Eat Sussex Issue 5

I S S U E 5 • J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 0 8

yOUR FREE COpy

CELEBRATE SUMMER AL FRESCO FAMILy FEASTS

Dark Star brewing bright peter Bayless visits a Sussex smokehouse Gilly Smith finds that the kids are alright

THE WHOLE STORy THE CO-OpERATIVES THAT CHANGED THE WAy WE EAT pLUS: THE GASTRO-GNOME’S GUIDE TO CHICHESTER

WA R M H A M H O C K SA L WITH SWE AD M U S TA R DE T DRESSING M ADE WIT H…

Bridge Farm

ham hock Free-range eggs from Holmansbri dge Farm Salad leav es and herb s from S.A. D eveson Tomatoes, cucumber and onion from We Love Lo cal Relish in Sp ice Compa n y’s Champag ne & Tarragon M ustard Sussex Gold Extra Virgin Rape seed Oil

LOCAL INGREDIENTS COOKED WITH PASSION GOOD PUB FOOD RIGHT IN THE HEART OF BRIGHTON 1 2 5 G L O U C E S T E R R O A D B R I G H T O N . B N 1 4 A F T E L : 0 1 2 7 3 6 0 7 7 6 5 H E A D

C H E F :

S T E P H E N

A D A M S

THE EAGLE

Contents

COMMENT

CONTENTS

W

20 Recipes: In Season

ELCOME TO the July/August

Issue of Eat Sussex Magazine.

Hopefully, by the time you read this the weather will have warmed up and you’ll be ready to try out our picnic recipes as you enjoy some wonderful days out in the Sussex countryside.

As the editor of a food magazine, it would be difficult to pretend that the news has been all rosy of late. Rising food and fuel prices mean that we are all having to tighten our belts but it still remains the case that the best way to eat well on a budget is to eat seasonally and locally, cut down on food waste and to acquire the skills and confidence to make the most of every single ingredient.

As the real costs of flying foods all over the globe and pumping vast amounts of chemicals into the soil start to show on our food bills, it makes more sense than ever to support our local producers.

Hopefully the economy will show signs of improvement soon and if one unintended outcome of the current slowdown is that we all learn to shop more wisely, cherish our farmers and producers, and stop throwing out a third of the food we buy each year in the UK, then that at least would be a silver lining.

Another unforeseen consequence of current economic conditions is that many people are ditching foreign trips in favour of holidaying in the UK this year. This is a great opportunity for tourism businesses in Sussex to really showcase what we have to offer and it’s the ideal time to promote the Sussex Breakfast, a clever scheme to encourage hotels and B&Bs to source local produce and champion the region’s culinary excellence to visitors. If you are interested in becoming involved, have a look at the news story on page five for more details.

And finally… now you can read all the back issues online at www.eatsussex.co.uk so you will never need to miss that valuable local recipe again!

At home or away, I hope you all have a wonderful summer.

Scintillating summer recipes

by Stephen Adams.

27 Peter Bayless: Something for the weekend Peter explores the delights to be found hanging around in smoke-filled rooms.

30 The Gastro-Gnome’s Guide to Chichester The Gnome enjoys the hospitality

03 Comment 05 News All the news fit to eat.

08 In my own words Martin Hadden, Group Executive Chef, Historic Sussex Hotels.

11 Column: Gilly Smith The girls meet the kids at Golden Cross.

12 Wholefood for the masses

of the historic city of Chichester.

37 Drink Sussex:Young, gifted and dark David Furer visits the Dark Star Brewing Co in Ansty.

41 Recipes: Pack up a picnic Dominic McCartan puts together the perfect hamper.

48 What’s on Farmers’ Markets all around Sussex.

50 Column: The Wild Side

by Fergus Drennan

Tony Leonard tells a tale of three

Fergus connects with the spirit of

Sussex co-operatives.

wild cherries.

RECIpE FINDER Baba Ghanoush ..........................................4

River Kedgeree ...........................................22

Burritos .........................................................21

Scotch Eggs.................................................43

Champagne Berry Jellies...........................2 Coronation Chicken ...................................42 Courgette & Mixed Pepper Frittata .........20 Fragrant Thai Salsa .....................................4 Guacamole ..................................................4 Herb-crusted Loin of Lamb with Tomato Sauce and Feta ..........................................22

Slow Roasted Peppers with Tomato, Basil & Garlic ..............................................21 Smoked Salmon Moscovite on Crouton ..................................................28 Spicy Pea & Potato Filo Samosas with Beetroot Raita ....................46

No-bake Summer Fruit Cheesecake .......2

Taramasalata................................................28

Pork Escalope with Pepper & Sweetcorn Chutney....................................23

The Spirit of Wild Cherries......................... 0

Potted Shrimp .............................................42

Tomato & Mozzerella Tarts ........................24

Real Lemonade...........................................41

Vegetarian Scotch Eggs.............................43

Tony Leonard, Editor.

TO SUBSCRIBE

To make sure you always get your copy of Eat Sussex Magazine, why not take out a subscription. For just £12.50 for six issues, you can have Eat Sussex delivered straight to your door. Just send a cheque, payable to Eat Media Ltd, to Eat Media, 13 Middle St, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1AL.

July/August 2008

3

Forth-coming events

Weddings, birthdays,

Summer BBQ Sunday 24th August 2008 Live Jazz Band £20 per person

anniversaries, all parties

Gastronomic Evening Thursday 25th September 2008 9 course tasting menu £45 per person

we can hire a marquee.

Traditional Sunday Lunch £22.50 (£12.95 childs portion) For three courses

catered for.

Up to 70 guests.

For larger parties

Restaurant

Individual menus designed for you from £25pp

Table D’hote Menu £12.95/£16.95 for two or three courses including coffee and petit fours

Modern European & French Cuisine

Tel: 01825 721272 • Web www.272restaurant.co.uk 20/22 High Street, Newick, East Sussex, BN8 4LQ 272 Restaurant HP 0608.indd 1

11/6/08 15:18:46

NOMINATED FOR THE SUSSEX FOOD & DRINK AWARDS - BEST EATING EXPERIENCE 2007

“While many pubs are trying to serve up local grub with a seasonal twist, the foragers have gone a step further. Several steps in fact” Mimi Spencer, The Observer “ I’d always hoped the mantra “Think global, act local” could be achieved by going to the pub-and now it can” Terry Durack, restaurant critic of the year, Sunday Independent “The name says it all, this light cheery pub is hot on gathering greens from around East Sussex “ Zoe Williams, Sunday Telegraph 3 stirling place • hove • east sussex • BN3 3YU • tel: 01273 733134 • www.theforagerpub.co.uk • email: the forager@yahoo.co.uk eat_sussex_hp.indd 1

July/August 2008

15/5/08 14:48:42

News

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Enjoy a Sussex KITCHENS FOR HIRE nterprise Works, week or however long they Breakfast

E

The Sussex Breakfast is a new initiative rolling out across East & West Sussex to promote the delicious, local and seasonal produce found in the area.

Wherever you see the Sussex Breakfast logo, you can be assured that the sausages and bacon come from pigs reared outdoors or in open straw barns and eggs are from free range chickens. Other quality ingredients may include seasonal apple juice, homemade jams and marmalades or fresh milk from small local dairies — all quality ingredients sourced direct from Sussex producers or purchased from farm shops supplied by local farmers and craft processors.

A Sussex Breakfast means shorter supply chains and reduced food miles. Most of the food has not travelled outside of Sussex.

To claim a Sussex Breakfast the establishment has passed an audit process guaranteeing they are serving at least 60% locally sourced, ethically produced ingredients.

To find out where you can stay for a Sussex Breakfast, go to www.visitsussex.org. If you run a Sussex accommodation or hospitality business serving breakfast and you’re interested in becoming an accredited provider, contact Topsy Jowell at the Nethercot Centre for Sustainable Food & Farming, Battle TN33 9PY. Tel: 01424 775615.

The Sussex Breakfast is an initiative of the Sussex Tourism Partnership, A Taste of Sussex and the District Councils of East & West Sussex.

the 22,000sq ft, notfor-prof it factor y t hat Hugh Burnett opened in Newhaven three years ago, has extended its services to include food producers. The factory, which was opened with the express purpose of helping small manufacturing firms grow and prosper now has a waiting list. But Hugh, determined to help another group of producers, has commissioned a number of state-of-art kitchens to full BRC Global Standard on land adjoining the main factory. These new kitchens are available to rent by clients by the day, the

CELEBRATE LOCAL FOOD AND DRINK

may be required. Storage facilities can be provided together with assistance in accounting, sales and marketing.

It is a sad fact that it is almost impossible for individuals, or even groups to make jams, pastries, bread, jams, relishes, soups, patés, pies or cooked meats and sell them on without assistance. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) that sets the standards for the production of food has rigorous guidelines.

Foodstuffs that were once made in homes can no longer be sold to retailers or restaurants unless the kitchen in which the food is processed is accredited to

BRC Standard. This is a big hurdle for many of the small businesses setting out in this sector.

“There is no doubt,” said Mike David, Enterprise Works’ General Manager,“that during the last few years support for English food has been growing. In our main factory, Taylor Made Foods are enjoying great success and their pies are truly scrumptious. It is my hope that businesses working in our factory will learn from each other and they will all succeed.”

If you want to learn more about Enterprise Works Model Kitchens for hire, telephone 01273 511560 or visit website www.enterpriseworks.co.uk

Slow Food Brighton & Lewes and Transition Town Lewes Food Group, are holding A Celebration of Local Food and Drink on Sunday 20th July from 6pm to 9pm at the Terrace Room, Pelham House, St Andrews Lane, Lewes.

This is a chance to meet producers and taste local foods, beers, wines, ciders and fruit juices. Bring your friends and enjoy a summer evening in the lovely setting of the terrace room and garden of Pelham House. Entry is free.

Delicatessen to open in Sussex pub A

WEST SUSSEX pub is to turn part of its

bar and restaurant space into a Southern Counties delicatessen sourcing its stock locally and seasonally.

The Sussex Farm Shop, scheduled to open at the end of June at The Woolpack Inn at Fishbourne, Chichester, will be only the second public house in West Sussex to feature a deli as a shop within a pub.

Woolpack partner, Marcus O’Flanagan, said: “As a family run pub we were horrified to hear that all the tenants of Chichester’s 200-year-old Butter Market were being asked to leave while the building is having a makeover, so we invited O’Hagan’s Sausages to supply our new deli.”

Brother Niki O’Flanagan says:“It was planned that the deli would not only sell O’Hagan’s Sausages but will stock other Southern seasonal fruits, vegetables, salads, breads, organic meat, eggs, cereals, grains and locally made preserves and relishes.”

Liam O’Hagan, managing director of O’Hagan’s Sausages said: “My father, Bill, started the world’s first speciality fresh sausage shop at Greenwich in South East London exactly 20 years ago so I am delighted we are able to celebrate this important anniversary by moving into a deli featuring all sorts of other local foods. It will be a great marriage.”

The first Southern Counties pub to open a deli was The Wise Old Owl, at Kingsfold, on the A24 just north of Horsham, where husband and wife team, John and Paula Briscoe, created the food emporium concept after operating two gastro pubs; the Jolly Farmers in Surrey and the The Wise Old Owl.The Jolly Farmers won the 2007 Countryside Alliance’s National Best Rural Retailer Award for Most Diversification.

Paula said:“Since we opened our first pub we have loved all things local and decided to expand with the opening of a deli and, what’s more, use as much local produce in the restaurant as we can.”

July/August 2008

News

SOURCING SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD

Attention all restaurateurs: Slow Food Brighton & Lewes are inviting local restaurateurs to a presentation and round table discussion about sourcing local fish chaired by Dr. Malcolm MacGarvin of Pisces Responsible Fish Restaurants.

The aim of this restaurant initiative, funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, is to improve the sustainability of fisheries by helping chefs make better choices of fish for their menus, creating buyer-driven pressure for change. Steps that can be taken include: • Choosing fish by category rather than species, and by sourcing locally and seasonally; • Directly supporting fishermen who are reducing damage to the marine environment and helping rebuild fish stocks; • Improving the quality of fish available to chefs by supporting better fishing practices. Control of quality provides an incentive to chefs to source via this route.

The scheme has been trialled within the Moshi Moshi restaurant group since 2004, resulting in a ‘Green Apple’ award in 2005.

At the discussion, Dr Malcolm MacGarvin, who — along with Caroline Bennett of Moshi Moshi — is one of the co-founders of Pisces-RFR, will talk about the initiative, and also about the local Sussex fisheries with whom they work, and a description of the Sussex ‘fish year’ seasonality. They will be sourcing from Sussex fishermen (potentially Eastbourne, Hastings, Selsey at least) so one of the purposes of the meeting will be to explore extending Pisces-RFR into Sussex coastal restaurants, and the various ways of doing this.

The discussion is part of A Celebration of Local Food and Drink at Pelham House, Lewes, on Sunday 20th July and will start at 6.30pm giving participants time to enjoy the rest of the evening. If you would like to reserve a place at the discussion please contact John Kenward: 01273 476444, j.kenward@gmail.com. For more information about Pisces Responsible Fish Restaurants, go to www.pisces-rfr.org.

In season now Artichoke Aubergine Beetroot Carrots Cucumber Peas Radishes Runner beans Tomatoes Apricots Blueberries

Raspberries Redcurrants Strawberries Lamb Rabbit Woodpigeon Crab Herring John Dory Sea bass Squid

E AT M E D I A LT D

ADVERTISING SALES

13 MIDDLE STREET, BRIGHTON,

Emma Andrews

EAST SUSSEX. BN1 1AL

Tel: +44 (0)1273 579485

TEL: +44 (0)1273 302968 FAX: +44 (0)1273 272643

Email: emma@eatsussex.co.uk EDITORIAL

www.eat-media.co.uk

Tony Leonard

www.eatsussex.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1273 302968

Eat Sussex Magazine: ISSN 1756-3003

Email: tony@eatsussex.co.uk

July/August 2008

Cast your votes for The Sussex Food and Drink Awards 2008/09

T

he 2008/09 Sussex Food and Drink

Awards was launched at the South of England Show, Ardingly, on Friday 6 June. Local food personalities embraced the opportunity to celebrate the wonderful quality and variety of Sussex food and drink and take part in a Sussex wine tasting featuring wines from all over the county.

Clive Beddall OBE hosted the launch and was delighted to help ensure the quality of finalists in this year’s awards as Chairman of the judges for the third year. He said: “The success of the awards mirrors the increasing popularity of produce from Sussex. In recent years, the county’s producers of food and drink, with their talents for innovation, have moved to the forefront of the local food revolution that is sweeping the United Kingdom. More and more food stores and restaurants are recognising that Sussex produce means high quality.”

