Issue 6 • sePTeMBeR/OCTOBeR 2008

Issue 6 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008

YOUR FREE COPY

COOKING ON COALS GREAT AUTUMN BARBECUE RECIPES

Gilly Smith screams for ice cream Food for free with Fergus Drennan Peter Bayless meets the Pumpkin Man

DIGGING FOR VICTORY MICHAEL HARWOOD MEETS THE NEW ALLOTMENTEERS P L U S : T he G astro - G nome ’ s guide to E A S T B O U R N E

C HILLI PIE

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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

18 Recipes: In Season

elcome to the first birthday

issue of Eat Sussex Magazine.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported Eat Sussex along the way. We say Eat Sussex is a free magazine but of course, someone has to pay to produce it and that someone is all our wonderful advertisers, many of whom have been on board since the very beginning.

When we first came up with the idea of a magazine devoted to local, seasonal and sustainable food, we were very clear that we wanted to publish something very different from all the other free magazines around.We decided that we only wanted to work with advertisers who shared our values so we would hand-pick the companies we would approach and, if necessary, say no to businesses that didn’t fit. We’ve stuck to this policy, sometimes to the detriment of income, but overall, I believe, to the benefit of the magazine.

Another point of difference was that we wouldn’t fill Eat Sussex with flattering advertorial and fake reviews that we believe our readers are clever enough to see through; our content was to be wholly independent from ad income. For our advertisers, who are bombarded with offers of complementary coverage in return for placing advertisements, this was an unusual approach and I’d like to thank them all for the leap of faith they have taken in coming on board.

I hope the result of these policies is a publication that you, our readers, can trust, both in editorial content and advertising. Of course, this structure only works if readers support our advertisers and I’m pleased to report that this is certainly the case. So I’d like to thank you, Eat Sussex readers, our advertisers and our contributors and I look forward to an interesting year ahead for all of us.

Tony Leonard, Editor.

Autumn recipes by Stephen Adams.

27 Peter Bayless: Something for the weekend Peter Bayless meets the famous Pumpkin Man of Slindon.

30 The Gastro-Gnome’s Guide to Eastbourne The Gnome packs his bucket and spade for a visit to the

03 Comment A few words from the editor.

05 News All the news that is fit to eat.

08 In my own words Deborah Cook, Manager, Lewes Farmers’ Market.

10 Column: Gilly Smith A trip to an ice cream maker evokes romantic memories.

13 Can you dig it?

Michael Harwood goes back to the land.

Sunshine Coast.

37 Drink Sussex: A phoenix from the ashes David Furer meets Andy Hepworth.

40 Recipes: Licence to grill Eat Sussex’s very own twisted firestarter, Dominic McCartan, with some great barbecue recipes.

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

50 Column: The Wild Side

by Fergus Drennan Fergus goes foraging by the sea.

Recipe Finder Apple Tart Fine.............................................24 Barbecued Bananas with Chocolate.........46 Bunny Burgers..............................................42

Plum & Honey Crumble with Mascarpone Custard...................................22 Roast Duck Breast & Caramelised Pear Salad.....................................................18

Carrageen & Sand Hopper

Roasted Pumpkin & Garlic Soup with

Savoury Mousse...........................................50

Parmesan Croutons and Parsley Oil..........29

Crisp Polenta Cakes with Mushroom,

Shellfish & Chorizo Gumbo........................20

Cider & Tarragon Sauce..............................19

Slow Roasted Belly Pork & Potato

Fruit Skewers................................................46 Halloumi & Vegetable Kebabs..................41

Gratin with Sherry Vinegar..........................21 Smoked Mackerel Fishcakes with Lemon & Caper Sauce................................19

Jack Daniels Glazed Chicken.....................45

Spinach & Ricotta Lasagne.........................22

Lamb Koftas with Harissa Sauce................41

Traditional Pumpkin Pie..............................29

Mackerel with Lime, Chilli & Coriander....40

Venison & Mushroom Stroganoff..............20

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.

