterday was the springiest day we have had this year so some friends and I went to Noss Mayo and did a short but lovely coastal circuit, with a brief stop-over at the pub. John had local roast beef and seasonal veg while the rest of us, full from our cliff-side picnic of free-range pork salami from Riverford, fresh baguette, organic local carrot sticks, apples and Moroccan olives, enjoyed a coffee in the sunshine.

The walk takes you along the cliff path in the open air with stunning views of the sea, through a little woodland to Noss Mayo itself and back to the National Trust car-park where we’d started (and bought honesty-box veg from Wurzell farm)

Long may the sunshine continue! Looking forward to many a roast lamb supper, wild garlic and nettle dishes and of course, more tajines – of all descriptions! This month sees our first of many weddings and next month we’re at Moretonhampstead Festival – so there’s lots to look forward to!

Circuit walk to Noss Mayo

Circuit walk to Noss Mayo

Summer cheer

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Guy Watson’s called it Cropaggedan…. This weather has sure been a challenge for us all. I see dripping, glum tourists grimacing against the rain as they try and see the upside of a holiday in rainy Totnes. The farmers in the area are no doubt struggling – although we are still able to find fantastic local produce and ingredients from Devon and the UK, which is amazing, considering the changeability of weather we’ve had the last two months!

Those of us who survive the winter purely to enjoy the beach come June are loosing hope, music lovers are swimming in mud in fields all over the country and festival, county show, fairs and markets throughout England and Wales are loosing money, and I imagine good humour with all the cancellations and wash-outs!

I’ve tried to not get down about the lack of summer. There are upsides to every down and I’ve noticed that when the sun does shine it feels more precious and wonderful because of it’s rareity and fleeting presence!

When it’s been grim, I’ve set about making mint jelly, elderflower cordial and sorbet, gooseberry jam and nettle pesto. Cooking is my rainy day salvation.

For a grey summers eve I thought I’d share a warming supper recipe. The spring lambs are now hoggart which is delicious and quite different from lamb in flavour. At the last Good Food Market in Totnes I bought a couple of Hoggart shanks from a local small holding farm and am cooking them in a slow cooker to take to a friend’s for dinner. I’ve cooked the shanks in red wine, tomatoes, mint, garlic and rosemary for several hours and the meat falls off the bone and is deliciously rich and flavoursome – fantatsic summer comfort food, lovely served with new potatoes, steamed asparagus and broad beans.

Slow braised Devon Hoggart shanks. I use a slow cooker, but this can be made in a casserole dish in a low oven

x2 shanks

x2 tins of tomatoes

x2 onions, diced

x2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

x2 rashers of local, free-range streaky baco, chopped up into strips

x2 glasses of red wine

x2 sprigs of rosemary

x2 bayleaves

x2 tbs homemade or good mint jelly

s+p to taste

Fry the bacon and onions, then add the garlic and fry until golden, then remove from the pan into the slow cooker. Brown off the shanks in the fat left from the bacon and put them to the slow cooker. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for several hours, turning the meat occasionally.

Festivals and lunches

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Hannah and I have a busy few weeks coming up! We have a couple of jobs from previous clients who have come back for more delicious and seasonal food, we’re at Dartington Food Fair Sunday-Tuesday and The Bay Horse Inn on Cistern Street in Totnes starts serving The Kitchen Table food Saturday 2nd June!

We’ve really enjoyed making salads and dips with veg sticks for Sacks Too these last few weeks and they’ve been selling well. It’s nice to know that people can get a healthy snack in the day so we’ll continue supplying fresh, seasonal and interesting food for people to picnic with, grab on the run or have on their lunch break, Wednesday-Friday each week.

I’ve been working out of the Bay Horse for a couple of months now and driving customers crazy with delicious smells coming out of the kitchen as I prepare our catering dishes for various jobs and Sacks Too lunches, so The Bay Horse and The Kitchen Table decided to join forces. From Saturday 2nd June you will be able to have a fresh, seasonal and tasty fritatta, quiche or a hearty Chunks pie with two delicious salads for lunch. What a combination?! Great local beer, fantastic locally sourced, lovingly cooked and fresh food in the newly paved garden in the sunshine!