This year, recognition of the importance of young people in the future of local produce is demonstrated by the introduction of an exciting new award category for Sussex Young Chef of the Year sponsored by Train to Gain. The judges will be looking for a chef between the age of 16 to 25, who is working or studying in Sussex and has the ability to plan, prepare and present a menu based on their knowledge of the local produce grown, reared or caught in Sussex.

The awards are based on public voting and everyone in Sussex is allowed one nomination or vote per category, organisers are calling on food and drink lovers to vote for their favourites at www. sussexfoodawards.com. Nomination forms can also be ordered on 01273 207155.

The 2008/09 Sussex Food and Drink Awards include: • Sussex Food Producer of the Year • Sussex Drink Producer of the Year • Sussex Farmer of the Year • Sussex Butcher of the Year • Sussex Young Chef of the Year • Best Sussex Eating Experience • Best Sussex Farmers Market • Best Sussex Food Shop PRODUCTION Dean Cook Tel: +44 (0)1273 467579 Email: dean@eatsussex.co.uk P U B L I S H E R Dominic McCartan Tel: +44 (0)1273 302968 Email: dominic@eatsussex.co.uk P R I N T E D B Y Warners Midlands

© 2008 Eat Media Limited.

All rights reserved. Eat Sussex Magazine is edited, designed, and published by Eat Media Limited.

No part of Eat Sussex Magazine may be reproduced, transmitted, stored electronically, distributed, or copied, in whole or part without the prior written consent of the publisher. A reprint service is available.

Opinions expressed in this journal do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or Eat Sussex Magazine or its publisher, Eat Media Limited.

West StokeRestaurant House with rooms A

ward winning Michelin star restaurant set in glorious countryside on the edge of the South Downs. Seasonal modern British and French menu.

Traditional country house with contemporary lightfilled rooms and stunning views. Fine dining in relaxed surrounds and perfectly located for Chichester, Goodwood Racecourse or walks through the ancient forest of Kingley Vale. Available for private parties and also weddings.

Reservations for lunch 12-2pm Wednesday to Sunday and for dinner 7-9pm Wednesday to Saturday.

West Stoke House

West Stoke, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 9BN Telephone: 01243 575 226 Email: info@weststokehouse.co.uk Website: www.weststokehouse.co.uk West Stoke House 0708 HP.indd 1

13/6/08 12:56:43

Local Food Makes Sense a Sussex Breakfast is made from at least 60% of local seasonal ingredients.

Since 2006 the ‘Sussex Breakfast’ has been building stronger links between accommodation providers and local food producers.

The project’s success means it can now be extended to other businesses that serve a locally sourced breakfast or would like help and advice.

So if your business is within the 1066 area and you’d like further information please email dclifford@hastings.gov.uk or telephone 01424 451101 Your business will be promoted via two websites and printed material. www.visit1066country.com / www.visitsussex.org

www.visit1066country.com/sussexbreakfast

sb advert.indd 1

July/August 2008

6/6/08 14:18:08

In my own words

Martin Hadden

Group Executive Chef, Historic Sussex Hotels.

T

HERE ARE three hotels

8

in the group, Ockenden Manor, Bailiffscourt and The Spread Eagle Hotel.

The group is owned by the Goodman family from Lewes so we are very much a Sussex family-run business.

The food here at Bailiffscourt is quite simple, nothing too flashy nor too formal.We’re very flexible.

The menus change seasonally and we have daily changes in addition to that, but customers coming here with a little bit of notice, or indeed customers staying at the hotel for multiple nights can get whatever they want really. That’s no problem at all.

We have over 70 Christmas puddings hanging from the ceiling of the restaurant at The Spread Eagle. It’s a long-running Christmas tradition; we give guests a pudding on Christmas day and it’s their choice, either they can take it away with them or they can hang it from the ceiling and have it on their return.The oldest one we can say for certain, because obviously labels fade, goes back to 1954 but there are a lot of others

July/August 2008

that are probably older.

We have a Michelin star at Ockenden Manor which means nothing more than we cook quite well there and everybody should have a pretty good food experience when they go there.

We have a very good team.

Stephen Crane, the head chef, was my number two for many years and he’s a very good cook.

There’s a huge misconception about what aiming for a Michelin star means. It is nothing more than turning up for work, cooking as well as you can, if you are good enough you’ll get a Michelin star, if you are not good enough, you won’t. How do you ‘aim’ for a star? Do you wake up one morning and make a conscious decision to aim for a star? Does that mean today you are going to start cooking well? What was wrong yesterday?

In 2000, I left London with the family. It was a conscious decision to move to the countryside. I got a job as head chef at Ockenden Manor and we got a Michelin star for the first time.Two weeks prior to the guide being published, I’d

exchanged contracts on my own restaurant in Somerset, where we subsequently got a Michelin star as well. Somerset wasn’t great for us as a family, although business was good. We missed the South East so we came back to Sussex and I took up my present role as Group Head Chef looking after the three properties.

I divide my time up across the three kitchens. A large part of what I do, and what I get most gratification from these days, is spending time with junior members of the crews in the kitchens talking food and wine, explaining the pros and cons and reasoning what’s good and what’s not good and hopefully imparting some of the knowledge that I’ve picked up over the years to these youngsters.

As a family, myself and my parents left London in the mid 70s and bought a small-holding in North Devon. We reared and slaughtered our own pigs and cattle. From the milk we made our own butter and cheese, we grew our own vegetables and we’d have to throw a bucket

down the well for water, we were really quite remote. I was really privileged to have that as a part of my childhood and deeply etched on my brain is how the fat tasted on the beef that we reared and how good a flavour the butter had and I haven’t yet been able to find butter from Britain that has the same flavour. Butter is slightly sour when you make it properly.

We very much try to make the most of what’s around. This year we’ve started doing good business with Rother Valley Organics. We buy very good lamb from Ditchling, we buy excellent game from Balcombe Estate and we’ve just struck up a relationship with the last licensed shellfish fisherman operating out of Selsey.We do use local produce and we’d like to use more than we currently do but it’s quite difficult to access. On the wine side we very much champion the cause of Ridgeview. They have really raised their game and we are embracing that as a quality product that’s on our doorstep.

We offer it above champagne and that, for me, is a very good indication of what we are about.

At Ockenden Manor, and soon at the other two properties as well, Stephen has started a wedding package where everything is Sussex based: the entire menu and the wine to go with it is all Sussex produced.

I really would love to have people come and knock on our door with their produce. I’ve worked in France in a threeMichelin-starred restaurant in Valence and each morning there was a queue about four or five deep outside the kitchen door of old ladies with what they’d grown. It would probably be more commercial than that here but for some of these small producers, who we haven’t seen, we’ve overlooked and perhaps we don’t know that they exist, please pick up the phone and give us a call. I really mean that. n Historic Sussex Hotels www.hshotels.co.uk

duesouth

Restaurant/2 Bars/Private Parties

A secret hideaway from the hustle and bustle of the city, only 10 minutes along the coast from Brighton. Loft style restaurant and balcony with stunning panoramic views of the river. Large riverside terrace for relaxed alfresco dining and two split level lounge bars.

Summer menu offering fresh products, locally sourced for quality and taste. Long Room Bar for parties/private events.

“Best seaside restaurant in Britain this quirky little place in an arch on Brighton’s beach is known for seriously good food, seasonality & its championing of local suppliers�

Observer Food Monthly Open daily: lunch 12.00 to 16.00 dinner 18.00 to 22.00 Contact - www.duesouth.co.uk Tel. 01273 821 218 139 Kings Road Arches, directly beneath the Odeon Cinema.

The only venue on the beach with a license to hold weddings & civil partnership ceremonies, or why not use Due South’s outside catering service for your special event - call 01273 821218

The Crown & Anchor, 33 High St, Shoreham by Sea, West Sussex BN43 5DD Open 10.00am daily for coffee, breakfast, lunch, dinner (bookings recommended) Tel: 01273 463500 email: info@crownandanchor-shoreham.co.uk www.crownandanchor-shoreham.co.uk

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27/5/08 09:17:17

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July/August 2008

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HigH Weald dairy

Award winning cheeses, locally made in the heart of Sussex.

At High Weald Dairy we make a range of delicious award winning cheeses from organic sheep and cows milk.

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The Old Forge 0508.indd 1

Using organic milk from the cows on Tremains Farm, we make the Gold Award winning Tremains Organic Cheddar, Ashdown Foresters (including oak smoked) and the deliciously fresh Cowslip, plain and with chives. Sheep milk is turned into rich Duddleswell, Sussex Slipcote in five varieties, as well as the Mediterranean Feta and Halloumi.

All are available from independent food outlets throughout Sussex. Please call us for your nearest stockist.

Sussex High Weald Dairy, Tremains Farm, Horsted Keynes, Haywards Heath, RH17 7EA Tel: 01825 791636 Fax: 01825 791641 www.highwealddairy.co.uk

8/4/08 High 15:18:40 Weald Dairy QP 0508.indd 1

Have you tried your new local cheese?

Downsview Farmhouse Ice Cream is made with the very best milk and cream from our own herd of cows.

Available at outlets throughout Sussex.

This cheese is a cross between Cheddar and Parmesan and is made using unpasteurised milk from a single herd of grass fed Sussex cows.

It is suitable for vegetarians.

For more information about this and any of our other products, please call 01444 881394 or visit www.bookhams.com

Why not try our Honeycomb with pieces ice cream or any of our other 20 ďŹ&#x201A;avours?

We also make lovely Fruit Sorbets.

To ďŹ nd your nearest stockest phone Sarah on 01825 841002.

www.downsviewfarm.co.uk Downsview Farm, Laughton Road Ringmer, East Sussex. BN8 5UT

8/4/08 14:57:24

This cheese is a joint venture between Bookham Fine Foods and R.Harrison & Sons who are dairy farmers from Rudgwick.

As seen on TV!

July/August 2008

Downsview Farm QP 0508.indd 1

8/4/08 Bookhams 14:52:56 0608 QP.indd 1

16/6/08 12:25:46

Gilly Smith

Just Kidding Gilly Smith attempts to recapture her foodie childhood as she spurns the supermarket and takes her daughters, Ellie (12) and LouLou (9), deep into the forests, farms and seas of Sussex to find their food.

“T

ell me what you know

about cheese, girls,” I cheerily ask my daughters as we head out to the Golden Cross goats’ cheese dairy.

“It gives you nightmares?” suggests LouLou. “It smells,” says Ellie.

It’s two years since we left the supermarkets of Brighton for the butchers and fishing boats of rural Sussex, and I have carted the kids around most local farms to meet the meat keeping these verdant Downs neat and tidy. But with Ellie now a confirmed vegetarian and LouLou pulled equally by the lure of the animal activism of her big sister and the smell of a beef burger, I’m not quite sure what I’ve achieved.

I always thought that giving my children a little of my foodie childhood might inspire a lifelong love of the stuff. But I was used to the pigs’ trotters simmering gently on the hob as my father told us about the spit-roasted buffalo at the fairytale banquet of the Sultan of Perak and the monkey brains served live at the night-markets of Malay. When Ellie makes her

excuses at Sunday lunch these days, he looks crestfallen.

So I’m giving in. If this little experiment is about getting the kids to appreciate good food, then let them eat ice-cream (1 food mile) and goats’ cheese (3.3 food miles). After the pig farm, I owe it to Ellie to introduce her to fluffy goats with years of frolicking ahead of them and noone eying up their back end. I just won’t tell her about what happens to the boys.

Kevin and Alison Blunt have been making cheese at Golden Cross for the last 20 years and have come a long way since the bucket and ten goats they had back then. Pan-fried on a bed of local leaves, slightly spiced with a balsamic dressing, or, even better, soaking up the pink of a local beetroot, Golden Cross goats’ cheese is what a Sussex summer has come to taste like for me.

As we drive down the windy country lanes, I tell the tale of Grandpa and his home-made cheese, how he let the milk sour over a couple of days before stuffing the curd into Granny’s

stocking and adding some garlic and olives until the mixture settled. I falter as I remember the ending, and quickly shift the story to his mother’s more successful efforts. The kids are too quick.

“What happened to Grandpa’s cheese?” they demand, and as much as I energetically point out the enormous mansions and sweeping drives along our route, swearing that they belong to Robbie Williams and Madonna, their steely gazes burn into my

back. “Ok, so he ended up in hospital,” I finally admit.

I’m about to introduce them to cheese making and to Kevin Blunt who will tell them that it is bacteria that makes milk into cheese. They won’t differentiate between the hairy spores they regularly find in the back of my fridge (and what probably landed Grandpa in hospital) and the benign microbes that have made the Blunts famous. How am I going to get them to taste the stuff now?

The girls inspect Kevin’s every move as he wipes the goats’ teats before attaching the cups.

Happily, as he takes them to see the curds and whey, Kevin dons a set of germ-free whites and insists that they too stuff their hair into nets, bag themselves in plastic and cover their shoes in sterile bags before they so much as sniff the air.

Kevin is bombarding my children with so much information that they can barely take it all in. While I had gone for the Little Miss Muffet route, he’s talking cheese starter, vegetarian rennet and penicillium mould, inadvertently muffling the message that this is bacteria city; that the only way milk can become cheese is something not far off what Grandpa did.

A tour of the 11-day process, through separating trays and drying rooms, leads us to the tasting trays, and I stand back, one eye closed and watch as my children taste, savour, pause, taste some more and... “I like it!” beams LouLou while Ellie politely nibbles an edge before putting it in her pocket.

Apparently it smells of the little sweeties gambolling outside.

As we drive home, we pass a field full of young goats almost ready to kid themselves, and the girls tell me that this has been the best of all the food trips.As this year of Food and Farming reaches midsummer, I am only just warming up. I dream of that goats’ cheese in the bottom of my handbag and our next trip and its booty. Hmm; Ridgeview Sparkling Wine is not that far away… n

July/August 2008

11

Feature

Charlie Booth takes the Infinity company bicycle

Wholefood for the masses Tony Leonard takes a tour of the workers’ co-operatives that have brought wholefoods into the mainstream and held on to their ethics along the way.

Photography by Paul Cassidy.