September/October 2008

3

Lighthouse Bakery School

Founded in London in 2000, this award winning artisan bakery has relocated to East Sussex to open a bakery school and wholesale bakery.

Set amidst the rolling hills of the High Weald, the Lighthouse Bakery School offers a wide variety of popular one day courses attracting complete beginners and seasoned bakers alike. Treat yourself (or someone else — courses make a very original gift) to a unique experience of working with a variety of doughs to produce fantastic looking, great-tasting bread within the setting of a working bakery.

It’s about learning new skills, polishing old skills and having fun!

For course availability, brochure and gift vouchers email liz@lighthousebakery.co.uk.

Wholesale enquiries call 07946 530969

Call 01580 831271 / 07946 530969 or visit www.lighthousebakery.co.uk Lighthouse Bakery School, Ockham, Ewhurst Green, East Sussex TN32 5RD

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unique, independent and committed to serving excellent, locally sourced, food in a relaxed environment

News

SUSSEX SUCCESS AT ‘THE FOODIE OSCARS’…

A number of Sussex food companies are celebrating after winning prestigious Great Taste Awards, marking them out as among the best producers in the country. The Great Taste Awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, have been running for 15 years now and are widely regarded as the Oscars of the food industry.

Companies that have struck gold in this year’s awards include The Relish in Spice Company who won an amazing four awards including one for their Luxury Cranberry Sauce, East West Bakery who won with their Five-seed Loaf, Bookham Fine Foods for their Slightly Salted Butter, Sussex Gold for their Extra-Virgin Sunflower Oil, Southover Foods for their Ham on the Bone, Stratta for their Sweet Mulberry Vinegar and Sweet Damson Vinegar, Jethro’s Marinades for their Lemon, Chilli & Coriander Marinade, and Ouse

Valley Foods who won two awards for their Greengage Conserve and Lemon, Honey & Cardamom Curd.

The Great Taste Awards’ judging standards, devised by the Guild of Fine Food, are the most rigorous in the UK. Every entry is blind tasted by teams of experts. By the time it earns gold, it will have been assessed by at least three different teams. This year’s judges included Alex James, farmer, former bassist with Blur and The Observer’s ‘Foodie Boy’, chef Mark Hix, and food writers, Tom Parker-Bowles, Charles Campion and Fiona Sims.

...and at the Decanter World Wine Awards...

Three local wineries scored a phenomenal six awards at the 2008 Decanter World Wine Awards, against stiff competition from producers from across the globe.

Bookers Vineyard in Bolney, Nyetimber in West Chiltingham and RidgeView based at Ditchling Common all walked away with

prestigious medals. Nyetimer were awarded a Silver Medal for their Premiere Cuvée Blanc de Blancs 2001 and their Classic Cuvée 2001 was Commended. RidgeView Cavendish 2005 received a Bronze Medal and their Bloomsbury 2005 was Commended. Bookers Vineyard reds, Foxhole Reserve 2005 and Pinot Noir 2007, both received Commendations.

Christelle Guibert, Decanter’s Tasting Director says: “It is always delightful to showcase British wines and show that they can hold their own in the most influential wine competition in the world. The overall standard of British entries was higher than ever this year. It is a great achievement that not just one, but three vineyards in Sussex made it on to the medals table at the 2008 awards.”

To search for an award-winning wine under £10 and to see the full results, including some fabulous wines in the over £10 category, visit www.decanter.com

...and at the biggest cheese show in the world!

Sussex-based Bookham Harrison Farms Ltd are celebrating the success of their new cheese, Sussex Charmer, at the Nantwich International Cheese Awards.

Sussex Charmer, which is a cross between cheddar and parmesan, has been awarded Best New Dairy Product. This year’s show received record numbers of entrants, including all the top dairies in the UK, as well as from all four corners of the world.

The award comes at a time when the dairy industry in the South East has been decimated over the last five years. Sussex Charmer is produced by a partnership of R Harrison & Sons, third generation dairy farmers from Rudgwick, and Bookham Fine Foods, who are perhaps best known for their Twineham Grange Farmers’ Hand, South Downs Butter and award-winning range of Fresh Pasta and Sauces.