This Sunday (3rd June) we’re at the Dartington Food Fair which will be our first ever festival! We’re really looking forward to being amongst so many local Devon food heroes, some of whom we know, and some of whom we look forward to meeting. We’re celebrating the Jubilee with a trio of seasonal salads; The Great British Potato Salad; zesty mayo, Devon Organics locally grown mint, The Husbandry School blue potatoes and crunchy oca (a wonderful red tuber from South America), fresh garden peas and spring onions. We’re serving this with a really tasty Crunchy Spring Slaw with hazelnuts, fresh organic mixed leaves and edible flowers from School Farm in Dartington (how local can you get?!). So come and say hi and have a punnet of salads or a Za’atar Humous and salad wrap or…. and I left this to last for a reason!……. a slice of rhubard Victoria Sponge. We’ve gone totally British and gloriously regal!

Oca from The Husbandry School

 

Coffee Extravaganza

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So, Hannah, myself and an amazing team of women have been involved in putting on the first ever Totnes Coffee Festival. The last two weeks have seen 26 cafe’s in and around Totnes participating – each one doing a promotion and asking customers to score them for their coffee and customer service.

The two weeks culminated last Sunday with a Coffee Festival extravaganza and Barista competition. I don’t think we could have asked for a better day!! The sun shone, everything went to plan and the whole day was just joyous! The atmosphere created by the live music was spectacular, the good food market was, as ever, a fantastic array of deliciousness and everything we hoped for of the day, and more unfolded.

On one side of the road we had the three judges tasting and sampling the coffee entries, the wonderful, innovative and fantastic looking Beanbug coffee trike on which the Barista’s were nervously demonstrating their skills, the fairtrade stall with all their goods and information and Owen’s Coffee exhibiting their products and explaining to the public about the delicacy of a well roasted coffee bean. Across the road from them was the petition signing table, the musicians on the raised wall area under the tree, Fungi Futures explaining the amazing process of turning coffee grounds into delicious gourmet mushrooms and Coffee West supplying the coffee-enthusiastic crowds who then sat and enjoyed the sunshine and music at the chairs and tables loaned to us generously by Tangerine Tree cafe and Willow Vegetarian Restaurant! That’s not to mention the numerous small food producers who were selling Thai, Indian, Israeli, French, vegetarian, Spanish (to name a few) dishes to the milling visitors. Around lunchtime, the sun broke through the clouds, the music enveloped the town centre and the atmosphere was amazing!

The end of the day was celebrated with the exciting winning announcements – Fat Lemons won best coffee in Totnes as voted by the public, Rumours was voted best atmosphere and customer service by the public, Gary Jagger from La Fourchette won best barista and Josh Erlick from The Barrel House won best coffee art. The day before (Saturday) Hannah, myself and the rest of the planning committee spent a few of hours data entering the score card results and were amazed at the positivity of the scores and how incredibly close the end results were. Evidently, the cafe’s of Totnes are much loved and respected by the public.

Throughout the day there was much discussion and debate about Costa coming to town. The majority of people were in support, very keen to tell us why Costa shouldn’t come, with a few unsure and fewer still thinking its presence would be a good thing. It was fantastic to be able to engage with people and to hear their points of view as well as to give our own. I love discussing the subject of localism which I feel is so current and important and to give a wider context of local economic strength and resilience in the face of chains dominating the market.

So, now the battle commences. In researching our position, it has become frighteningly apparent that Costa Coffee play dirty and put a lot of time, money and personnel into ensuring they get what they want. Well, we have fantastically creative and passionate people in this town, for whom a strong local economy is important. We value the individual, the unique and independent character of Totnes and appreciate the value of small businesses who contribute more money, active support and community spirit to the town than a chain ever will. The small family run cafes buy much of their ingredients locally, thereby supporting other small businesses and are therefore truly Devonian. Isn’t that what tourists come for? Something a little unique – a non clonetown? We hope we can see these tyrants off and keep the businesses we have afloat in these hard times. Watch this space as the NotoCosta InTotnes campaign takes off!

Supplier of the Season Supper

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Last night saw our second Supplier of the Season supper, with delectable produce supplied by The Husbandry School, near Ashburton.

On the menu -

Purple and white sprouting broccoli salad with chilli and flaked almonds

Mixed organic salad with 69 different varieties of leaves and edible flowers

Rainbow chard and goats cheese tart.  

We snuck a Cornish strawberry tart in there for afters, I just couldn’t resist.