I

t’s Thursday morning in

12

Brighton’s North Laine and shoppers are contemplating the still-warm bread in the newly enlarged Inf inity Foods. Just around the corner on Gardner Street, a trio of yummy mummies, toddlers in tow, catch up over a Fairtrade coffee in the Infinity Cafe while busy staff prepare for the lunchtime

July/August 2008

“How do we step in and solve the problem of crap food in supermarkets? Let’s do it ourselves and provide an alternative” Charlie Booth, Infinity Foods rush. In Portslade, over 40,000sq ft of wholesale warehouses, the hidden bulk of Infinity’s business iceburg, is the centre of an £11million operation that delivers a

range of over 4,000 organic and Fairtrade products in five trucks, on the road five days a week, to the South East and couriers all over the UK and beyond. Three state

of the art bagging machines pack the company’s own brand lines of rice, flours, beans, grains, dried fruit and pulses at up to 30 bags a minute.

A delivery has already arrived at one of those retailers, Trinity Wholefoods in Hastings, and Wealden Wholefoods, situated in the pretty village of Wadhurst, is also expecting a visit before the

Feature

Infinity Food’s eye-catching mural

Shopping for organic fruit and vegetables

morning is over. What these three Sussex businesses all have in common, apart from a wholesaler and a commitment to healthy eating, is a co-operative business model and a longevity that has seen that model tested to the limits.

For Infinity, the oldest of the three, the story begins in the heady days of hippydom and student rebellion. In 1970 at the University of Sussex, a small and passionate group of students start Biting Through, the world’s first macrobiotic student restaurant.

According to Charlie Booth of Infinity:“They started agitating through the Student Union and, depending on which myth you want to believe, they either persuaded the catering authorities at the university that they could use the kitchen one afternoon a week or they stormed it and took it over!”

On his website (www. peterdeadman.co.uk), Peter Deadman, Infinity’s co-founder, describes the early days at the university.We didn’t know much about cooking — certainly in bulk — but after we’d scrubbed the place clean of accumulated hamburger grease, we started serving brown rice, vegetables, seaweed, unyeasted bread and beans to our undiscriminating customers.”

The idea for a shop came as their customers, now increasingly discriminating, flocked to the kitchen of the ad hoc cooperative to buy rice, flour and other provisions. Funding for the retail venture came from an unexpected source when a volunteer, known only to the pages of history as Andy the Anarchist, inherited a sum of money, much to his chagrin on account of his deeply held opposition to the notion of private property.

A core team around Peter Deadman, Ian Loeffler and Jenny Beacham (later Deadman) opened Infinity Foods in 1971, and were soon joined by Robin Bines (who

went on to buy the UK rights to Ecover cleaning products and founded Natural Products Magazine, but that’s a whole other story for another day).

Infinity’s first shop was located in the basement of a house in Church Street, a far from perfect location, and it’s fair to say that those early days were a struggle. To supplement the shop’s meagre income, the team took to the road catering for festivals, starting with the first ever Glastonbury Festival.

In 1975, the shop moved to its present site in North Road, where it helped set the scene for the subsequent bohemianization of the North Laine area.

The wholefood movement that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s found its roots in a number of traditions.

Although connected to many religious beliefs for centuries, vegetarianism really became a politically-inspired movement in Britain in the 19th Century.

In 1809 the founder of the Bible Christian Church in Salford, the Reverend William Cowherd, urged his congregation to abstain from eating meat. His followers included Mr Joseph Brotherton, the local MP. The first vegetarian recipe book was published in 1812 by Mrs Brotherton and The Vegetarian Society was founded in 1847 with Joseph at the helm.

Around the same time in London, The London Food Reform Society advocated abstinence from the three Fs: flesh, fowl and fish. Stereotypes of vegetarian food that continue to this day may well have begun in a letter that appeared in The Times in 1879, written by Mr Gibson Ward,Vice-President of the society: “The cheapest and best soup, pleasant, nutritious and wholesome, needs only two articles – water and lentils, well cooked.” He advocated boiling the lentils “furiously for three to four hours,” and insisted that, “Put before an epicure, without remark or information, it would

Checking out at new-style Infinity

July/August 2008

13

Feature

14

be eaten as a fine gravy soup.”

What, in retrospect, is most surprising is that hundreds of new members joined up as a result of this and similarly stirring missives.

Another leading light of the movement, Dr Thomas Allinson, is now best known for the wholemeal flour mill he founded.

In 1893 he published a series of essays that proved so controversial that he was struck off by the General Medical Council. In his writing he advised patients to eat a healthy, balanced diet with lots of fruit, vegetables and wholemeal bread, to exercise often, cut down on salt, not to work too hard and abstain from alcohol and tobacco. “In my lectures on Health I always advise my hearers to eat brown bread,” he wrote, advancing the ideas that were to become central to the wholefood philosophy of health, diet and nutrition. “By brown bread I mean wheatmeal or wholemeal bread: that is, the entire wheaten grain finely ground and made into bread by any of the known ways, with nothing left out, nor must it be made with chemicals.” Most of his ideas have since become conventional nutritional wisdom but it was his wholly accurate description of nicotine as a ‘foul poison’ which caused cancer, in particular, that resulted in his clash with the GMC. Vegetarianism went from strength to strength until in 1897 there were 37 vegetarian restaurants in London. The movement at this time was predominantly urban, and strongly associated with socialist and Christian social reformers of the newly emerging lowermiddle classes.

In stark contrast, the roots of the organic movement in Britain necessarily lay with rural landowners. Sir Albert Howard, widely acknowledged as ‘the father of organic agriculture’, worked as an agricultural adviser in Bengal from 1905 to 1924.

He soon found that the Indian

July/August 2008

farmers had more to teach him with their traditional methods than he could offer them and, on his return to England, wrote the seminal volume, An Agricultural Testament. Lady Eve Balfour launched the Haughley Experiment in 1939, the first comparison study of organic and chemical farming and later went on to found The Soil Association.

While Sir Howard was still formulating his ideas in India, the first modern European organic system in practice was probably Rudolf Steiner’s biodynamic system in Germany which has since found many adherents all over the world.

It was in the class-defying years of the 1960s and 1970s that the vegetarian and organic movements finally came together and they, along with the newly-emerging philosophy of macrobiotics, provided inspiration for the food radicals of the time.‘Macrobiotic’ comes from the Greek ‘macro’ meaning

large or long, and ‘bios’ meaning life. Hippocrates, ‘the father of medicine’, provides the earliest recorded use of the term and, always ahead of the crowd, defined a theory over two millennia before it was advanced, with the quote: “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine thy food.” In fact, George Ohsawa, in the 20th Century, developed the healthy-living philosophy based on traditional Oriental medicine and a diet of whole, living, natural foods eaten in season. His teachings found an eager and responsive audience among freethinkers of the counterculture, like Peter Deadman and his cohorts.

As the 1970s progressed, Infinity expanded, adding an in-store bakery and The Brighton Natural Health Centre as the premises increased in size. In 1979, the business, always run informally on co-operative principles, formerly registered as a workers’ co-operative. At this time Peter

Trinity Wholefoods at Hastings

A wide selection at Trinity Wholefoods

Deadman decided to move on and Robin Bines became the main driver until the mid 1980s.

The ideas that drove the wholefood pioneers have since become so mainstream that it’s hard, from the perspective of 2008, to recognise just how extreme they once seemed.

Although many leading entrepreneurs, like Nicholas Saunders of Neal’sYard and Craig Sams of Whole Earth Foods, Green & Black’s and now Judges Bakery in Hastings, emerged from the movement, many of those involved, in keeping with their radical outlook, sought an alternative to the conventional business structure. This they found in the co-operative model of common ownership.

A l t h o u g h t h e re we re precedents, the first successful cooperative is generally considered to be The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers which was founded in 1844. The pioneers, 28 weavers and artisans, opened a shop selling food items that were otherwise unaffordable and drew up the Rochdale Principles that define the ethical code of cooperatives to this day.

It’s a story that Rhian Thomas, of Trinity Wholefoods in Hastings, believes finds echoes amongst many of today’s cooperatives. She explains that many co-ops began as informal buying clubs. “I don’t think Wealden did and Trinity didn’t, but for most of the wholefood co-operatives, that’s exactly how

Rhian Thomas, Trinity Wholefoods

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16

we started up.We’d buy in bulk, divide it up in someone’s kitchen and demand grew.The more you buy, the cheaper you get it for.”

Charlie Booth at Infinity also sees a natural affinity between wholefoods and the co-operative movement. “I think there is a whole connection between community politics, healthy food, protests against factory farming,” he tells me. “How do we step in and solve the problem of crap food in supermarkets? Let’s do it ourselves. We’re not going to close the supermarkets down so let’s do it ourselves and provide an alternative. And it just follows that the co-operative model fits in with that.”

It’s probably no coincidence that two of Infinity’s largest trading partners and competitors, Suma Wholefoods in Yorkshire and Essential Trading Cooperative in Bristol, are also cooperatives.“They are very similar to us,” says Charlie.“Look at the catalogues of similar products, very similar terms of trade.

We’ve all grown up together.

We’ve probably gone through a period of the links severing a bit as we’ve all been busy with things but I think now we’re coming back together through the co-operative movement.”

It is in the 1980s, around the time that Infinity began developing their wholesale business, that the other two shops enter our story.“I think we were one of Infinity Food’s first wholesale customers,” explains Barbara Godsalve at Wealden Wholefoods. “We’ve certainly been together since the start.”

The business is celebrating 23 years of trading this summer.“A group of ladies got together and two of them bought the building between them. One had the flat upstairs where she lived and the other, Shirley Rothera, was the landlady of the co-operative.

Then some other friends got together and put in money to join as members and bought the original stock and it started from there really. Shirley used to go to

July/August 2008

Wealden Wholefoods in Wadhurst

The view of the shop with the café at the rear

Margaret Hurst and Barbara Godsalve

markets and sell wholefoods from the back of her car and that’s how she got to know Infinity Foods first.As the demand increased she thought it would be nice to have a shop to sell from.”

In Hastings, the peace movement, at the height of its influence as Cold War tensions rose and thousands regularly marched against Cruise and Trident missiles, brought the first members of Trinity Wholefoods together.“The co-operative came

out of a chance conversation in 1984 and the shop opened in 1985,” says Sandra Herbert. “A high proportion of the early members were Quakers and they had strong principles so it was run as a co-operative from the start.”

Despite the fortunate timing of the new shops opening, Infinity’s wholesale business struggled for the first few years, but despite a slow start, the organisation was perfectly positioned for the organic boom that began in the

1990s.“From 1989 right through, there was quite a radical shake-up and we managed to get on board as that organic boom took off,” recalls Charlie. “The wholesale just grew and grew and grew, in terms of turnover, in terms of staff, in terms of warehouses: we now have three when we started with one. We just had this incredible growth.Turnover literally went from £2million to £3million the next year, to £4million and on and on, until it settled down again a couple of years ago again to a steady 12 per cent growth year on year.”

At Trinity, business has also been booming. Sandra shows me a graph documenting year on year growth and it’s a sight that would make any high street multiple salivate. “We’ve made a profit every year of our 23 years,” she explains, although most of this year’s has been eaten up by the recent refurbishment.

“The shop hadn’t really had a lot done to it in the previous 22 years and it took about six years from someone proposing that perhaps it was time to have a little bit of a redesign to it actually happening.” Customers and staff agree that the expense was worth it. “We took the opportunity to go for an eco-refit. We got rid of all our old inefficient chiller units and replaced them with new energy efficient ones. We used organic paints on the walls and varnish on the floors. We had a local builder make a new counter for us from sustainable birch wood.We had eco-friendly lighting installed.We’ve got these wonderful hand-turned lamps over the counter and the ones in the window are made from recycled plastic bottles.”

Infinity also underwent an extensive refurbishment recently; expanding into the premises next door has given the place a light, spacious feel and allowed it to increase its ranges of products, including a new section devoted to cosmetics, a category which all three shops see as increasingly important. “All of a sudden

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Feature

people have realised that we’re putting by-products of the petro-chemical industry on our skin every day,” says Barbara at Wealden.“And they are thinking ‘do we really want to be doing that?’” Trinity are particularly proud of their Visionary Soap Company range which, in addition to being an awardwinning Fairtrade company, is also based in Hastings.

It’s very clear that the market for organic, ethically-produced produce is thriving in Brighton and Hastings. Given its rural location, the returns at Wealden Wholefoods are understandably more modest. But while many villages have lost their shops to out of town supermarkets and big chain convenience stores, Wadhurst has retained an outstanding selection of shops.

“We are very lucky,” Barbara recognises. “It’s a very vibrant village high street. We’ve still got a greengrocer, a butcher, a fishmonger on certain days of the week, a baker, we’re here, there’s a florist, there’s a chemist.

We’ve got a huge range of shops that other villages simply haven’t got anymore.” Why does she think the village is so fortunate?

“People who live in Wadhurst tend to think it’s quite a special place.

They realise they’ve got a high street and it’s up to them to keep it” Barbara Godsalve, Wealden Wholefoods “I think people who come and live in Wadhurst tend to think it’s quite a special place. People who live here realise they’ve got a high street and it’s up to them to keep it.You notice it on Saturday morning with a lot of families out shopping. They’ve probably gone and done their main bulk shopping at a supermarket somewhere but then they’ll come back and go and buy their meat at the butchers and their vegetables at

the greengrocers and they’ll come to us and perhaps sit in the café, or get some bread or whatever.”

In the time our three shops have been trading, once hard to find wholefoods have become mainstream and the supermarkets have grown to the extent that the Big Four now have over 75 per cent of the food market. They’ve been responsible for the demise of countless small traders so how do these ethically-driven businesses survive their impact?

“You can’t really compare us to supermarkets because it’s a completely different shopping

“I think people are more likely to leave supermarkets and come to local companies like us than the other way around” Sandra Herbert, Trinity Wholefoods experience,” says Sandra. “I think people are more likely to leave supermarkets and come to local companies like us than the other way around.You can’t get the quality of personal service that we give our customers here from a supermarket. We respond to what our customers want. With supermarkets you know that they are in it for the bottom line, the profit.”

At Infinity too, Charlie is confident that they can survive the cor porate onslaught.

“It means we have to try and accentuate our points of difference. The organic thing was pretty unique to us, Fairtrade was fairly unique to us, now they are being knocked out by supermarkets. We are looking at all those issues but then we’re talking about adding our branding to make it unique.

For example, we have direct links with the producers of our quinoa in Ecuador, so we try and tell their story on the bag, and develop our website to tell

the story, adding value to the products and highlighting those points of difference.” He tells me a story that illustrates changing perceptions: “Ten years ago, we had some marketing people in to look at our packaging. They said we should just drop this cooperative thing; it doesn’t mean anything to the consumers out there,” he recalls. “But I think now it means more than it ever did before.”

It’s perhaps in the nature of co-operative working that all of the people I spoke to had ideas for their organisations that hadn’t been implemented because they failed to gain majority approval.

