Mannablog - Food In South Devon

What a wonderful time of year this is.  These shots were taken this morning during a 40 minute walk through Hoodown Woods overlooking the River Dart  and just a few hundred metres from home.  Swathes of bluebells, a profusion of wild orchids, Poppy the three legged wonderdog and spectacular views across the river towards the naval college.   If I was clever enough I’d add birdsong to this blog as well.

Four whole days is just enough time to try a couple of new things as well as revisiting some old favourites and this Easter was no exception.  As the Farmers Market on Saturday was in Kingsbridge I thought it was about time I canoed down the Avon to Bantham Beach, something which has been on the list for about 5 years.  So I did exactly that but not before I had visited the Casse Croute Bakery stall at the market and got myself a couple if croissant.   I totally covet these beauties and picking up a bag full whenever I can is definitely a full blown treat. Crisp on the outside but soft in the centre with just the right amount of pull, and so, so buttery.  I occasionally try a little croissant making myself which only heightens my appreciation of the skill and dedication which goes into making these.  If you ever see them, either at the Farmers markets or at the Casse Croute Deli in Salcombe, don’t you dare miss them.

My own weekend experiment was with a spelt sourdough starter.   Spelt is getting so much attention lately, with many people on bread classes asking about it, and I really do need to get more familiar with it.  I’ve dabbled in the past but not really given it my full attention so the four day break was a good time to get on with it.  I made a spelt starter using some of my existing rye mother to get it going and built it up over a couple of days.  From this I made the 100% wholemeal spelt you see pictured and was very pleased.  No one’s going to accuse it of being fluffy but I expected that and I wonder whether the starter may not had been at less than full vigour, so future attempts may be lighter.  But the taste is delicious and I’ll be doing more.

For those not in the know, Spelt is an ancient variety of wheat.  It is making a real comeback at the moment because many people find it very digestible and the flavour is distinctly nutty.  It’s been rather ignored by bakers for quite some time because the gluten it contains is poor and so it fell by the wayside as higher protein varieties became available.  However, now that artisan bakers are thinking more about flavours and digestibility and less about lightness for lightness’s sake it’s definitely back on the shopping list.  The Common Loaf Bakery, who I regularly see at Totnes Farmers Market on a Friday, make a huge variety of spelt breads, so head along there if you want to try some.

Those of my generation will remember Dasterdly and Mutley’s interminable and always fruitless pursuit of “the Pigeon” back in the day and I have a fond memory of Pigeons being dropped off at the house by friends of my dad and me and mum trussing them in the porch.  (“Writing that has just reminded me of the word “truss” which I haven’t used in a while, but it’s got a lovely ring to it, hasn’t it”. ) 

The pigeon’s we got hold of today came for Jilly’s Farm Shop in Dartmouth and were shot by Jilly’s brother.  I don’t know what the RSPB’s view on the health of the pigeon population is but they seem like a very successful species to me, I see dozens when I’m walking the dogs, probably more than any other bird other than rooks.  If that is the case then a small number taken for food should be very sustainable, and certainly popular with farmers.

As you can see for this dish Holly has hacked the breasts off with a rather rustic looking knife (she said it made it feel more authentically like an Algerian peasant dish).  I hope the rest is being boiled up for soup or something.  The recipe for Algerian Braised Pigeon is below and this link http://bit.ly/1g8HNr will take you to an excellent video called pigeon impossible on YouTube if you have 6 minutes to spare.

Always check you wild pigeon for lead shot of course.

Algerian Braised Pigeon:     

• 4 whole  pigeon breast, skinned
• a good slosh of olive oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• I clove garlic
• 1/2  red chilli, chopped
• 1tbsp quince paste
• 1 teaspoon South Devon Chilli Farm Chilli Jam
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tin chickpeas
• chopped coriander
• 250ml chicken stock
• salt and pepper

1. Gently soften the onions and garlic in the olive oil along with the cinnamon, chilli and cumin for 5 minutes.
2. Add the quince paste, chilli jam and 205ml chicken stock, cover and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes
3. Add the chickpeas and the pigeon breast and continue to simmer for a further 20 minutes, adding a little more stock if it looks like it’s drying out.
4. Served with a little chopped coriander.  We ate it with potatoes but cous-cous would give it and even more authentic North African touch.   This dish was so delicious that I spontaneously announced to Holly that enjoyed every mouthful and that it would have worked equally well as a vegetarian dish by leaving out the pigeon altogether and using vegetable stock.

Whilst picking up cooking class supplies in Luscombes butchers in Totnes I spied a tray of pinky, blobby looking things.  “Are they sweetbreads?”, I said.  “Yes”, said Elliot the excellent and helpful butcher.  A quick conversation ascertained that they were lambs sweetbreads and what the butcher called throat glands, or thymus if you want to be more scientific.  For those not familiar with these little fellows they are very soft little glands, with a delicate taste which some liken to a mild bacon.  The main attraction, I think, is their melting texture when cooked, imagine perfectly prepared calves livers and then imagine it only twice as soft.