We visited the Husbandry School that morning to pick our produce. It was possibly one of the most beautiful places I have been in Devon, where you can stand on the top of the hill with a 360 degree view that takes in Haytor and Teignmouth in a turn of the head. And the produce…So many interesting varieties of herbs and vegetables, really celebrating natures diversity. The salad was a taste explosion, some of our guests could not get over the fact you can eat beautiful flowers. Dinner took much longer than usual!

Jonty and Carole Williams run the husbandry school, offering traditional sustainable gardening, farming and land management courses, the chance to learn practical rural skills and crafts and take part in exciting art and creative activities. They are both so clearly passionate and dedicated to what they are doing, a great inspiration to us at the Kitchen Table and to everyone who visits. They want to share their skills, growing  food and managing the garden the natural way, taking the odd, bizarre nutritious and delicious out of the ground and into the kitchen.

So what is husbandry?  Jonty explains – “we are not talking about animal husbandry (the care and management of animals). Or crops. Or even husbands. We are talking about something very much more. Husbandry is an ancient word which means nothing less than ‘the care and management of nature and resources for living’. This meaning has all but gone into obscurity. We are going to help renew that meaning. It seems important.”

Husbandry is an honourable, ancient art which we believe will play a vital role in the transition we all must make towards a sustainable future – for towns, for agriculture, and the planet as a whole.

For me, a morning was simply not enough. Luckily they provide a wide range of fascinating courses, I want to do them all. From growing your own food, letting loose your creative talents, exploring traditional crafts to having some fun with the family in this stunning setting. What could be better? For the full list of courses visit http://husbandry.co.uk/organic-farming-courses.html

We very much hope that the husbandry school will become one of our regular suppliers, and together we have already designed our salad menu for Dartington Food Festival next month. The Great British Potato Salad, using red, white and blue potatoes for a visually stunning Queen themed tasty treat.

Look out for us both there, June 3-5th at Dartington Cider Press centre.

 

Local, local, local!!!

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Our fledgling outside catering business, based in Totnes has been focused from the outset on using local Devon suppliers and being true to our tagline ‘Conscious Catering’. The Kitchen Table has been up and running now for more than half a year! Unbelievable! We’ve spent that time learning, meeting, eating, cooking, learning some more and really getting to grips with the business. I think Hannah, myself and KT (as we affectionately refer to our little business) are trully becoming bosom buddies! We have several repeat clients and a growing and diverse client base. It’s so pleasing to meet new people, plan their business and community meetings, public and private events, celebrations, weddings and family festivities with them and to come up with menu’s which sing the praises of our local growers and producers in tune with the seasons.

This last month has seen us hosting our very first (of many!) Kitchen Table conversation cafe’s hosted by Embercombe which was a rip-roaring success and we’re so excited to be planning the next one already for July – watch this space to find out who will be hosting the summer conversation!

It’s also seen us involved in organising a coffee festival in Totnes, to celebrate the towns independent cafe’s and send a clear message to any conglomerates, that we’re doing just fine thank you!! This festival is a joyous celebration of our diverse and ungentrified high street (as well as an opportunity to drink a lot of coffee!). Hannah rocked the airwaves today, talking on Totnes FM about the message behind the festival and she’s played a key role in organising the exciting barrista competition being held in the Civic Square Sunday 20th May.

In addition, this rainy spring has seen The Kitchen Table doing a trialCannellini, local purple sprouting broccoli and black olive salad run of supplying Sacks Too on the Plains with healthy, affordable and delicious lunch options.. each week we’ve made a scrumptious quiche, sumptious salad and sensational dip and veg sticks! They’ve been selling well and I’m excited that people have something healthy and creative for lunch – because though we all love a pasty, it’s nice to treat our bodies sometimes too.

So, I’m really enjoying this season of collaboration, mutual benefit and support. We’re in the process of putting a suppliers page together so you can see some of the wonderful people, projects and businesses that supply us to use their delicious produce in our cooking.

If you want a sample of our food, why not pop into Sacks Too Wed-Fri this Wild garlic, nettle and Sharpham brie quicheweek and try a wild garlic, nettle and Sharpham brie quiche, a cannellini bean, purple sprouting broccoli (grown just outside Totnes) and black olive salad or a mildly spiced carrot and red lentil dip with carrot sticks?

Also, next month we’ll be at The Dartington Food Fair, so come say hi?!