I’ve heard a variety of plans, many of which may never come to fruition. To an outsider, the inner workings can sometimes seem painfully long and laboured and each organisation has had its struggles to modernise and adapt to growth. Ironically for organisations built on revolutionary ideals, change is usually an evolutionary process with few sudden leaps. “Things move very slowly in the cooperative,” admits Sandra. “It’s an interesting and challenging process.You have to be patient, you have to be tolerant and you have to have a real sense of trust in your colleagues.”

It might not be for everyone but what’s undeniable is that these co-operatives have survived, thrived and remained true to

their ethics while businesses around them have crashed and burned. And to those involved, what some may see as their imperfection, the democracy that slows expansion, is also their greatest strength. “One of the great things you get with co-operatives,” enthuses Charlie, “is that actually, essentially, the people who work here care.They may not be perfect but they are all pulling in the same direction, they’re all trying as hard as they can. That’s bound to have an effect down the line. Because at the end of the day they will go that extra mile.”

Barbara at Wealden puts it this way: “If it was just two people running this place they would have had nervous breakdowns long ago. But I think because we are a co-operative; we are all different, everybody’s got different talents, different strengths and different weaknesses and that’s why it works. Because everybody works together it all works out all right in the end.”

“It always changes with the different energies of people coming in and the knowledge they bring,” says Rhian at Trinity.

But as I said goodbye to the ladies at Wealden Wholefoods, Margaret Hurst best summed up the overwhelming feeling I encountered at all three ventures: “It’s just down to the dedication of the members you know; We all really love this place.” n

Co-operative Values and Principles Values Co-operatives are based on the values of: • Self-help • Self-responsibility • Democracy • Equality • Equity • Solidarity In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

The Rochdale Principles (1995 International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) updated version)

1. Voluntary & Open Membership 2. Democratic Member Control 3. Member Economic Participation 4. Autonomy and Independence 5. Education, Training and Information 6. Co-operation Among Co-operatives 7. Concern for Community

July/August 2008

19

In season

In season Recipes by Stephen Adams.

Photography by Jean-Luc Brouard.

We’ve reached the height of summertime in the seasonal kitchen, the cooking is easy and those sunshine flavours and vibrant colours are simply bursting through.

COURGETTE & MIXED PEPPER FRITTATA The trick with this recipe is to cook the egg evenly by starting it off in a saucepan. It’s delicious served hot or cold accompanied by some leaves and a generous blob of garlic mayonnaise.

Serves FOUR.

20

8 eggs, lightly beaten

1 red pepper, diced

1 yellow pepper, diced

2 courgettes, deseeded and diced

1 red onion, diced

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1tbsp parsley, chopped

1tbsp basil, chopped Oil Salt & pepper

July/August 2008

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F. Fry off the onion and garlic in a saucepan in a little oil until translucent. Add the peppers and courgettes and cook for about two minutes so they are still quite hard.

Heat an ovenproof pan and add a little oil.

Add the eggs to the vegetables, reduce the heat and stir continually until the mixture resembles undercooked scrambled eggs.

Season with salt and pepper and add the herbs.

Put the mixture in the hot pan, smooth the surface and pop into the oven. Check to see if the middle of the frittata is firm after ten minutes.

When you are satisfied that it is cooked through, leave to rest for five minutes and then turn out.

For Aga cooking:

Heat the pan on the Simmering Plate and transfer to the Baking Oven or the Roasting Oven with the grid shelf on the floor and the cold plain shelf on the second set of runners.

In season

SLOW ROASTED PEPPERS WITH TOMATO, BASIL & GARLIC The flavours of the Mediterranean come together in this simple but stunning vegetarian dish. For a variation on the recipe, you could always add an anchovy or two to each pepper.

SERVES TWO.

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 yellow pepper

3 plum tomatoes

1 clove garlic

6 basil leaves Sea salt & pepper Extra virgin olive oil

BURRITOS These spicy Mexican pancakes are perfect for al fresco eating.The word ‘burrito’ literally means ‘little donkey’, probably referring to the packs that donkeys carry on their back.

Serves four.

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 3 / 170°C / 325°F. Put a small pan of water on to boil. Take the eyes out of the tomatoes and make an X on the bottom of each with a knife. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for five seconds then run them under the cold tap.You should now be able to peel most of the skin off quite easily.

Cut the peppers in half long ways keeping the stems on.Take out the centres and seeds and place a basil leaf in each.Thinly slice the garlic and put a couple of slices in each

pepper as well. Cut the tomatoes in half and put them in the peppers, seed-side down, on top of the garlic and basil.

Lay the stuffed peppers on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and place in the oven for around 1½ hours until very tender.

For Aga cooking:

Put the oven shelf on the second set of runners from the top of the Roasting Oven and bake for 20-30 minutes.

200g (7oz) pork, minced

200g (7oz) beef, minced

200g (7oz) onion, chopped

4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

4 tortilla wraps

2 cloves garlic, crushed

100g (4oz) tomato puree

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

150g (5oz) mature cheddar, grated Salt & pepper Oil

Heat a heavy-based pan with a little oil. Brown the pork and beef in batches, and put to one side.

Add the onions to the pan and cook until softened.Add the garlic and cook for one minute, then add the spices and cook for a minute or so until fragrant. Add the tomato puree and cook for another minute, stirring continuously.

Return the meat to the pan along with the chopped tomatoes and cook on a high heat for about five minutes, stirring continuously.

Season with salt and pepper.

Lay out the wraps on a flat service and place a quarter of the filling in a line in the middle of each and roll them up. Place them on a baking tray, sprinkle them with the cheese and place under a hot grill until the cheese bubbles and turns golden brown.

21 For Aga cooking:

Grill the wraps on the second runners of the Roasting Oven.

July/August 2008

In season

HERB-CRUSTED LOIN OF LAMB WITH TOMATO SAUCE AND FETA Lamb is at its best at this time of year, still tender but with a fuller flavour than earlier in the season. Now it can really hold its own in dishes with more robust flavours like this one.

SERVES TWO. 400g (14oz) lamb tenderloin, in two portions

100g (4oz) breadcrumbs

2 eggs, beaten

100g (4oz) plain flour

1 tbsp dried mixed herbs

150g (5oz) Feta, diced Salt & pepper Oil For the sauce:

6 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

150g (5oz) onion, chopped

100g (4oz) kidney beans, cooked

100g (4oz) tomato puree

1 clove garlic, crushed Salt & pepper Oil

RIVER KEDGEREE This is a new take on the classic Victorian breakfast dish, using trout and crayfish tails instead of the more usual smoked haddock. For best results, you could always catch the fish and crustaceans yourself and do your bit to help reduce the population of invasive American Signal Crayfish that are causing havoc in our waterways.

Serves TWO.

2 trout fillets with fine bones removed and skinned if you wish

250g (9oz) crayfish tails, cooked and peeled

2 eggs, hard boiled

150g (5oz) onion, chopped 300g (10oz) cooked white rice 150ml (5fl oz) double cream 50ml (2fl oz) white wine

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp curry powder

2 tbsp chervil, chopped

2 tbsp parsley, chopped Squeeze lemon Oil Salt & pepper

22

Soften the onions and garlic in a hot pan with a little oil. Add the spices and cook until fragrant.

Add the wine and reduce for a minute then add the cream and reduce to a simmer.

Slice each of the fillets down the middle then into 2cm strips. Add

July/August 2008

them to the pan and cook for a minute or until the flesh is no longer translucent. Add the rice, crayfish tails and herbs and cook through until heated.Add the eggs, grated or finely chopped, season with salt and plenty of pepper and add a great big squeeze of lemon.

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5 / 190째C / 375째F. To make the tomato sauce, sweat off the onion and garlic in a little oil. Add the tomato puree and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes and beans and fry for a couple of minutes before reducing to a simmer for a further 20 minutes. Season to taste and blend.

While the sauce is simmering, mix the breadcrumbs with the dried herbs and season. Put the flour in a bowl, the eggs in another and the breadcrumbs and herbs in

a third.Thoroughly coat the lamb in the flour then the egg and then the breadcrumbs.

In a hot pan with a little oil, lightly brown the lamb loins on all sides and then place them on a baking tray in the oven for eight minutes.

Allow the lamb to rest on the side for five minutes, before serving with the tomato sauce and Feta.

For Aga cooking:

Roast on the second runners of the Roasting Oven.

In season

PORK ESCALOPE WITH PEPPER & SWEETCORN CHUTNEY This spicy chutney gives a real lift to these crispy-crusted escalopes.

Serves two.

400g (14oz) pork tenderloin

150g (5oz) breadcrumbs

2 eggs, beaten

150g (5oz) plain flour Oil Salt and pepper For the pepper & sweetcorn chutney:

225g (8oz) sweetcorn

110g (4oz) white cabbage, chopped

110g (4oz) onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 yellow pepper

2 tsp English mustard

2 tsp cornflour

1tsp ground cumin 300ml (10fl oz) cider vinegar

To make the chutney, place all ingredients except the cornflour in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and then simmer for ten minutes. Mix in the cornflour and simmer and stir for another ten minutes. Leave to cool and season to taste.

For the pork escalopes, slice the tenderloin into large, two-inch chunks. Lay out a small sheet of cling film on a flat, hard surface.

Place a piece of pork on it then put another sheet of cling film on

top. Now with a rolling pin or the bottom of a pan hit the pork till itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fairly flat and round and repeat the process with the other slices.

Coat each escalope with seasoned flour then beaten eggs and finally the breadcrumbs.

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the escalopes on both sides until golden brown. Serve accompanied by the chutney and some fresh salad leaves.

23

July/August 2008

In season

TOMATO & MOZZARELLA TARTS These delightfully rustic tarts combine the classic fresh summer flavours of tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese and make a perfect light lunch served up with a selection of leaves.The same recipe also works well with a light goats’ cheese instead of mozzarella.

Serves two.

200g (7oz) puff pastry

8 tomatoes

150g (5oz) buffalo mozzarella

2 tbsp tomato puree

8 Basil leaves

1 egg yolk Salt & pepper

24

July/August 2008

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F. Roll out the puff pastry till about 3mm thick. Using a soup bowl or something similar as a guide, cut two disks from the pastry. Place the disks on a baking tray on some baking paper with another sheet of paper on top and another tray on top of that (the idea is to stop the pastry rising too much). Place this in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove the top tray and sheet of baking paper and brush the pastry with the egg yolk mixed with a little drop of warm water. Pop the tarts back in the oven for another five minutes then leave them on the side to cool a little.

Slice the tomatoes as thinly as you can and slice the mozzarella into four pieces. Spread the tomato puree onto the pastry cases evenly then cover with overlapping tomato slices, putting a whole basil leaf between them every now and again.

Place two pieces of mozzarella on the top of each one and season with plenty of salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Back in the oven for five minutes until the tomato is soft and the cheese is a little brown on the top.

For Aga cooking:

Bake on the second set of runners from the top of the Roasting Oven.

In season

No-bake Summer Fruit Cheesecake You can use any soft fruit you like for this easy, decadent dessert.

I’ve used strawberries and peaches here but I guarantee it will taste wonderful whatever you use.

Serves EIGHT.

250g (9oz) ginger biscuits, crushed 100g (4oz) melted butter 400g (14oz) soft fruit and berries of your choice 50g (2oz) castor sugar 400g (14oz) mascarpone 600ml (1pt) double cream 100g (4oz) icing sugar 1 lemon

CHAMPAGNE BERRY JELLIES These gorgeous and thoroughly grown-up jellies make a wonderfully elegant and sophisticated dessert.You can use any sparkling wine you like and, with Sussex wines regularly coming top, there’s no reason not to make them a truly local affair.

Serves SIX. 750ml (1¼ pt) sparkling wine 500g (18oz) fresh berries

8 sheets gelatine

150g (5oz) castor sugar

Soak the gelatine in a little cold water until soft.

Gently heat 150ml (5fl oz) of water, the same amount of the sparkling wine and the sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Squeeze out the excess water from the gelatine, add it to the

sugar mix and stir till dissolved.

Take off the heat and stir in the rest of sparkling wine. Fill up six of your fanciest glasses with the fruit and pour over the jelly.

Refrigerate for a couple of hours until set before serving.

Put the castor sugar and a generous squeeze of lemon in a small pan, add the fruit and cook for a few minutes until it is soft but not sloppy. Allow to cool.

Add the melted butter to the crushed biscuits, mix thoroughly and then line the bottom of a cake tin. Chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.

In a large bowl, whisk the cream

with the icing sugar until it forms soft peaks. Now add a squeeze of lemon and whisk again.Add half of the cooled fruit mixture and whisk again. Fold in the mascarpone and smooth the mixture over the set biscuit base. Chill in the fridge for an hour or so until set. Pour over the rest of the fruit and serve immediately or keep refrigerated.

July/August 2008

25

Enjoy seasonal eating in a relaxed friendly atmosphere — delicious lunches and sumptuous dinners – the perfect retreat for the whole family and a popular choice for corporate entertaining too.

Baloos Restaurant & Bar Wheatsheaf Road Woodmancote Henfield, West Sussex BN5 9BD Telephone: 01273 492077

w w w. b a l o o s . c o . u k

traditional quality food from a traditional quality Butchers

Baloos QP 0508.indd 1

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“More than just a farm shop”

A

wArded ButCHer of tHe yeAr 2006/07 at The Sussex Food and Drink Awards Bramptons Butchers is a traditional shop that has been trading for over 100 years. In 1902 it was granted a Royal Warrant by King Edward VII.

Tasty fresh local produce Homemade ready meals for easy entertaining/ dining British-only cheese counter Interesting new ideas for gifts Friendly service in a charming environment Easy access from A29 with a large car park at rear of shop

Proprietor, Paul Williams, trained as a chef before serving an apprenticeship as a butcher at Bramptons. Paul is noted for his ‘naturally’ reared and produced products and principles.

Bramptons ensure quality in specially selected Scottish beef and is the only shop in Brighton and Hove selling locally produced South Downs Lamb.

Well-known for producing our own recipe gluten-free sausages, linked by hand – just like the old days! We also sell additive-free pork and chicken.

Next to the butchers shop we have a cheese shop selling a variety of quality goods, particularly Sussex cheeses and many English and continental favourites.

B r A M P t oNS B u t C H e r S

114 St. Geor ges road Brighton Sussex tel: 01273 682 611 www.bramptonsbutchers.co.uk

BURY GATE BURY PULBOROUGH RH20 1NL Telephone: 01798 831985 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

July/August 2008

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12/6/08 14:46:46

Something for the weekend

Give up smoking… you must be joking Peter Bayless, chef, author and BBC MasterChef 2006, visits a Sussex smokery where family traditions come first.