Hand-made Chocolates and Confectionery Celebrating 60 years of hand-made, quality English chocolates.

www.audreyschocolates.co.uk HOVE Telephone 01273 735561 28 Holland Rd, Hove, East Sussex. BN3 1JJ

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BRIGHTON Telephone: 01273 325826 16 Regent Arcade, Brighton, East Sussex. BN1 1HR

September/October 18/8/08 2008

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News

Restaurant Round-up S

o you think you know are from Hoads Farm and we use have been really supportive and licenced cafe that is available for

you’re a big cheese when it comes to foodie facts, do you? Well, as part of British Food Fortnight, The Real Eating Company is looking to test your knowledge of all things grape and dairy related with a Cheese & Wine Quiz at the Lewes branch to discover the best Cheese & Wine ‘Know-itAll’ team in Sussex. Put your culinary credentials to the test in The Real Eating Company’s gastronomic equivalent of a pub quiz by getting together with four to eight of your best foodie friends or culinary colleagues and enjoy a deliciously competitive evening with tast ings, a t wo - course dinner and complimentary glass of sparkling wine with a raft of prizes to be won.

The challenges unfold on Wednesday 24 September at 7pm at the Lewes branch.

Tickets are £20 and must be purchased in advance at www.real-eating.co.uk, email: orders@real-eating. co.uk or phone: 01273 402 650. Other activities include a Game Night (meat, that is !) on Wed nesday 1st October and daily tastings in the Hove deli. (18 Cliffe High St, Lewes and 86/87 Western Rd, Hove) Brighton North Laine restaurant, Nia, hus undergone a major refurbishment, after being taken over by Sheila Baker, and has launched a brand new menu with a focus on locally sourced seasonal ingredients to ring the changes.

“Our beef and pork is Sussexreared, supplied by Burt Brothers (a Sussex family butcher). Our eggs

6

organic cheeses from High Weald Dairy,” says manager, Robin Stock.

“By using local produce wherever possible we are supporting local producers, as well as reducing our carbon footprint and doing our bit for the environment.” (87/88 Trafalgar St, Brighton) New Chichester restaurant, One Forty Nine, is the realisation of a long-time dream shared by Jonathan Reeves and Eleanor Blair. Chef/proprietor, Jonathan explains, “Ellie and I have been friends since childhood, we grew up talking about our perfect restaurant and when we married in 2004 we both knew what our next big commitment would be.” A modern British approach takes influences from Europe to produce a menu that is seasonal and locally sourced wherever possible: roast wood pigeon with beetroot risotto and pan-fried turbot with grilled polenta in a mussel and clam broth are just a few of the dishes on offer. (149 St Pancras, Chichester) There’s a guaranteed heatwave whatever the weather at Hassocks Golf Club on Friday 5th September when Brighton and Hove restaurants, Indian Summer, hold a one-off special evening featuring some of their favourite dishes as an introduction to delicious Indian cuisine. For more information and to book, call the golf club on 01273 841489 or email minesh@indian-summer.org.uk.

With only two years of trading, Laporte’s has become something of an institution in Lewes so it’s wonderful to see that the mother and daughter team are opening another shop next door but one, selling an even greater range of locally sourced, organic and Fairtrade produce.“Our customers

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

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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

September/October 2008

we hope to meet their demand for more of the same, says proprietor, Tanya. “The gallery/ cafe will remain serving wonderful organic, fair-trade coffee/ teas, pastries, cakes & sandwiches.

Local artists will continue to exhibit their work and there will be more room to sell old furniture, a way of re-cycling unwanted items for the home.” (1 Lansdown Place, Lewes) In Brighton, Queens Park café, Home, is now open seven days a week, serving brunches and light lunches. Opened in November 2007 by three old friends, Georgina Allen, Paola Furno and Hari Littlejohn, the old wine bar site has been transformed into a

private hire A simple, local and fresh menu consists of brunch favourites such as eggs benedict, pancakes with bacon and maple syrup and Paola’s Italian meatballs, alongside daily specials and all day breakfasts (32 Egremont Place, Brighton).