Celebrate great independent coffee in Totnes

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Totnes Independent Coffee Festival

Totnes has a thriving locally owned high street which attracts tourists and local shoppers alike who come to appreciate the variety and unique quality that independent shops provide. Allowing Costa Coffee to set up shop here will only fuel the sad decline from vibrant independence to yet another generic British high street. Instead of accepting this as inevitable we wish to highlight the quality and variety of coffee providers we have here in Totnes. We have a wealth of small local businesses who benefit the local community, economy and people directly. By supporting these businesses instead of large national or multi-national stores we ensure that the wealth stays locally and works for our community.

The Totnes Independent Coffee Festival starts this Saturday. Check out the following cafes and restaurants for their unique coffee related promotions during the two weeks. You have a chance to win some fantastic prizes in our prize draw. To enter simply fill in the card provided with your coffee rating the customer service and coffee quality. You can also sign the petition against Costa Coffee coming into Totnes.

Join us on May 20th in the Civic Square for the first Totnes Barista competition with our panel of expert judge from Coffee West, Owens Coffee, and Base Coffee. We will be providing demonstrations on the art of coffee making, live music and of course, samples of delicious freshly ground coffee. The Barista competition is kindly sponsored by Owens Coffee of Modbury.

Participating venues -

MANSION CAFE
RUMOUR WINE BAR
LA FOURCHETTE BRASSERIE
DEVERES
ANNE OF CLEAVES
TANGERINE TREE
WOODS
GREEN CAFE
BRIOCHE
BARREL HOUSE
BISTRO 67
WILD FIG
LOAFERS
FAT LEMONS
OLSEN CAFE
OLD BAKERY AND COFFEE SHOP
MAISIES
CRANKS
STAVERTON BRIDGE NURSERY CAFE
THE WHITE HART INN
ROUND HOUSE CAFÉ
CHINA BLUE
RIVERFORD
ROYAL SEVEN STARS
WATERSIDE BISTRO
NEW WALK

 

Oh the joys of the wild

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Oooo the joys of the wild, to watch Oyster mushrooms growing and prepping freshly shot pigeons and pheasants from our mate Richard. I think I scared away poor vegetarian David, the final straw being the ceremonious gutting of a brace of pheasants in my kitchen. Ah well, at least I gave him tea first. Oh course our Oyster mushrooms didn’t actually grow in the wild, the grow boxes in our kitchen are the creation of Adam Sayner, our supplier of the season. I am currently watching harvest number two start to take shape. You get an average of three harvests from one box! And only £12, a bargain that is, and a fabulous gift. Last Christmas most of my family were growing gourmet mushrooms.Adam uses recycled coffee grounds to grow the mushrooms in. How cool is that! You can buy them from http://www.fungi-futures.co.uk

So recipe number two from our first Supplier Of The Season evening.

Braised puy lentils with rare pigeon breast and curly kale Serves 4

  • 8 wood pigeon breasts, marinated overnight in blackberry gin (or sloe gin)
  • ground spices – (1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 star anise, 1/4 cinnamon stick, 1tsp allspice berry, 1 tsp juniper) 1 tbsp brown sugar, zest of 1 orange, salt. Fry mirapoix (1 carrot, 1 celery stick, 1 onion, diced). Fry for a few minutes.
  • Add 1 clove chopped garlic and 4 rashers sliced bacon. Fry.
  • Add a splash of sherry.
  • Add 250g puy lentils (washed) and enough stock to cover (I made a pigeon stock).
  •  Simmer until the lentils are cooked but retain their shape.  Season well.
  • Drain the wood pigeon breasts. Fry in a hot pan for a couple of minutes each side.
  • Rest before slicing and plating up with the wood pigeon resting on top of the braised lentils. Serve with curly kale on the side.

All the vegetables in the recipe were local and organic. The pigeons were shot in the woods nearby. The mushrooms grew in my kitchen. I suspect the puy lentils were grown in Puy.

Many thanks to our marvelous photographer Hele, to the talented Adam for his mushrooms and for Mark and Jenny for their eating skills.

Enjoy

Hannah x Continue reading →

A Happy New Year to you all

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As the festive season approaches its close, we at The Kitchen Table are looking forward to 2012. As a new business we are ever evolving and as time passes we seem to meet more and more fantastic people – producers of fabulous vegetables, artisan cheese, home-made crackers, venison, rare-breed pork. I could go on. So many dedicated small producers of excellent food in our small corner of Devon. We love it and look forward to using more of their produce in the months to come. And then there’s our customers, lovely people one and all, thank you for your custom in 2011, we look forward to seeing you again.