Photography by Paul Cassidy.

A

T THE risk of sounding

all non-PC I reckon this country’s become a sadder and more uptight place since we banned smoking in public places. Like me, you must have noticed all those dismal throngs of otherwise happy people gathering for a quick drag outside pubs, clubs, restaurants and office blocks?

I might have been there myself had I not decided four years ago that I’d give it up BEFORE the law forced me to change the habits of a lifetime. Just another example of the gradual erosion of our freedoms under the guise of “You know it makes sense”. My fear is that, given half a chance, the Thought Police will turn their attention to the smoking

of foods and some dummy in a laboratory sponsored by public funds will decide that it’ll be for the collective good if we ban that as well.

Thankfully it hasn’t come to that yet, but don’t count your chickens — or your salmon, ham, bacon, sausage, haddock, eels, mackerel, kippers, cheeses, etc. A world without smoking would be a sad place indeed. Can you imagine no more kedgeree for breakfast, or Arbroath Smokie with softly poached egg? No more salmon tartare or oak-smoked trout with beetroot and horseradish cream.

No more smoked chicken with lentils. And as for life without crispy pancetta — it doesn’t even bear thinking about.

There’s no doubting that there’s something very special about

the flavour of smoked foods, something deeply satisfying that transcends the usual taste experience. Maybe it harks back to the days when we ran around dressed in animal skins and a whack over the head with a lump of tree was the best way we knew to say ‘I love you’.

Certainly with summer upon us, many an otherwise reluctant cook will be out in the garden with apron and tongs, stoking the barbecue and looking as macho and natural as you like.

Surely it must be the smoke, and the flavour it imparts to foods, that brings out the caveman (or woman) in us all.

There is of course a lot more to smoking than chucking another chop on the barbie and to find out more I went to see

Martin Harris

Martin Harris at Springs Smoked Salmon in Edburton. Nestling at the foot of the Sussex Downs behind Devil’s Dyke, this small family run firm has, for more than 40 years, been producing some of the finest smoked foods available anywhere in the UK. Springs tends to shy away from supplying supermarkets or big name stores, preferring instead to ensure a continued supply of the

July/August 2008

27

Something for the weekend highest quality products directly to their large and loyal customer base of hotels, restaurants, clubs and private individuals throughout the South East.

A visit to the Springs shop that fronts the smokery is an absolute must for all ‘foodies’. Not only for their smoked salmon, kippers, buckling, bloaters and more, but also for a vast range of seafood and other gourmet products. Don’t go there though unless you’ve saved up your pocket money or just come good on the gee-gees.

Not because it’s overly expensive but because all Springs’ food looks so golden and wonderful that you just have to buy some of everything they produce.

How do they do it? The secret’s in the smoking kilns and that’s a secret passed down to the present incumbents from their grandfather, Richard Pinney, who began smoking salmon in Suffolk back in 1946. Richard’s unique design of the smoking box was recreated at Edburton in 1964 and those same boxes continue to fire the kilns today. Martin and his brother, David, guard the secret very closely, and with good reason, because it’s thanks to the slow controlled burning of seasoned oak logs from the

hanging in the smoking kilns for about 16 hours or a bit more if the weather is damp.

“How do you know when they are done?” I asked Martin.

“Experience,” he replied and that about summed it all up. When you care as much as Springs does about preserving the traditional methods and ensuring the best possible quality of produce, there’s no substitute for the experience they’ve gained over the past 44 years of smoking. As I drove away from the smokery with my prized packet of smoked salmon on the car seat beside me I caught a whiff of oak smoke drifting through the trees. I do hope no one ever takes it into their head to complain about Springs smoking in a public place. n Springs Smoked Salmon Edburton, Henfield, BN5 9LN. Tel: 01273 857338.

Norfolk Estate in nearby Arundel that the foods taste so incredibly good. Few people outside of the business itself ever get to see the kilns operating, so I was highly privileged to be taken on a guided

SMOKED SALMON MOSCOVITE ON CROUTON

tour by Martin himself.

On the face of it the process is very simple indeed. First fillet your salmon and then lay the fillets out and cover with salt. Leave them to cure then wash off in water before

Shop open: Mon – Fri 8.30am–1.30pm, 2.00pm – 5.00pm.

Sat 8.00 – 12 noon.

For mail order contact: Mrs Harris, Springs Post, Paget, Henfield Road, Small Dole BN5 9XH. Tel: 01903 815066

TARAMASALATA SErvES 12.

SErvES 12.

1 50g (2oz) 50ml (2fl oz) 1 tbsp

slim baguette, cut into rounds 5mm thick smoked salmon, finely hand chopped double cream fresh horseradish, finely grated juice of one lemon Salt and white pepper 1 tbsp dill, finely chopped Fronds of dill to garnish

28

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F. Spread the croutons out on a baking sheet and dry in the oven for 5-6 minutes without colouring. Remove and cool.

Mix together the chopped salmon, horseradish and cream, add the lemon juice and season with salt and white pepper to taste.

Keep chilled until required and place a teaspoon sized quenelle (oval) onto the centre of each crouton. Garnish with finely chopped dill and decorate the plate with dill fronds.

July/August 2008

300g (10oz) 200g (7oz) 200g (7oz) 1 teacup ½ teacup 1

smoked cod roes mashed potato breadcrumbs, soaked in water and drained olive oil sunflower or light vegetable oil onion, finely grated juice of a lemon A few drops of white wine vinegar Salt and white pepper to taste Beetroot juice (optional) A few black olives to garnish

Scrape the eggs out of the roes and discard the skin. Place the roe eggs, mashed potato, breadcrumbs, grated onion and lemon juice into a processor and blend until smooth.

With the motor running, gradually add the two oils and continue to blend to a pale, creamy consistency. Finally add the vinegar and season to taste. If a pink colour is desired, add a few drops of beetroot juice.

Turn out into a dish and garnish with black olives, a swirl of olive oil and a sprinkling of paprika. Serve with warm pita bread.

Springs ;gZZ GVc\Z VYY^i^kZ"[gZZ edg` [gdb djg dlc ]ZgY 6lVgY"l^cc^c\! ;gZZ GVc\Z! IgVY^i^dcVaan"gZVgZY Edg`! 7ZZ[ VcY AVbW# ;Vgb H]de Hbd`Z]djhZ deZc Bdc"HVi! .Vb"*eb#

TRADITIONAL SEAFOOD PURVEYORS SINCE 196 4

Smoked Salmon & Seafood Specialists For a real seafood experience call into our shop in Edburton, Sussex

<daY H^akZg IVhiZ 6lVgY"l^cc^c\ hVjhV\Zh! WVXdc! ]Vbh! hVai WZZ[ VcY hbd`ZY egdYjXih/ gZVgZY! WjiX]ZgZY! XjgZY VcY hbd`ZY! Vaa dc i]Z [Vgb# 6ahd hjeean^c\ ejWh! gZhiVjgVcih VcY gZiV^a djiaZih#

Mention this advert and receive a 10% discount Opening hours: Monday-Friday: 8.30am-1.30pm, 2pm-5pm Saturday: 8.00am-12 noon

Springs

7g^Y\Z ;Vgb! 7dlZgaVcY AVcZ! A^c\Ă&#x2019; ZaY! HjggZn G=, +9;

Edburton, Henfield, Sussex BN5 9LN Telephone (01273) 857338

IZaZe]dcZ/ %&()' -((-'* :bV^a/ e^\h#^cheVXZ5Wi^ciZgcZi#Xdb RTS_EatSussexqtr.qxd

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Ancient Town of

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Dine in Elegance

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The

Terrace Room ad_Eat

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July/August 2008

Page 1

Gastro Gnome’s Guide

The George and Dragon

The Place at The Ship Hotel

The Gastro-Gnome’s Guide to Chichester The Gastro-Gnome takes a dander through the cultural capital of Chichester and finds local produce taking centre stage.

Photography by Paul Cassidy.

T 30

HE L AyOUT of t he

streets of Chichester owes its grid structure to the ancient Romans who first built a fort as a staging post for the invasion of Britain.

The local king of Sussex, Cogidnubus, who threw in his lot with the invaders, built the town of Noviomagus Reginorum, capital of the Civitas Reginorum on the

July/August 2008

site. The Saxons renamed the town after one of their own called Cissa. They referred to a group of Roman buildings as a ceaster; hence Cissa’s ceaster became Cisscester and finally Chichester. The first cathedral was built in 1091 but burned down in 1114 and again in 1187, before the current cathedral was erected in the 12th Century.

Today, Chichester is a great centre of culture with two art galleries and a theatre. It is also the hub of transport in the region and is the home of three tiers of local government.

Central to the creative life of the city is Chichester Festival Theatre (Oaklands Park), which has played host to pretty much every leading figure of the British stage since opening in 1962 under

the artistic directorship of Sir Laurence Olivier. The theatre has recently launched its new restaurant, Brasserie in the Park.

The George and Dragon (51 North Street) is a traditional inn with B&B accommodation in a converted barn at the rear of the building. A conservatory overlooking a decked courtyard is the relaxed setting for dining and home-cooked meals are also available at the bar.

As the only hotel within the old city walls, The Ship Hotel (56 North St) has a lot to live up to and luckily it does. The 18th Century building was once the home of Admiral Sir George Murray, who fought alongside Nelson, and a recent extensive refurbishment has respected the original Georgian features and combined them with a fresh, clean and airy modern touch.

This can be clearly seen in The Place at The Ship, the hotel’s stylish bar and brasserie, decorated in calming tones of

Gastro Gnome’s Guide

The Dining Room

oatmeal and honey.The brasserie food is similarly simple, clean and elegant with old favourites like moules mariniere, steak tartare, duck confit and local steak or free-range chicken served with proper home-made chips.

The Dining Room at Purchase’s (31 North St) is set in the elegant Georgian mansion that was once home of Arthur Purchase & Son, until recently the country’s oldest wine merchant in the same family hands since 1780.

Chef/patron Neil Rusbridger clearly respects this heritage and this is evident in the decor, the food and of course the wine list at this, one of Chichester’s finest restaurants. Deep red painted walls are in keeping with the grandeur of the setting but the friendly service is far from stuffy. In warmer weather, French windows open onto a magical garden and dinner may be served under the vinedecked pergola. Neil uses local, organic and free-range ingredients where possible and brings to them some imaginative and unusual flavours that complement but never overpower the core tastes.

Also at Purchase’s is 31 North, The Dining Room’s champagne and cocktail bar and Provisions, an in-house deli.

For readers with a sweet tooth, The Swallow Bakery (81 North St) is a café and takeaway dedicated to the art of the cupcake. Of course, they serve

cakes and other confections but it’s their sweet little cupcakes that will get you sitting up and begging for more.

The Market Cross in the centre of Chichester was built by a bishop so that the poor could have somewhere to sell their wares and was the site of a market until the start of the 19th Century. This tradition has been revived with the establishment of Chichester Farmers’ Market (East St & North St), held from 9am to 2pm on the first and third Friday of every month.

A visit to Chichester isn’t complete without a visit to the magnificent 12th Century cathedral with its spectacular collection of modern art. Cloisters Café at the Chichester Cathedral serves fairtrade tea and coffee, homemade cakes and lunches.

Much controversy surrounds the plans to renovate Chichester’s historic Butter Market, which has been home to generations of traders for two centuries.Work is now underway and the former inhabitants have since moved to other premises or sadly stopped trading. O’Hagan’s Sausages, a popular business in the city for

The Swallow Bakery

O’Hagan’s Sausages

Hornet Provisions

many years, has relocated to the The Sussex Farm Shop, a new deli, scheduled to have opened by the time you read this, at The Woolpack Inn (Fishbourne), where a changing selection on O’Hagan’s 160 varieties of sausages will be available.

The proprietor of St Martin’s Organic Tearooms (3 St Martins St), Keith Nelson, is on a crusade to promote healthy eating for the customers of this delightfully restored Grade II medieval tearoom, complete with pretty gardens and roaring log fires in winter. Everything on the menu has been made on the premises and a list of all ingredients (100 per cent organic) is available in a booklet on each table, including calorific and nutritional breakdowns of each dish.

Starting out in 2000 with a small shop in Brighton, former lawyers, Helen and Simon Pattinson, have built Montezuma’s (29 East Street) organic and ethical chocolate empire into a nationally recognised brand.Their Chichester shop offers their trademark collection of interesting, unusual and delicious chocolates.

The Gnome has always thought

that going into a really fine delicatessen should be a bit like going into the fancy-dress shop in the children’s TV series, Mr Benn; you never know what culinary adventure you are in for but you can always trust the shopkeeper to come up with the goods.

Even the word itself suggests excitement and adventure, entering the English language through German from the French délicatesse, meaning “delicious things to eat”, but originating in the Latin delicatus, meaning “to give pleasure, to delight”.

So it is at Hornet Provisions Co (23 The Hornet), a veritable treasure trove of ‘delicious things’ assembled by proprietor John Clint and his family. As well as a wide selection of locally-sourced delights, including artisan bread from East West Bakery, there’s an outstanding selection of Italian cheeses, pasta, sausages, olives, oils, fine and original wines and charcuterie. The café upstairs serves a delectable range of dishes including lots of great pasta meals and home-baked pies prepared in the open kitchen.

Woodies Wine Bar & Brasserie (10-13 St Pancras) is the result of brothers Matt and Shane Beaton’s shared love of the hospitality trade. General manager, Matt, has worked in many award-winning bars in London and Australia before going into business with his brother in 2005.

Shane served his apprenticeship at Claridges Hotel but attributes his modern European style to his travels around the continent.

Woodies has a relaxed style that lends itself to events and a range of buffet menus are available.

July/August 2008

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Hornet Provisions Co Chichester

Horrocks Local Greengrocer At Horrocks local Greengrocer in East Wittering we specialise in the finest seasonal local produce and in the coming summer months we will be stocking the finest fruit and vegetables from the garden of Sussex.

Deli

Coming into season in July will be local aubergine and cauliflowers and we will be continuing with plump local strawberries, fresh crisp watercress, local raspberries, loganberries and giant Dorset blueberries.

Café

Fresh local herbs will be available throughout the summer along with local cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuces and baby leaf salads. August will see the return of our delicious local plums and greengages along with good crops of peas, beans and corn. Flowering courgettes and a rainbow of local peppers will also be available.

40 Artisan Cheeses, 80 Fine Wines, Charcuterie and wonderful foods from everywhere!

Light Lunches, the very best Breakfasts, Fine Organic Fairtrade Coffee, Good Wines, Great Beer Beautiful Cheese Wedding Cakes 23 The Hornet Chichester Just 2 minutes from Eastgate Square and The Cattle Market Car Park

01243 790999

All through the summer we will be stocking plenty more wonderful local produce in addition to our daily replenished stock of the finest fruit and vegetables from Covent Garden market. We will be opening seven days a week with fresh stock throughout and look forward to welcoming you at Horrocks local Greengrocer.