If you’ve ever considered opening your own restaurant, Studio D2 along with The Culinary Arts Studio (University of Brighton, Eastbourne) have developed a course with you in mind. The course, on Wednesday 12th November includes concept creation, financial issues, marketing, design and business planning. For more information, please visit www.studiod2.co.uk.

It’s foodie festival time SEPTEMBER • 1st-30th: Brighton & Hove Food & Drink Festival • 6th: Cornfest, Barfoots of Botley, Bognor Regis • 6th-5th [October]: Horsham & District Food & Drink Festival • 6th-8th: Totally Tomato Show, West Dean College, near Chichester • 20th-21st: Fiery Food Festival.

Old Steine, Brighton • 20th-21st: Glynde Food & Drink Festival (incorporating the 34th English Wine Festival), Glynde Estate

In season now Artichoke Aubergine Beetroot Broccoli Butternut squash Carrots Courgettes Runner beans Sweetcorn

• 20th-21st: Horsham Beer Festival, The Drill Hall, Horsham OCTOBER • 3rd-12th: A Taste of Rye • 4th-5th: Autumn Countryside Show, Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, Singleton, near Chichester • 4th-5th: Autumn Show & Game Fair, South of England Show Ground • 11th-12th: Apple Affair, West Dean College, near Chichester • 18th-19th: Apple Festival, Middle Farm, Firle

Apples Blackberries Damsons Figs Grapes Quince Duck Grouse

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

• 20th-21st: Hastings Seafood & Wine Festival

Guinea fowl Venison Crab Dover sole John Dory Mackerel Oysters Scallops Sea Bass

© 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.

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In my own words

“You’re buying directly from the producer so you can ask any question and that person will be able to answer”

Deborah Cook Manager, Lewes Farmers’ Market

T

8

his September, Lewes

Far mers’ Market is going to be a celebration of local meat. We are going to have fresh kid meat from Hollypark Organics, as much game as is in season, as well as the more usual meats.

Butcher, Matthew Thomas from Holmansbridge Farm, will be butchering a Sussex Wildlife Trust hogget. We want people to learn more about the animal, what to ask for when they go into a butchers and to not be scared about using unfamiliar cuts of meat. And people don’t seem to eat kid meat much. It’s similar to lamb, very tender and sweet but with very little fat and cholesterol so we’re really going to push that.

And then we’ve got our tenth birthday in October so we are hoping to get a partial street closure so we can extend the market. We’ll have a cake and I’ve asked everyone to dress up in party outfits.All the customers will be asked to vote for the best-dressed stallholders. I love doing the themes, having guests and competitions at the market.

People seem to appreciate it and it has helped sales. One of the nicest things I do is phone to tell someone they’ve won the competition.

Throughout the year I try to theme each market a little bit. It gives everyone the opportunity to promote themselves. I invite local groups and organisations who manage projects or run courses so they can have that opportunity to promote what they are doing as well. We’ve had students from Sussex Downs College cooking in the market before, which was great. They absolutely loved it.

They were able to talk to people trying their food and promote the college. They are going to come back and do it again in November. A farmers’ market is so useful for things like that.

It’s good for the customers to come and know there’s going to be something different. It makes it more interesting, more of a morning out.

I have huge job satisfaction managing the market, more than anything I’ve ever done before.

Knowing at the end of the day that my regular stallholders and the guests that I’ve invited have

September/October 2008

had a fantastic morning. It’s brilliant. It’s not because of me, it’s because of the market. It is a great market, and I have the pleasure of working in it, and it is a bit like my baby. I worry about it and I want it to keep getting better.

I love hearing the stallholders talking about their products.You don’t get that in the supermarket.

You’re buying directly from the producer so you are cutting out the middleman and you can ask any question about the product and that person will be able to answer it for you. When I buy meat at the farmers’ market I always ask them how to cook it and I go home and cook it exactly the way they say.You can get that from a traditional butcher as well; it’s completely different from just buying something in a packet.

My mum and dad had a 28acre smallholding in Horam, where I was raised. My mum was the farmer; my dad was a teacher.

