Welcome to Foodies Heaven.

My love of food started at an early age, cooking with my Grandmother baking cakes.  My grandparents had a large garden that my uncle grew many kinds of vegetables in along with the green house where I used to go and sit with the salt from the kitchen happily eating the tomatoes.  That is how I remember vegetables tasting fresh from the garden with meat fresh from the local butchers, belly pork slow roasted a breast of lamb with roast potatoes braised liver and onions all now fashionable but were then the cheaper cuts of meat. When I left school i went on a YTS learning catering while i waited to join the Army as an apprentice chef, I never liked the army but loved cooking so i left and worked in various restaurants.  I left the industry many years ago but have continued to enjoy cooking and food. In the last few years I have become increasingly interested in free range and organic food, shopping at the local farmers markets and farm shops, the tastes and smells reminding me of how meat and veg was when a child.  We should all support our local producers and buy as much as we can from them rather than the multi national supermarkets whose only concern is profit not quality, for those that say they have to use a supermarket through cost this again is not true, my local butcher does 2 free range chickens for under £7 you will not get these prices and quality in any supermarket. On this site I will try to bring you information on all things food form book reviews to recipes and guides.  If you have any ideas or are looking for something in particular drop me a mail or message and I will try my best to help.    

Quinoa Risotto

 

Today’s lunch was a totally new thing to me, I had never tasted Quinoa before.  As I posted before I am now on a diet and was told that Quinoa was an excellent source of protein, the grain was called the gold of the Incas and was fed to their warriors the protein it supplies is complete protein, enough of the history lesson on Quinoa.

I had in the fridge a chicken carcass and two legs left over from a lemon and garlic roast the day before, as always the carcass is used for stock so after stripping and meat such as the chefs favourite the oysters the carcass was added to the stock pot with an onion, celery, carrot and seasoning.  The rest of the Risotto I was going to make was gathered ready for when the stock was ready.

The basic ingredients for the risotto were two large handfuls of quinoa one small onion diced, one clove of garlic finely sliced, salt, pepper, butter, button mushrooms and the leg meat from the chicken.

 

 

The method i used was the same as making any risotto, sweat off the onion and garlic in  the butter, add the mushrooms and sauté until lightly coloured before adding the quinoa, stirring to coat all the grains with the butter and imparting the mushroom and garlic flavours to it.  Unlike a traditional risotto i did not follow the constant stirring method but instead added around 350 ml of the chicken stock and simmered gently for around 15 minutes until the liquid was absorbed, a generous grating of parmesan was added and a few knobs of butter to added to the creaminess and richness.

 

 

 

I must say that i was pleasantly surprised by the small grain that turned out to be very tasty alternative to risotto rice, it added its own nutty taste to the meal and had a nice texture to it.  I shall definitely be using more quinoa in the future.

A Weekend Feast

 

A visit to Raglan farm shop on Thursday provided me with a whole shin of beef, bacon and  Sirloin steaks.  So the weekend started early with Sirloin steak for tea on Thursday, I always cook my steaks Heston’s way the difference is so noticeable and i wont go back to cooking in the way I was taught and accepted for many years, the secret is a searing hot skillet and turning the steak often during the cooking, my new favourite toy is my meat thermometer I cook the steak to 55c then allow it to rest on a rack the residual heat finishing the cooking process.

On Friday I took the shin and took three large cuts from it for braising slowly with a selection of root vegetables, 8 hours on low in the slow cooker resulted in melting, unctuous meat and a rich gravy.

The first and third Saturdays of the month are Usk farmers market a fantastic local market with some amazing produce from award winning local producers.  A new producer was at this weeks The Welsh Pig Company a visit to their stall seen me come away with a belly of pork and some sausages, the belly to be Sundays lunch the sausages for breakfast and to make Ffions favourite sausage ragu.

One stall i always visit usually for the simply sublime smoked haddock is Black Mountain Smoked Foods, I recently had a recipe published on their site for omelette Arnold Bennett, todays choice was a smoked duck breast which provided a simply delicious lunch with a simple salad of pea shoots, baby spinach and chard leaves with plum and orange segments and a bitter orange Vinaigrette.

After lunch it was time to get tea sorted which was to be a shin of beef bhuna, the recipe for my bhuna can be found on the site.

 

Sunday is to Pork fest, I have to say that belly of pork has to be my all time favourite cut of meat.  The belly of pork went into a 22% brine with juniper berries, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and bay.  A 22% brine is simply 22g of salt to a litre of water add the salt and other spices to the water bring to the boil to dissolve the salt, allow the brine to cool completely before placing the belly of pork into a suitable container and covering with the brine and place in the fridge for 12 hours.

 After 12 hours in brine it is time for slow cooking by slow i mean very slow around 15 hrs at 50-70c.  As the pork is still in the oven i will update this post later with images of the final crispy, sticky, juicy mouth watering roast.

The weekends drink of choice was also purchased from the farmers market from Untapped Brewing Co

 Will post pics of the belly later.

 

Asparagus & Poached Eggs

 

This is just a short post to show what I have just had for my lunch, every year I wait in anticipation for the first British Asparagus to come out.