Horrocks Greengrocer, 6 The Parade, East Wittering, West Sussex, PO20 8BN, Tel: 01243 672115

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O’Hagan’s Sausage Shop Winner of Britain’s “Best Sausage Maker” award Handcrafting over 160 traditional and new exciting varieties of very high quality sausages using local ingredients, whenever possible NO ARTIFICIAL ANYTHING Order online at:

www.topsausages.com “Just how you imagine a neighbourhood restaurant should be....a real showcase for English produce and cooking.”

O’Hagan’s Sausage Shop The shop is relocating from the Butter Market, Chichester to The Woolpack Inn, Fishbourne Road West (A259), Fishbourne (Chichester to Bosham/Emsworth Road) Tel: 01243 53283 Spacious FREE car parking.

July/August 2008 O'Hagans 0608.indd 1

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Gastro Gnome’s Guide

The Organic Kitchen

West Stoke House

Owned by Terry & Liz Saenger, Chanterelle (149 St Pancras) is a family-run restaurant specialising in British fare, with a few little French twists, cooked to order

by Terry.

When the Gnome popped into The Organic Kitchen (1 Cooper St), owner, Christian, was busy decorating in preparation for imminent expansion over the shop next door to create a café where customers will be able to enjoy the 100 per cent organic, Soil Association-certified menu in comfort. Christian and his friendly team bake their own cakes, cookies, pizzas, pies, quiches and bread and make a fine range of salads and sandwiches daily. Christian and the team can also be found regularly at Chichester, Midhurst and Petworth Farmers’ Markets.

The Buttery at The Crypt (12a South St) dates back to the 12th Century, although I think it’s fair to assume it wasn’t a tearoom serving home-made cakes, full English breakfasts, light lunches and cream teas back in those days. It has been voted ‘Best Tearooms in Sussex’ by the Tearoom Appreciators Ltd., an organisation the Gnome feels eminently qualified to join should he ever be approached.

The Pallant Restaurant (9 North Pallant) is a slick, clean-lined, modern daytime eatery situated within The Pallant House Gallery, Museum of the Year 2007. The restaurant prides itself on its local sourcing and a range of menus offer breakfast, threecourse lunch options, afternoon sandwiches, scones and biscuits and dinner onThursdays when the

Washington, The Old Cottage Inn and The Swan in Fittleworth.

This small, cosy restaurant with a lovely secret garden for al fresco eating offers simple, classic food cooked with a strong leaning towards fresh seafood.

Travelling out of the city centre into the countryside beyond, there are plenty of culinary treasures to be uncovered. Modestly billing itself as ‘a restaurant with rooms’, the description doesn’t really do justice to West Stoke House (West Stoke) which this year became one of only three Michelin-starred restaurants in Sussex. The house, set in five acres of beautifully maintained gardens, was a private home until

The Buttery at The Crypt

gallery opens until late.An outside courtyard is a tranquil setting to enjoy a sunny afternoon away from the bustling city streets.

These days, it seems, all sorts of buildings are being converted into supermarkets so it’s good to come across a venue that has gone the other way, not that you’d ever notice from its appearance. The Vestry (21-23 South St) is a restaurant, bar and accommodation and is probably best loved in Chichester as a great live music venue.

The husband and wife team behind Henri’s (14 Southgate), Bob and Jane Carey, have an extensive catering pedigree behind them, having previously run The Franklands Arms in

The Pallant Restaurant

West Dean Gardens

Rowland and Mary Leach bought the Georgian property in 2001 and spent two years painstakingly renovating it before opening it up in its present multi-award winning form. Head chef, Darren Brown, has created a modern British menu with French influences and the dinner might include such delights as lobster ravioli, samphire and shellfish foam for starters and confit belly of Sussex pork, creamed potatoes, Savoy cabbage, glazed pork cheek, gooseberries, sage, red wine sauce for main.The lunch menu, excellent value with two courses for £19.50 or three for £24.50, is simpler but no less mouthwatering.

For anybody contemplating growing their own fruit and vegetables, West Dean Gardens (West Dean) is the place to go for ideas and inspiration. Head gardener, Jim Buckland, manages the historic 90 acre site with his wife, Sarah Wain, on behalf of The Edward James Foundation, a charitable trust. The restored Edwardian walled garden and refurbishedVictorian greenhouses contains many rare and heirloom varieties and is venue for many regular events and lectures, including the annual Chilli Fiesta on the 9th and 10th August. Over 250 chillies and sweet peppers will bein display with food tasting, cookery demonstrations and latin rhythms to turn up the heat. Of course, the edible harvest is only part of the appeal, the garden also hold two national collections (tulip trees and horse chestnut trees), a sunken garden, an arboretum and a wonderful visitors’ centre and restaurant.

Tim Hoare’s family have farmed pigs, beef and arable crops at Adsdean Farm (Funtington) for over fifty years and opened Adsdean Farm Shop in 1970, selling their free-range meat and that of their neighbours, directly to the public. The shop is open Wednesday to Saturday.

Nearby, Grange Far m (Funtington), with one of the few remaining orchards in Sussex, also has a farm shop, which has developed over the years from a ‘hole in the wall’ selling apples

July/August 2008

33

Gastro Gnome’s Guide

34

and pears by the roadside. The farm grow a variety of fruit and vegetables including apples, pears, plums, greengages, blackcurrants, gooseberries, pumpkins, courgettes and runner beans for ‘pick your own’ or sale through the shop and at local farmers’ markets.

Certainly worth a visit when you are in the area, The Weald & Downland Open Air Museum (Singleton) has 45 historic building exhibits including a medieval farmstead, a working Tudor kitchen and a watermill that provides stoneground wholemeal flour for the café. The museum runs a large number of courses in traditional crafts and conservation and will be holding the Rare and Traditional Breeds Show on Sunday 20th July.

The present Duchess of Richmond, as one of The Soil Association’s earliest members, grew her kitchen garden organically and taught her principles to her son, the Earl of March, who has converted Goodwood Home Farm into the largest lowland organic farm in the UK. Goodwood Farm Shop (Home Farm) sells the best produce from the estate and other organic, local and seasonal food. Goodwood is also the only completely self-sustaining organic farm in Europe which means provenance is assured at every single link in the food chain.

Part of the Goodwood Estate, The Anglesey Arms (Halnaker) is a traditional country pub with a dining room famous for their properly hung steaks, local organic meat and game. Local fish and shellfish are also prominent, much of it bought directly from the boat.

Roger and Jools Jackson pride themselves on their excellent range of real ales available at the bar, where traditional pub classics like ploughmans’ lunches and local sausages are also available.

Tony Bale and his wife, Julia Dent, took over The Cider House Restaurant (Birdham Road), a converted cow shed on a traditional cider farm, in April 2007, and have created a relaxed and informal environment in which to showcase Tony’s food.

July/August 2008

Munneries

The Cider House

Tony is a former Master Chef of Great Britain and New Zealand where he had his own TV show.

Sourcing couldn’t be more local with fish and shellfish from Something Fishy and vegetables from Horrocks just a couple of minutes down the road.

Situated on open countryside near Chichester Mar ina, Crouchers Country Hotel & Restaurant (Birdham Road) is an old farmhouse and buildings converted into a charming country retreat. Head chef, Nick Markey, has established his reputation through positions at a number of Sussex eateries and his knowledge of local ingredients is put to great effect here. The owners’ South African roots are very much in evidence in the decor and wine list.

On the morning the Gnome visited East Wittering, Horrocks (6 The Parade,) was resplendent with the first of this summer’s bounty: peas and broad beans in their nobbly pods, shiny stems of pink rhubarb, bright orange carrots with frothy green tops, gleaming strawberries, baby beetroots, punnets of berries and muddy little new potatoes, all as fresh as the morning breeze.

Horrocks specialises in local produce and with a happy smile and friendly chat with every purchase, every town and village high street should have a shop like this.

No parade of quality local shops would be complete without a butcher and this one is lucky to

The Black Horse

Horrocks

Oaks

have Tom Hoar (7 The Parade), a traditional family shop.

Over 700 teapots line the walls at Calamity’s Café (11 The Parade), but proprietor, Jane, has never bought a single one. For the past 19 years, customers have presented the pottery as gifts, presumably in appreciation of her wonderful home-baked cakes.

In addition to supplying fish and shellfish to over 40 local restaurants and selling to the public through Something Fishy (12 The Parade), Adam Shaw also skippers fishing trips for groups of up to eight. Who can resist an opportunity to land your own dinner?

Family butchers, A.S.Wallace (3/5 Shore Road), specialise in free-range meat, and hang the carcasses on the premises for up to four weeks before being prepared. They also make their own sausages, burgers and a great range of pies and pastries.

East Wittering is blessed with not one, but two excellent fruit and vegetable suppliers. Munneries (21 Shore Rd) was established in 1919 and is primarily a wholesaler of fresh produce and dairy, delivering to businesses all over Chichester and within a 40-mile radius. In addition

to the wholesale business, John & Julie Barker-Muzzell also run a gleaming retail shop selling a wide range of top quality fruit, vegetables and flowers to the public.

Away from the seaside and heading towards Arundel, the Gnome took in a last couple of stops. With extensive views over the golf course and set in an idyllic cottage garden, The Black Horse (Binstead) is a traditional village pub serving a wide range of ales and hearty pub grub.

Landlords Chris and Simon have recently taken up the helm after running it through a manager for a number of years.

Now in their third year at Oaks (Walberton), Ken and Annabelle Brown have certainly put this former coaching inn on the culinary map. A seasonal menu using local ingredients displays Ken’s extensive knowledge of game and charcuterie. Be sure to ask about the extremely popular game courses run onsite and fans of smoked meats will be pleased to note that much of the homecured and smoked bacon, chicken breast, meats, terrines and fish, all made using traditional artisanal techniques and recipes, are now available to take home. n

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Experience a relaxing, escorted walk with one of our friendly llamas in picturesque private grounds overlooking the Ashdown Forest. Please call for further details.

reat beers, fine Gwines and

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The Globe Inn Award-winning Chef Aidan McCormack and Janette have taken over the running of the Globe Inn, serving fine food, beer and wines.

Aidan brings his thirty years experience, of working in the finest country house hotels and restaurants in England, to The Globe Inn offering the freshest local produce as possible â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with fresh fish from Rye harbour, organic meat from Wickham Manor Farm and fruit & vegetables from the Garden of England.

Military Road, Rye. TN31 7NX Phone 01797 227918. Text bookings or call 07717 870724 E-mail info@theglobe-inn.com

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July/August 2008 17/6/08 The 15:10:51 Witch Inn 0708.indd 1

17/6/08 10:50:35

Drink Sussex

Young, gifted and dark David Furer continues his tour of Sussex brewers with a visit to Dark Star, the award-winning new kids who’ve thrown the real ale recipe book out of the window.

Words and photography by David Furer.

F

rom small acorns great

oak trees grow. Such is the Ansty brewery that was founded in the cellar of Brighton’s popular Evening Star pub, one of your author’s haunts. My first visit to the brewery itself was during a gorgeous spring afternoon with three of the principles.

Beginning in 1996 on-premise, resale brewing at The Evening Star was almost a hobby. Those originally behind the Brighton fixture wanted to be a brewpub but the kit they employed was no more than a homebrew kit, too small to keep The Evening Star’s thirsty crowd supplied, and so they built a brisk business selling a range of high-quality regional and imported tap and bottled beers.The current owners prefer to think of the start of the pub’s current era — ‘A.D.’ — as July 2001,“which is when, over drinks, we four directors got serious,” said my host, Dark Star director, Paul Reed.“We did it on the strength of redundancy monies and pension checks. It was a wacky business plan but we’ve grown

Paul Reed and Mark Tranter

steadily year on year ever since.

We eventually built a brewery 20 times the capacity we needed but now we’re right on our 4,500 gallons per week of capacity.”This impetus for expansion encouraged the previous owners to sell out to Reed and the three others.

Joining us was head brewer, Mark Tranter, and salesman, Rob Jones, soft-spoken and humble gents all. Over a pint of their bestselling Hophead, they shared the details of their current 15-barrel system; a relatively minuscule setup. Dark Star uses a lot of late hops

in their beers, to the extent that Paul said, “brewing books won’t tell you to use as much as we do so it’s a good thing we don’t read them.” Hop and malt prices have skyrocketed recently especially Cascade hops, a variety which is a stalwart for Dark Star, sourced from the US Pacific Northwest.

Malt has increased 25 per cent but will hopefully go back down again if 2008 is an improvement from last. “Craft brewers in the US are really up against it,” exclaimed Tranter. “Fortunately we’re able to get, at a cost, the

supplies we need for the coming year from the Czech Republic, Kent, Slovakia, Germany and the US.” The bulk of the hops are English or American and, somewhat predictably, the US goes into their lighter and hoppier beers and the English in their more traditional British ales.With only four different ingredients in quality beers, it’s good that there’s a wide variety of styles of three of those ingredients, so there’s a lot to offer.

Reed compared his brewery to that of other local heroes.“We and Harveys are quite different in our approach. Harveys is traditional bitters and we’re more eclectic in our taste, looking at beers from all over, such as a London Brown Ale based upon sipping off our dad’s beers way back as a child in London. Everything we do, we try to provide the best possible example for that style of that beer. We’re not trying to be cheap and cheerful and not trying to be exactly ‘top of the range’,” said Reed.

“Generally people know us for light and hoppy beers, but the Imperial Stout is in a completely different direction,” said Tranter.“I can brew most any beers I want... within reason.”

When I pointed out to Tranter the similarity between his American Pale Ale to that of a popular one from my native California, he said, “The craft brew scene in the US is far more successful than that in the UK. California’s Sierra Nevada is now massive; transplanted to the UK its quantities would qualify it to be a national brand. There are now 500 breweries in the UK and the scene there is influencing that.”

Ironically Dark Star finds itself copying British styles. “Some of the interest is not just with our beers but with issues such as food miles, organics, non-standardized tastes.When you go out to eat you don’t want to go out to McD’s everyday.” He uses very soft tap water analyzed and treated with naturally-occurring chlorides.

“We are obsessive about hops; we believe that’s what beer should be about. Mainstream beers have

July/August 2008

37

Drink Sussex “With 21 breweries in Sussex we consider Dark Star to be our most serious competition. They have a well-built, well-run brewery and brew exciting beers. They also have the nerve to be really nice people as well.”