They are something of a rarity here although they will definitely be seen on the menu of restaurants run by any chef influenced by Fergus Henderson, and this dish was  was inspired by a recipe by Mark Hix.  They may also be well known to those born before 1950 when frugality in the kitchen was the norm rather than the exception.   There are probably a number of reasons why they are not prepared at home very often:

1. They are pinky, blobby things that just don’t look attractive (though arguably a vegetarian would say something similar about any piece of meat)

2. They are a gland and therefore unpopular in most UK kitchens where even liver and kidneys struggle for acceptance.   I imaging “eeeuuuccckkk!!  Grrrrrossssss!” would be the reaction of many less adventurous eaters.

3. There are a little painstaking to prepare: soak for some hours or even overnight to wash out blood and enzymes; blanch; devein and removed fat and membrane; then cook them.   Hence my initial question, “Are they worth the effort?”.

In many parts of Europe they are scoffed far more readily and certainly feature regularly in Spanish and Eastern Mediterranean cooking.  I’ve cooked hem before and was delighted to see them in the butchers so I guess I’m in the fan club.

For this dish  I soaked them overnight then blanched them in boiling, salty water for two minutes, this makes removing the outer membrane and other bits much easier.  I made a sauce of red onions, mushrooms, thyme, grain mustard, chicken stock and cream.  To cook the sweetbreads I heated a pan with a little olive oil, sliced the sweetbreads in 5cm strips and tossed them into the hot pan.  I fried them on a high heat for a couple of minutes then reduced the heat a little and added a good knob of butter, frying them until they were a nice colour and just a little crisp.  This sweetbread stroganoff  was served with a tabbouleh with a lemon dressing (a little acid works well with sweetbreads I think).

The tasters liked the results (well it’s certainly different to your average working lunch) and definitely worth the effort for the the creamy texture.  So if you haven’t tried them I urge you to give it a go.   Mark Hix’s original recipe is here

We’ve just had a great weekend at the Cooking School.  On Saturday we had three young boys and their Dad learning how to cook great food on a budget; ideal for teenagers about to head off to college or similar.  On Sunday we ran an Eastern Mediterranean day as part of our Mediterranean Odyssey.  These days are always great fun but the food of this region, Syria, Lebanon, Asian Turkey, etc. is just so colourful and full of surprising flavours that Holly and I got really excited about it.  The food as it was presented looked amazing and I grabbed the camera to take a few snaps before the hungry hoard had a chance to get their forks into it.

Dishes included mutton and pistachio koftas (beautifully moist), blood orange and onion salad (looked stunning) , chicken with pomegranate, hummus with lemon and coriander, tabbouleh, pita and mannaeesh breads and a fabulous rice pudding flavoured with cardamom and served with apricot compote.  This is a fantastic but less well known cuisine and one we’ll definitely be doing lots more of especially during the summer, although the feast we produced was a very good way of brightening up a dull February day.

Also, there’s something about cooking whilst nibbling a few olives and some feta, or tasting dukkah coated grilled mackerel that just makes for a lovely relaxed atmosphere and easy conversation.  What a great way to spend a day!

I am enjoying a breakfast of Sourdough Wholegrain Rye Toast which we made on last weekends Slow Bread Class and I’m loving every mouthful. It got me wondering whether, whilst being delicious and filling, Rye was also nutritionally as good, better or worse than wheat.  As the table at the bottom shows it comes out well above wheat in a head to head race and is only beaten to the top spot by Amaranth.  Amaranth is used in African and Asian cooking and Amaranth Flour is available here so I’d better look some out, even though it’s not really a grain botanically speaking.

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Oops!  Somehow I managed to lock myself out of this blog and have been unable to log onto my hosts website to do anything about.  At last I seem to have made progress so hopefully I can get back to blogging now.

I’m in Bath for 11 days of Christmas Street Market.  I’ve been allocated my tiny hut on Abbeygate Street and it’s in danger of collapse under the weight of products I’ve got stuffed into it.  The first supply of Brownies already ran out but luckily more have arrived overnight so the brownie adoring public will not be disappointed for another day or two.  Come and say hello if you’re in town.

Eleanor: I woke up this morning feeling like I had swallowed a whole elephant the night before and it wasn’t very pleasant but I knew I had a huge brunch coming up. First, we learnt how to poach, fry and scramble eggs and how to make omlette. Then we tried some smoothie and made compot and pancakes. I was feeling a bit more peckish by this point, especially with the smell of bacon looming in the air and soon we sat down for bacon sandwiches, compote and pancakes. It was delicious! Afterwards we cleared up and made some chocolate cake. I will be sad not to come back tomorrow but over the last couple of days I have learnt a lot of skills that I can use forever. (more…)

Eleanor: This morning, as soon as the sun was up so were we, and at 9.00 we met up to go shopping. We visited the fishmongers, grocery shop, delicatesson and butchers and we learnt a lot outside the kitchen. Then we collected our ingredients, had a few ice creams (a delicious lemon sorbet for me) and headed back to the house. Then we made some dips (dahl, hummus, smolked mackeral pate and tzatziki), a big salad and some coronation chicken and then ate it all up for lunch. Afterwards we started to prepare that nights dinner of dips with toast and carrots, porcetta, casarol, curry, bread and butter pudding, and rubarb fool. Then we had a very active break, playing a lot of ‘Bop-it’ and cheating a lot at table football. The meal was excellent and at the end wew all shared the feeling of satisfied fullness. (more…)