So this morning when i visited the shops to get a few bits and pieces and seen early season British Asparagus sitting there on the shelf looking all superior and tempting next to the Mexican and Peruvian cousins I knew straight away what was for lunch.

So lunch time cam along and like a child at Christmas i entered the kitchen, pan of water onto boil the griddle set to inferno heat.  The asparagus was plunged into the boiling water for literally 45 seconds then into the griddle, the eggs into the water that the asparagus had been blanched in.

Two minutes later and lunch was ready a sprinkle of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and what i consider to be one of my favourite and simplest meals of the year, it will not be the last of my asparagus this year but  the first always holds something special.

No Carbs lots of Bacon

 

I am onto day three of phase one of the Harcombe diet.  I have never done a diet in my life I love food and have in general eaten a healthy diet.  I do not eat ready meals, junk food etc I have never in my life eaten a McDonald’s and have no intention on starting to eat what I consider bad food now.  I buy my meat from butchers and farm shops or local farmers markets, veg from local sources when not growing my own, I have to sources of fish one a fantastic local fishmonger the other a friend who supplies me with trout and plenty of sea fish.  

Having trained as a chef in my teens and carried that passion for food with me into my adult life I am able to turn my hand to cooking most things.

So it was with a bit of dubious mind that I started looking at Zoe Harcombes tweets and reading her blog on her very educated thoughts on the food we eat and what damage it is causing to society in general.  The one post that made me start this diet was when the media started scare mongering over red meat and its bad press.  I bought the book and started reading, the way the book is written is clear and concise it explains why and how our diets have changed so much and why they are so far removed from the diet we should be eating.  We are not designed to eat all the processed foodstuff we do.  Our natural diet had not changed for many thousands of year. Since the development of processed foods and the mass production of them the rise in obesity has rocketed this is no coincidence and the sooner we get back to eating REAL food and get back to eating a diet that contains what our bodies require for growth, repair and nourishment the better.

So far in three days I have had bacon and eggs for breakfast, steaks and chops for tea, tuna and chicken for lunch, and drank gallons of water and decaf coffee.  I had read a lot of people felt ill in the first few days apart from a slight headache I have felt fine and never felt hungry.

I will come back to this post in a few days after I have done my initial phase one.

 

 Week Two

As I said I’d come back to this post after my phase 1 part of the diet.  Well after 5 days of eating bacon and egg for breakfast, huge ham and tuna salads for lunch, and a variety of meats including rib eye steaks, pork chops and chicken legs with veg I had lost 8lb in weight.  I started phase two by having my morning cuppa which I did miss slightly but not hugely along with an omelet with ham.  I had a glass of wine Saturday night and finished the bottle on Sunday, I have not been hungry once I have not craved or wanted anything that I wasn’t having.  I have weighed once since last Saturday and so far my weight loss is standing at 13lbs.  The only thing I am doing differently now to before I started the diet is the way I eat, I am not eating anything I never before and I haven’t dropped processed food and the like as it was never something that was on my food list anyway.

All I am doing is following a few simple guidelines and enjoying my food as always.

So its onwards and upwards, Easter weekend and it will be a full roast leg of lamb on Sunday, I may surcumb to a few roasties we shall see.

 

o

 

Omelette Arnold Bennett

 

 

 

 

This simple form of the world famous omelette made with smoked haddock from a local producer Black Mountain Smoked Foods.  There produce is simply outstanding.  My method of making the omelette does not including bechemel or mornay sauce but is simple and easy to follow.

Ingredients.

300g Smoked Haddock Fillet

300ml Whole Milk

6 Free range eggs

60g Cheese ( I used Wye Valley Cheese that Ffion bought on Saturday)

50ml Double Cream

25g Unsalted Butter

Fresh ground black pepper.

Take a large sided frying pan and place the haddock fillet and cover with the milk, poach for around 3-4 minutes in lightly bubbling milk.  Remove from the heat and using a fish slice or slotted spoon remove the fish and transfer to a plate.

 

Preheat the grill to high. Beat the eggs with a little seasoning. Melt the butter in a small frying pan, about 20cm wide, with an ovenproof handle, until the butter begins to foam. Pour the eggs into the pan and cook over a medium heat for 10 seconds until the eggs begin to set around the outside. Then, using the back of a fork, pull the set egg from the outside of the pan into the centre, allowing the uncooked egg to run to the outside.

When the egg is almost set but not quite take the flaked haddock and sprinkle over the omelette, sprinkle the grated cheeses and drizzle over the cream.

 

Place under the hot grill and cook until golden and bubbling, remove and transfer to plates and serve immediately.

The Meat Course

 

I received an email last week from Ruth and James at Trealy Farm where I done the course I wrote about in a previous post.  The building work at the farm is now complete and the official courses are now about to start.  The French have a word “terroir” a brief translation of the word comes from the French word Terre meaning land but as anyone with the slightest interest in anything French from wine to cheese will know it means far more to them.  Each region has their own terroir producing individual produce that characterises them.  I hadn’t experienced in this country a passion for the land and the soil on which our farmers produce their goods that the French display until I sat and listened to Ruth on the first day of The Meat Course.  I had met James many times at various farmers markets and food festivals not just enjoying the produce form Trealy Farm charcuterie but doing a course at the farm making bacon and ham.  This is what led to me getting an invite to the trial run of a course that Ruth and James were running. 