Andy Hepworth, Hepworth & Co Brewers Ltd.

Mark with the grain

Fermentation vessels

been so toned-down in order to make them easy to drink. Now we have the problem that they ARE so easy to drink. You don’t see people bingeing on real ales,” said Reed. “I think these ingredients should be celebrated and not put in a back cupboard somewhere,” furthered Tranter.

Dark Star bottles three of the brews in a 330ml size: Sunburst, Espresso, and Imperial Stout, while offering as its core range of cask beers Hophead, Best, Espresso, Festival, and the eponymous Dark Star. Seven seasonal cask selections

38

Kegs awaiting filling

run three to four months at a time, with one more per month to keep Mark interested, making of total 20 plus beers on his rota. “We couldn’t find any more months, so we couldn’t make any more beers,” quipped Mark.

Dark Star owns the Stand Up Inn in Lindfield, the Duke of Wellington in Shoreham-bySea, and their flagship Evening Star just down from Brighton station. “The pubs are quite different although they sell the same beers.The ES is your classic urban boozer, the Stand Up Inn

caters to a more suburban crowd accustomed to a more roomy environment, and the Duke’s a music venue two nights a week for local bands, which will expand soon for other music genres,” said Paul. “The biggest challenge for independent brewers like ourselves is getting into the trade. Many pubs would love to take our beers but are tied to the bigger breweries with their lease.”

Their service area covers all of Sussex. They’ve stepped into greater London with some wholesalers taking them nationwide via 30 other brewers they swap with throughout England.“We’ve heard of it being shipped to Scandinavia and New York. It’s been pretty much been people knocking on our doors rather than our seeking business,” said Reed.Their Ansty operation is five minutes off one of Sussex’s busiest roads, so distribution is easy as most of their major markets are within 30 minutes of the site.

Business is increasing in London so being 30 minutes outside of Croydon is a boon. Dark Star has won more than its share of awards from Croydon, Battersea, North London, and South London CAMRA branches as well as the winning top honours at the Sussex and Lewes Beer Festivals.

When queried further on plans for expansion, Reed said that,“We have brewing equipment trebling our current capacity sitting in storage.” So what’s holding things up? “Finding the right premises.

We don’t want to move far from this A23 corridor.”Their inability to expand is a source of irritation, but they won’t do so and risk losing their regular customers who mean so much to them. Most of

the growth has been organic, not chasing sales and growing too fast which,“is just as well considering we’re operating at capacity now.”

“We take our beers obsessively seriously but take ourselves far less seriously,” said Paul as we enjoyed a freshly brewed, remarkably complex Festival, a fitting conclusory draft before setting off back to Brighton, with a stop at the Evening Star before continuing home. n Dark Star Brewing Co. Ltd. Moonhill Farm, Ansty, Haywards Heath, West Sussex. RH17 5AH Telephone: 01444 412311 www.darkstarbrewing.co.uk

Yianni Vasileiou, manager of Brighton’s Lion & Lobster, has been carrying Dark Star’s Hophead “popular in the summer and especially friendly for women as it’s a lighter beer” and Festival on pump for four years, going through about 72 gallons a week. “Rob Jones and Dark Star always deliver it nice & fresh.”

Californian David Furer is a drinks/food/travel writer and marketer based in Brighton. When not tasting, teaching, or writing of wines & spirits he may be found scouring Sussex for its grainy quaffs.

July/August 2008

Carr Taylor Vineyards, in Westfield, is your local award-winning vineyard.

The vineyard is open seven days a week, wine tasting is free, and there is a vineyard trail for those who wish to walk around the vines and learn more about them.

Or why not just picnic by the pond with a glass of chilled wine from our shop.

Visitors to the shop can buy from a selection of wines, preserves, gifts or hampers.

Refreshments are available.

Come and visit us for a real taste of Sussex wine and produce.

Westfield, Nr Hastings, TN35 4SG Tel: 01424 752501 Email: sales@carr-taylor.co.uk

www.carr-taylor.co.uk

The English Wine Centre & Cuckmere Barns

Carr Taylor QP (Eat Sussex) 04081 1

10/4/08 11:32:00

The English Wine Centre Shop and Delicatessen Over 90 varieties of English Wines in our newly furnished shop.

Our delicatessen has local cheeses and cooked meats, freshly baked breads and flans, preserves and oils.

Tel: 01323 870164 Email: bottles@englishwine.co.uk

Flint Barn Restaurant Our newly opened restaurant serving lunches between 12pm and 3pm daily.

All of our food is locally sourced, seasonal and freshly prepared to order for you.

Dawes Barn Our dedicated wine tasting house.

Tutored wine tasting of eight wines from our extensive range of English wines.

Available for groups of 2 up to 30.

Oak Barn Our 17th Century Oak Barn is ideal for a wedding reception or special party.

Locally sourced and freshly prepared seasonal menus. Licensed for wedding ceremonies.

For all enquiries Tel: 01323 870164 or visit our website: www.englishwine.co.uk The English Wine Centre, Alfriston Road, Berwick, East Sussex BN26 5QS EWC_EastSussex_0708_132x185_aw.i1 1

July/August 2008

4/6/08 19:56:33

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Pallant QP (Eat Sussex) 0308.ind1 1

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July/August 2008

Organic Matters QP 0508.indd 1

11/4/08 Tablehurst 15:28:28 Farm QP 0308.indd 1

14/2/08 13:04:31

Picnic

Pack up a picnic Recipes by Dominic McCartan.

Photography by Jean-Luc Brouard.

Summer’s here and it’s time for al fresco eating. Here are some must-make recipes for the perfect picnic hamper.

REAL LEMONADE I add a couple of oranges to counter the tartness of the lemons but any combination of citrus fruits will produce wonderful results as long as you vary the amount of sugar syrup to taste.Try freezing some berries in ice cubes for an attractive garnish.

MAKES AROUND 2L (3½PTS) of LEMONADE.

4 lemons 2 oranges 225g (8oz) castor sugar

To make the sugar syrup, dissolve the sugar in 250ml (9fl oz) of water over a gentle heat and bring

to the boil. Allow to cool.

Juice the lemons and oranges, mix with the syrup and dilute to taste.

July/August 2008

41

Picnic

POTTED SHRIMP Native brown shrimp have gone rather out of fashion as we’ve become hooked on monster tiger prawns farmed in Asia, but what our shrimps lack in stature, they more than make up for in flavour.

SERVES FOUR.

100g (4oz) shelled shrimps (or prawns or crayfish) 1 clove garlic, crushed 75g (3oz) clarified butter 2tsp lemon juice ¼ tsp ground mace ¼ tsp ground black pepper ¼ tsp cayenne pepper ¼ tsp ground ginger

CORONATION CHICKEN I’ve made a few little changes with some ingredients that probably weren’t widely available when Constance Spry designed this classic dish for the Queen’s coronation in 1953, but I think this version still remains true to the original. The same can’t be said for the awful concoctions found in supermarket and motorway service station sandwiches masquerading under the same name.

SERVES SIX TO EIGHT.

1 chicken, 2-2.5 kg (4-5lb)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 inch fresh ginger, grated 100ml (4fl oz) red wine 100ml (4fl oz) coconut milk

100g (4 oz) mango chutney

1 tbsp curry paste

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 bay leaf

½ lemon, juiced

1 tbsp dried mango, soaked and chopped

1 tbsp raisins, soaked and chopped 300ml (½pint) mayonnaise 100ml (4 fl oz) whipping cream Salt and pepper

42

Poach or roast the chicken until tender, remove the meat and place it in a bowl.

Heat the oil in a small pan and fry the onion, garlic and ginger until soft.Add the curry paste and tomato puree and fry for a minute.Add the coconut milk, red wine, bay leaf and lemon juice and simmer until well reduced. Strain the sauce and allow to cool.

July/August 2008

Puree the mango chutney in a food processer. Stir the cooled sauce and the mango chutney into the mayonnaise.Whip the cream into peaks and fold it into the mixture.

Taste and season.

Add the chicken, mango and raisins and gently fold them into the sauce. Spoon onto lettuce leaves to serve.

Bring the clarified butter to the boil and cook the garlic until soft.

Add the shrimps and spices and simmer for five minutes.

Allow to cool slightly, add lemon juice and adjust seasoning to taste.

Pack the prawns in pots and pour over the butter.

Leave in the fridge for a few hours to set. Serve at room temperature with toast or crusty bread.

Picnic

SCOTCH EGGS (MEAT & VEGGIE) Ask many vegetarians what meat dishes they miss the most and Scotch eggs usually come pretty high up their list, so here are two versions: one using your favourite pork sausages and a tasty, meat-free option just for good measure. If catering for meat eaters and vegetarians, be sure to cook the vegetarian eggs first.

BOTH RECIPES MAKE FOUR SCOTCH EGGS. MEAT VERSION

4 sausages (around 300g (10oz))

4 eggs, hard-boiled with shells removed

2 eggs, lightly beaten

200g (7oz) breadcrumbs

125g (4oz) flour

1 tsp chives, chopped

1 tsp tomato ketchup

1 tsp tomato puree Salt & pepper Sunflower oil for frying

VEGETARIAN VERSION

150g (5oz) Sosmix (vegetarian sausage mix)

4 eggs, hard-boiled with shells removed

2 eggs, lightly beaten

200g (7oz) breadcrumbs

125g (4oz) flour

1 tsp chives, chopped

1 tsp tomato puree

1 tsp marmite (optional) Sunflower oil for frying

Skin the sausages and place the meat into a bowl. Add the chives, the tomato ketchup and the tomato puree and mix well.

Season with a little salt and black pepper. Chill in the fridge for about ten minutes.

Season the flour and roll the eggs in it. Put a small amount of the sausage meat mixture in the palm of your left hand and shape around one of the eggs. Pat the sausage meat around the egg and fill in any gaps until completely covered with a quarter of the meat. Repeat this with the other

Place the Sosmix in a bowl and add 250ml (9fl oz) of cold water and mix well. The mixture will seem a bit sloppy at first but don’t worry. Add the chives, the tomato puree and the marmite along with some salt and pepper

three eggs.

Dip the covered eggs thoroughly in the beaten eggs and roll in the breadcrumbs until completely covered. Chill them in the fridge for around ten minutes.

Heat the oil in a fryer or deep pan to around 180°C (350°F).

If you are unsure, put a cube of bread in first and if it sizzles and turns golden, you’ve reached the right temperature. Cook the eggs, no more than two at a time, in the oil for around eight minutes or until the breadcrumbs are crisp and golden.

and mix well. Place the mix in the fridge and allow to chill for 20 minutes.

Use the same technique as for the meaty Scotch eggs substituting the Sosmix for the sausage meat.

43

July/August 2008

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Coach House

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This year celebrating 10 years of good home cooked food, free range and locally sourced, in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere

home-cooked food local beers varied wine-list regular events and live music

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The Standard Inn

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59 Middle Street Brighton www.coachhousebrighton.com

July/August 2008

The Standard Inn 0708 QP.indd 1

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Picnic

DIPS WITH CRUDITÉS The Thai Salsa recipe was given to me by Joe Shanks and Sarah Al-Taib of Orange Grove Organic, a new company in Sussex producing delicious, fresh organic dips. Serve this along with Guacamole and Baba Ghanoush and some chopped up fresh vegetables to bring some truly international flavours to your outdoor feast.

FRAGRANT THAI SALSA

GUACAMOLE

Serves SIX.

Serves SIX.

2 carrots

½ cucumber (just the outer skin)

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 piece of fresh ginger or galangal (big toe size)

3 cloves garlic

2 sticks lemon grass (outer leaves removed)

1 red chilli (with seeds) Juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp fish sauce (or 1 tsp Tamari soy sauce for vegetarians)

2 tbsp light olive oil

1 tbsp palm sugar

1 tbsp rice vinegar Coriander leaves to serve

3 ripe avocados

½ small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

½ red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1 tomato, deseeded and finely chopped

1 lime, juiced

1 tbsp coriander, chopped

½ tsp ground cumin

2 tbsp olive oil Salt & pepper

Roughly chop the garlic, ginger, chilli and lemon grass and place in a food processor.Add the lime juice, palm sugar and vinegar and blitz it up to a fine paste and set aside.

Prepare and roughly chop the carrots, peppers and cucumber and place into a food processor and blitz them up to a fine dice.

Transfer the vegetables to a mixing bowl and add the spice paste, the fish sauce (or Tamari soy sauce), and olive oil. Gently fold all of this together. If you want to make it slightly wetter just add a little water.

Garnish with roughly torn coriander leaves and serve.

Scoop the flesh of the avocadoes and roughly mash with a fork.Add the onion, chilli, garlic, tomato, cumin, coriander and olive oil and mix well. Add lime juice, salt and pepper to taste. Put one of the avocado stones in the guacamole and place a piece of cling film on the surface to keep it from discolouring.

BABA GHANOUSH Serves SIX.

2 medium aubergines

2 cloves garlic

1 lemon, juiced

50g (2oz) tahini (sesame seed paste) 30ml (1fl oz) olive oil Extra olive oil for brushing Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5 / 190°C / 375°F. Slice the two cloves of garlic into thin slithers.

Make incisions into the aubergines and insert the garlic. Brush the aubergines with some olive oil and place on a tray in the oven for about 30 minutes until soft. Turn a couple of times during cooking.The aubergines should

blacken and may blister but this is fine.

When soft and cooked remove the aubergines from the oven. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes and then place in a polythene bag and seal. The aubergines will collapse and the skins will come away more easily. Allow to cool in the bag.

Remove the skins from the aubergine and place the flesh in a food processor with the garlic, lemon juice and tahini and blitz until smooth. Put the mixture in a bowl and stir in the olive oil. Taste and season with a little salt and pepper and add a little more lemon juice if needed.

Chill for at least two hours in the fridge.

July/August 2008

45

Picnic

SPICY PEA & POTATO FILO SAMOSAS WITH BEETROOT RAITA I won’t pretend it’s traditional to make these delicious Indian snacks with Greek pastry but it means they can be baked rather than deep-fried.

Filo pastry is very versatile, you can use it to make lots of different shapes with all kinds of fillings, sweet and savoury.

MAKES TEN TO TWELVE SAMOSAS. For the raita:

1 beetroot, cooked and grated 250ml (9fl oz) Natural yoghurt

1 clove garlic, crushed

¼ tsp cayenne pepper Squeeze of lemon Salt & pepper For the samosas

1 packet of filo pastry, defrost in the fridge overnight if frozen 300g (15oz) potatoes, peeled and diced

50g (2oz) peas, fresh or frozen

50g (2oz) onion, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

½ inch fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp turmeric

2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

50g (2oz) butter, melted Pinch of sugar Salt & pepper

To make the raita:

Combine the ingredients and leave to rest for a couple of hours. Season to taste.