I vividly remember the day that Georgina, the lamb I hand-reared (named after George from the Famous Five stories), went off for slaughter. And I remember the very meal I was tucking i nto when my dad chirped up:

“Do you know who you are eating, Deb?” I don’t know how the credit crunch will affect farmers’ markets but personally, I’ll cut back on other things first: I don’t drink as much wine as I used to and things like that. I wouldn’t eat meat that wasn’t free-range. I think people will tweak their shopping habits when they have to tighten their purse strings but I think once it is part of your routine and it’s part of your mindset, you are not going to stop going to farmers’ markets and go to Tescos instead.

If you haven’t been to Lewes Farmers’ Market yet, come along.You’ll see me in my HiVis fluorescent waistcoat, so say hello.

Have a nosey, and chat, that’s what I’d recommend: stop, talk, investigate, ask questions, talk to the producers. Come along and have a lovely morning out and go home with some fresh ingredients and put together a wonderful meal in the evening. n Lewes Farmers’ Market 1st Saturday of each month 9am-1pm Cliffe Pedestrian Precinct Tel: 01273 470 900

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Gilly Smith eggs from Holmansbridge Farm for the ten-litre batch of ice cream she’s making this morning. The girls are openly dribbling now as she shows them the mix of cream, egg yolks and sugar before whisking it with something that looks like my dad’s hedge cutter and pouring it into the freezing/ stirring machine.“How long will it be before it’s ready?” Ellie asks, as politely as is possible when your salivary glands are open full throttle, and blanches when Kate replies: “twenty minutes.”

The ice cream is finally ready to be squeezed into Downsview Farm pots and handed to the quivering children. Even Estelle is drooling now.And it is heavenly, tasting as it does of cows and grass and fresh summer rain.

Gilly Smith attempts to recapture her foodie childhood as she As we drive home, I ask Estelle whether she ever goes across to spurns the supermarket and takes her daughters, Ellie (13) and Italy just for an ice cream, and LouLou (9), deep into the forests, farms and seas of Sussex to all three of them look at each other, raising left cheek and find their food. widening eyes in that way that ssoc-i-ation. Are mother’s tales of South Wales consciousness in the back seat kids do when words are beyond you ready? If so, let’s in the 1940s. As we queued at is fast-tracking me now past them. Even the English ones. It’s go!” “Ice cream…yummy… the Sidoli ice cream van on our the cinema usherettes and the ok; she still thinks of ice cream tummy…eat…strawberry… annual family summer camping Dayvilles Ice Cream Parlour of as Magnum White. And my kids’ sundae…treat…” The kids trip to the Gower Peninsula, she my own teenage years to the associations with ice cream are are rhythmically batting would tell me about the coffee local source right on our doorstep. hot summer days in Britain and words in the back of the car shops of her youth, the smell of LouLou’s class mate, Luke, delivers cows. They know nothing of as we drive through a Sussex espresso and steamed milk. And I our milk twice a week with his Italy, coffee and sex appeal, and summer afternoon to the would swoon as a swarthy young mum, Sarah, directly from the for now, that’s fine by me. local dairy farm to watch ice Welsh-Italian, helping his dad out family’s herd of 150 extensivelyIt’s a long way from Ringmer to cream being made. for the summer, handed me my farmed cows at Downsview. It’s Bardi, and Kate, the mum-fromEstelle, our French teenage vanilla cornet, catching my eye for not organic but school, and Sarah and visitor is baffled by yet another a brief but everlasting moment. the grass the cows little Luke Farnes are English eccentricity and, fluency Around 370,000 Italians graze upon is a far cry from the sexy aside, can’t find enough words came to South Wales from the pesticide-free after Italian boys from my about ice cream to join in. In Bardi area of Italy during the its initial seeds are mother’s childhood. her world, dinner is a defrosted mass immigration to the Welsh blasted, and the But at less than one plate of haute-cuisine, heated coalfields between 1851 and only antibiotics food mile from our on the hoof by a working 1911.As a result, the coffee shops the girls get are house, it ticks my mother bemoaning an absent of Swansea and Llanelli were for the inevitable boxes. When the oil father (in this case, the President unlikely pockets of sophistication mastitis all of us runs out and buying of Monaco), followed by a in a Britain still dunking its milk-producing locally and seasonally supermarket crème brûlée. It biscuits in a nice brew. As I mammals have to is the only option, I’ll doesn’t evoke pictures and smells shyly licked my vanilla cornet, I endure. Apparently Sarah Farnes pop over to Luke’s like ours does, mixed as it is with imagined my 16-year-old mother, cabbage leaves don’t work. The farm for a couple of pots and settle a spicy dash of obsession, denial tiny-waisted in post-austerity milk smells of cows and grass under the oak tree with my girls, and childhood memory. To her, voluminous skirt and sling backs, and fresh summer rain and is, iPod scrolled down to Mantovani, ice cream is, ben, ice cream. sharing a sundae with a group of according to LouLou, the best and dream of Italy. n Licked on the beach in Monte giggling teenagers to a Mantovani milk in the world.