The course is run at Trealy Farm and the setting is fantastic with views across the Trothy valley and onwards to the Black mountains.  On arrival at the farm I was greeted by Ruth and shown into the farmhouse kitchen and offered tea or coffee, some of the other course participants were already sat talking it was like meeting old friends as you were made so welcome.

The course started with us all in a large barn where a variety of the animals that Ruth and James farm had been collected.  Sat on bales of hay with inquisitive and noisy animals wondering what was happening all around.

Ruth gave us a brief introduction to the farm and what it meant and the methods that were being used, this is the ground the terroir that the whole ethos is built on.  Ruth’s passion and knowledge is clearly evident in the way she talks and explains everything.  After the introduction we were introduced to the various animals that had been taken into the barn from Mangalitza pigs with their curly coats, goats including a very inquisitive young goat that seemed to be everywhere we went and various breeds of the sheep that are bred on the farm.  My passion is pork so my time was sat with the pigs who decided that wellies and fleeces were a worthy addition to the diet.

 

Lunch time on the first day and blessed with glorious sun we all sat in the garden eating what can only be described as a feast, all produced in the farm kitchen by James and Ruth.  The afternoon carried on in the same vein with Ruth taking us through various aspects of how and why the farm runs as it does, this answered many questions I have had regarding farming and meat production in general, but emphasised what I had been feeling for quite a while in that we cannot continue to eat meat in the manner we do in a sustainable manner, the theory of good meat less often is a fantastic one and I have adopted this whole heartedly.

 

The next item on our course was an introduction to humane slaughter.  For anyone that eats meat I have always felt that you have to accept this part of the process, this is not the mass factory abattoir that the large multinational supermarkets employ, this is the humane dispatching of an animal that has led a good life and is being treated with the same respect in death.  Ruth carried out the process in a totally professional manner and with total respect for the animal. For any smallholder or anyone raising animals this is part and parcel of life be it to produce meat products or to dispatch sick or injured animals and it was explained very well.

After the slaughter we all had some time to ourselves to reflect on what we had seen and what it meant to us, I feel that the manner in which it was carried out and the way we were involved was absolutely fantastic and made the process far easier to handle.

 

Feast number two of the day followed with us being given a tray of lamb and pointed at the outdoor oven which as with normal man behaviour surrounding fire was soon lit and the temperature gauge rising, for anyone that has never used a wood fired oven the temperatures that it reaches are phenomenal at one point during the cooking time the gauge was reading over 450c.  The meat was cooking nicely as we talked and drank going over what the day had brought to us all.  We had homemade bread that when placed in the wooden burning oven was cooked in literally seconds, we mixed lardo with garlic and herbs spread on the hot bread melting into delicious mouthfuls, salads and the meat covered the farm kitchen table.  The day had started at around 9.30 am it was gone 10 at night when I left the farm belly full and head full as well.

 

Day two started with an open invite to a farmhouse breakfast, I for one didn’t need inviting twice knowing that what is possibly in my top three Trealy farm products being on offer, Boudin Noir the most amazing black pudding I have ever eaten in my life served with bacon eggs homemade bread and mugs of tea and coffee.

The day was to be an introduction to butchery and the process of basic curing.  Trealy butcher John Standerwick is an artist when it comes to turning a whole side of pork into the various joints we all see in the butchers. Every cut is explained and demonstrated by a truly skilled butcher.  After the display we were all presented with a whole belly of pork for us to try our hands at butchery, turning the belly in to streaky bacon, the boned section making ribs, trims off the main joint being used for sausages along with some of the back fat from the animal.  We made fagots with the offal and all went away with a side of bacon in a dry cure for curing at home, ribs for the BBQ and fagots.  The process of making your own bacon is a tradition that our older generations carried out as part of daily life, along with it being cheaper than supermarket bacon the quality of home cured bacon cannot be equalled and it only takes one belly of pork some cure and a few days in the fridge.

The butchery display and hands on was separated by yet another feast, originally described by Ruth as just a quick snack so that we can get more in.  After we had finished the butchery we all gathered for a post course talk for our input into what we had done over the past two days, this was an open forum for us all to have input and to give feedback on what we thought could be done differently, there was very little that I would change at all in what had been two of the most enjoyable days I have had for many years.  We all then gathered for the final feast prepared mainly by James as we all sat talked ate and took in what we had been privileged to be part of over the previous days.

 

I cannot recommend this course highly enough, if you have any interest in meat at all be it raising animals, smallholding or simply eating it this is a fantastic opportunity to learn from some of the most passionate and knowledgeable people that I have had the honour of meeting, I keep in touch and carry on buying Trealy Farm Charcuterie and I have taken lessons from the course in how I eat meat and the way I look upon it.