To make the samosa:

46

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and fry the onion until it begins to colour.

Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a minute or two until fragrant. Add the ground coriander, cumin, cayenne pepper and turmeric and stir for a minute. Add the potatoes and keep stirring.

July/August 2008

When the potatoes start to soften at the edges, add 150ml (5fl oz) water and the pinch of sugar. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for about 15 to 20 minutes until well reduced and the potatoes are soft (add more water if the mixture looks like drying out).A few minutes before the end of cooking stir in the peas. Take off the heat, taste and season with salt and pepper and add the chopped coriander. Allow to cool.

Keep the sheets of filo pastry covered with a damp cloth until you are ready to use each one. Take a sheet of pastry and cut in half

lengthways. Put one half back under the cloth and lay the remaining strip in front of you. Brush the pastry with butter and put a dollop of the mixture on the bottom corner.

Fold the pastry over so the mix is encased in a triangle, then keep folding the triangle over itself until you reach the end and seal it with a little more butter. Repeat with the rest of the pastry and filling.

Lightly brush the tops of the samosas with a little more butter and for 15 minutes or so until crisp and golden.

Freehouse

HIGH STREET • ROBERTSBRIDGE • 01580 880315 Observer Pub Of The Year • Dog Friendly • Closed Mondays

The Laughing Fish

Fresh, Local Produce & An Award Winning Welcome...

I s F I e L d

Andy & Linda invite you to join us at this friendly village pub providing great home-made food, real ales, and a warm welcome. We’re easy to find — just off the A26 between Lewes and Uckfield, right next door to the Lavender Line at Isfield station, and there’s plenty of parking. The 29 bus from Tunbridge Wells to Brighton stops less than a minute away.

Food is served every lunchtime from 12 noon to 2.30p.m. (Sundays 3.30p.m.) and evenings (from Monday to Saturday) 6.00p.m. to 9.00p.m.

Smaller portions of main course dishes are always available for senior citizens at £2.00 off.

Forthcoming Events Live music 4.30pm 27th July The Collaborators 31st August Louis Turpin & Roger Hubbard

We also offer a takeaway fish and chips service on Monday to Thursday evenings.

For more details, call us on 01825 750349 or visit our website www.laughingfishonline.co.uk

GeorgeInnRobertsbridgeWT77.indd 1

Laughing Fish QP 0508.indd 1

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Chaulas

Indian Café & Restaurant “The Food of India not just Indian food” Based on traditional vegetarian Gujarati cooking, we also serve delicious fish and meat dishes. Our ingredients are locally sourced.

We have a wide range of frozen and chilled pre-packed Indian sweets & savouries. Our dishes are stocked in a wide range of local outlets (visit our website, www.chaulas.co.uk, for more information).

Many of our home-cooked meals are suitable for vegans, wheat- and gluten-free.

Outside catering available for all your events, parties and weddings please call to discuss your requirements.

Chaulas Indian Café & Restaurant East Gate House (next to Waitrose) 6 Eastgate Street Lewes BN7 2LP Tel: 01273 476707 Website: www.chaulas.co.uk July/August 2008 Chaulas 0708 QP.indd 1

17/6/08 11:04:26

Farmers’ Markets in Sussex East Sussex

Firle

Battle 3rd Saturday of every month, 9am-1pm, Battle Abbey Green Tel: 01424 751575

Bexhill 4th Thursday of every month, 9am-12noon, parkhurst Methodist Hall, parkhurst Road Tel: 01424 222969

Brede Every Friday, 10am-12noon, Brede Village Hall Tel: 01424 882836

Brighton & Hove 1st Sunday of every month, 10am-3pm, Ralli Hall, next to Hove Station Tel: 01273 323200

Brighton & Hove 4th Saturday of every month, 10am-3pm, George Street, Hove Tel: 01273 470900

Crowborough 4th Saturday of every month, 9am-1pm, Wealden District Council car park Tel: 01892 664064

Crowhurst Village market 1st Saturday of every month, 10am-12noon, Crowhurst Village Hall Tel: 01424 830461

East Dean Village Market Every Wednesday, 10.30am-12.30pm, East Dean Village Hall Tel: 01323 423481

4th Sunday of the month, March to November, 10am-2pm, Middle Farm on A27 near Firle Tel: 01323 811411

Hailsham 2nd Saturday of every month, 9am-12.30pm, Hailsham Cattle Market Tel: 01323 833359

Hastings 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month, 9am-2pm, Robertson Street (next to Debenhams) Tel: 01424 457109

Heathfield 3rd Saturday of every month, 9am12.30pm, Heathfield Co-op car park Tel: 01435 862798

Lewes 1st Saturday of every month, 9am-1pm, Cliffe pedestrian precinct Tel: 01273 470900

pevensey Bay village market 2nd Saturday of every month, 8.45am-11.45am, St Wilfrid’s Hall, Eastbourne Road Tel: 01323 460178

Rye Every Wednesday, 10am-1pm, Strand Quay Tel: 01797 280282

Uckfield 1st Saturday of every month, 9am-1pm, Luxford Car park Tel: 01825 760646

West Sussex Arundel

3rd Saturday of every month, 9am-1pm, Town Centre Tel: 01903 884772 / 07881 687694

petworth 4th Saturday of alternate months (Dec, Feb), 8.30am-1.30pm, Market Square Tel: 01243 785166

pulborough

Billingshurst

Last Saturday of every month, Feb to Dec, 9am-12noon, pulborough Village Hall Tel: 01903 891476 / 07752 364832

Chichester

2nd Saturday of every month, 9am-1pm, East St Tel: 01273 263152

East Grinstead

4th Thursday of every month (excl.

Dec), 8.30am-12.30pm, Coronation Hall, Reynolds Lane Tel: 01243 814777

3rd Wednesday of every month, 9am-1pm, jengers Mead Tel: 01403 215386 1st and 3rd Friday of every month, 9am-2pm, East St & North St Tel: 01243 785166 Every Thursday 9am-2pm, High St Tel: 01932 788001

Hassocks

4th Saturday of every month, 9am-1pm, National Tyres Forecourt Rachellovell@hotmail.com

Haywards Heath

2nd and 4th Thursday of every month, 9am-2pm, The Orchards Shopping Centre Tel: 01932 788001

Henfield

3rd Friday of every month, 9am-1pm, Henfield Hall Car park Tel: 01273 492595

Horsham

Every Saturday, 9am-5pm, Carfax (Town Centre) Tel: 01403 215386

Midhurst

4th Saturday of alternate months (Nov, jan), 8.30am-1.30pm, Capron House Car park Tel: 01243 785166

Shoreham-by-Sea

Slindon

Southwater Every Tuesday, 9am-1pm, Lintot Square, Tel: 01243 814777

Steyning 1st Saturday of every month, 9am-1pm, High St Car park (opp Clock Tower) Tel: 01403 711057

West Chiltington 2nd Saturday of every month, 9am-12noon, Village Hall Tel: 01798 815455

Wisborough Green 2nd Thursday of every month, 9am12.30pm, Village Hall Tel: 01403 700624

Worthing 4th Saturday of every month, 9am-2pm, South St Square Tel: 01903 203252

If you enjoyed making a meal of this issue why not subscribe?

Guarantee your copy now with each issue delivered direct to you Order by post or online at www.eatsussex.co.uk For just £12.50 for six issues, you can have Eat Sussex delivered straight to your door. Order online or send your name, telephone and address details with a cheque payable to Eat Media Ltd, to Eat Media, 13 Middle St, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1AL.

P&A Butchers 7-9 New Road Shoreham-by-Sea West Sussex BN43 6RA Telephone: 01273 461824

SK Hutchings Family Butchers & Graziers serving the community for 20 yrs

• All meat prepared by our own butchers and all animals either from our own farm or a selected few.

• Delicious homemade pies baked and made on the premises and so is our bacon which is dry cured and naturally smoked.

• Popular homemade variety of sausages with weekly specials’ board.

• Refridgerated deliveries / 24 hour answerphone for placing orders.

• Spit roast available for events,weddings and parties.

• All enquiries welcome.

Telephone: 01403 710209 High Street, Partridge Green, West Sussex, RH13 8HU (opposite the fire station)

SK Hutchings QP 0608.indd 1

• Sussex Bacon • Lamb • Beef • Free range Chicken • Speciality sausages in 15 flavours including: Wild Boar & Apple, Wild Boar & Cider, Lamb & Mint Stockists for ‘Clonakilty’ Black & White Puddings REFRIGERATED DELIVERIES NEW SHOP

Browns Quality Butchers

23 Sealane, East Preston Village, Rustington Telephone: 01903 770666

17/6/08 P&A 15:40:44 Butchers 0708.indd 1

18/6/08 09:52:17

CHANCTONBURY GAME

High Class Butchers & Poulterers Specialising in low food miles and free range produce.

All turkeys and chicken eggs are produced on our farm.

Hog Roast, Barbeque and Catering specialists.

HOLMANSBRIDGE FARM SHOP Townlittleworth Road, Cooksbridge, BN8 4TD Tel: 01273 401 964 or 07775 843 155 Email: holmansbridge@aol.com Butchers Shop open: Tuesday to Friday, 9am to 6pm Saturday, 9am to 5pm

At Chanctonbury Game we can supply you with the best free-range Game & Venison from the fields and woods of Sussex.

Then we dress and prepare it for the table in modern hygenic premises. Available direct from the farm or farmers markets.

CHANCTONBURY GAME North Farm, Washington, Pulborough, West Sussex. RH20 4BB Tel: 01903 877551 Fax: 01903 872868 OPEN

September to February February to August 6 days-a-week, Friday & Saturday only, 9am-5pm 9am-4pm

UK 6368 EC

July/August 2008 Holmansbridge QP 0308.indd 1

13/2/08 Chantonbury 18:02:59 Game QP (Eat Sussex)1 1

1/11/07 16:07:52

The Wild Side

Fergus Drennan Life is just a bowl of cherries

W

hen I started writing

this column, I wanted to choose a different plant that stood out as exceptional for each month. Unfortunately April and May offer up such abundant delicacies it became impossible: should

I choose nettles, reedmace, alexanders, wild garlic, Japanese knotweed? For June and July it’s only marginally simpler: Should I plum for wild cherries or offer up the sapphire sounding gem that is marsh samphire? Well,

THE SPIRIT OF WILD CHERRIES

50

I’ve a delightful little book on Chinese medicated wines that includes a curious recipe: Spir it of Wasps (which I have made!). I just love the ambiguity of the translation. Does the liqueur capture the wasp’s spirit or the wasp infuse the spirit?

No doubt it works both ways. Spirit of wild cherries captures the spirit of not just full-flavoured fruit but of vibrant, light and golden summer days — just the kind of warming recollection worth imbibing on cold winter nights.

July/August 2008

cherries have won the day!

Wild cherries (Prunus avium) can be found throughout the UK: large mature trees in woodland, smaller, more densely fruit-laden trees in hedgerows, waste ground and near railway lines. Bigger than a bird cherry yet smaller than cultivated cherries, wild cherries have a sublimely balanced, complex and mouth wateringly delightful flavour. Most wild food books will inform you that fresh from the tree they are too mouth-puckeringly sharp to eat and that you must gather them under-ripe before the birds get them all. Both of these apparent facts are utter nonsense or at least deeply suspect! True, birds do like them but, in my experience, only really start to gorge when the cherries are fully ripe. Actually, birds often behave differently each year and seem quite unpredictable. Sometimes, for days or weeks on end, there can be dozens of sinister birds just sitting in an Alfred Hitchcock lurk of creepy watchfulness, then, just at the moment of maximum cherry ripeness, they all descend and devour like frenzied locusts or blood-thirsty piranhas. On other occasions they will completely strip almost every tree of fruit yet leave an adjacent one completely cherry laden and untouched.Why? Have they collectively decided to save them for later? Have they

detected some poison? Each year I speculate more wildly — those are my two sanest thoughts on the matter. Respecting the collective bird brain, I also leave such neglected trees well alone.

As to the second ‘fact’ concerning sourness, if there is any truth to it, it is only a relative, and very subjective, truth.

Although very tasty, cultivated cherries have increasingly been selectively bred to reduce the acid content so that they taste relatively sweeter.As such they are nowhere near as versatile in the kitchen as the wild variety. Wild cherries can be harvested from mid-July until mid-August. The longer you leave them, the darker and, hence, sweeter they become. I always gather from trees about ten to fifteen feet high.The branches of such trees are very flexible and can be pulled down without danger of snapping them.

Culinary use Blossoms in salad in April and May; ripe fruit for jams, chutneys, vinegar, pies, cakes, crumbles, cheese cake, tarts, fools, sorbets, ice cream, soups (the classic Hungarian sour-cherry soup), salads, juice, cordials, pickling, wine, beer, summer puddings, fruit cheese or leather, cherry brandy, added fresh to natural yoghurt, dried or, of course, simple eaten off the tree! n

Serves ONE OR TWO. Strong gin, vodka or brandy — enough to top up a 2/3 cherry-filled bottle Ripe wild cherries to fill bottle (bird cherries (P.padus) are fine but much sharper)

2 dessert spoons sugar (for 400 ml bottle) — or more if desired

1 vanilla pod cut in half

Pour the sugar into a clean bottle and add the halved vanilla pod.

Wash, destalk and prick each cherry about 20 times with a pin. Fill the bottle and top up with your chosen spirit - I prefer gin but vodka or brandy are particularly good if you intend to recycle the cherries into a dessert later on. Shake well. The vanilla pod is crucial to balance

out the flavour. Without it, one is reminded of childhood cough medicines. With it, the drink is positively ambrosial! Drink after one two four months or, if the cherries are then removed (save for desserts), after several years! If made in an attractive bottle you have a wonderful Christmas gift - if you can bear to part with it.

Everyone deserves quality food.

Everyone deservesWaitrose Come and try our quality for yourself at Waitrose.

You will be very welcome.

WaitroseBrighton

WaitroseEastbourne

Telephone 01273 326549 waitrose.com/brighton

Telephone 01323 644505 waitrose.com/eastbourne

Western Road, Brighton BN1 2LA

High Street, Eastbourne BN21 1HR

Pirieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Place, Horsham RH12 1EH

Eastgate Street, Lewes BN7 2LP

WaitroseLewes

WaitroseWorthing

Telephone 01403 259777 waitrose.com/horsham

Telephone 01273 486286 waitrose.com/lewes

Telephone 01903 230222 waitrose.com/worthing

WaitroseHorsham

High Street, Worthing BN11 1LL