Carlo it doesn’t have quite the soundtrack. I/my mother was We arrive at the ‘factory’, a Downsview Farmhouse same je ne sais quoi as a Mr Sophia Loren and ice cream was super-sterile little room behind Sussex Ice Cream Whippy at Black Rock. the epitome of sex appeal. the dairy where Kate, one of the Laughton Rd, Ringmer For me, ice cream is an even “Creamy...cows…dairy… mums from school, is carefully East Sussex. BN8 5UT richer blend, infused with my Luke’s farm…” The stream of separating by hand five dozen Telephone: 01825 841002

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Feature

Can you dig it? (Yes you can!)

Keeping an allotment is a wonderful way to keep your family in fresh, local seasonal vegetables, make lots of friends and keep fit in the process.

Michael Harwood wonders if it’s time to take up the spade and get digging.

Words and photography by Michael Harwood.

T

here was a time,

not so long ago, when the conversation at most dinner parties I attended turned to such hedonistic matters as to how to get on the guest list for the latest club or bar opening.

Nowadays, however, I am just as likely to be drawn into questions of whether or not it is a good idea to rotivate an allotment that has couch grass (a really bad idea, I’ve subsequently learned!). A sign of the times, or just another in a long list of clues that I’m getting older? Whichever

“The often-quoted Allotments and Cottage Gardens Compensation for Crops Act required local authorities to provide allotments if there was sufficient demand”

it may be, there is no getting away from the fact that if you want to avoid embarrassment at the dinner table you need to know your onions — quite literally.

With the credit crunch upon us and the price of food reaching an all-time high it’s no wonder that Britain has gone allotment mad. The days when allotments were the exclusive preserve of old men who tied their trousers up with string are long past and a new generation of allotmenteers are young urbanites who want to rediscover the joys of growing

September/October 2008

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September/October 2008

Feature

their own fruit and vegetables and feed their families a healthy, nutritious diet in the process.

The history of allotments can be said to go back over a thousand years, when the Saxons would clear a field of woodland and keep it for common use.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, shared land used for growing food and keeping animals began to be enclosed, thereby dispossessing the poor. By way of compensation, ‘allotments’ of land were attached to tenant cottages. This appears to be the first common use of the term.

Over the following centuries, more and more land was enclosed and greater numbers of people began to live in cities and large towns as we moved from a subsistence economy towards the modern industrial system. Urban allotment developments began to emerge, as evidenced by the ‘guinea gardens’ brought into use on the outskirts of Birmingham by the second half of the 18th Century. Unfortunately, these gradually disappeared as the city spread and the land was used for building much-needed housing.

An 1845 parliamentary act, passed in response to a genuine fear of civil unrest, provided for land to be set aside for allotment use.This required that provision be made for the landless poor, in the form of ‘field gardens’, limited to a quarter of an acre.

This was really the beginning of the allotments we have today in the UK. The often-quoted Allotments and Cottage Gardens Compensation for Crops Act of 1887 required local authorities to provide allotments if there was sufficient demand, although many local authorities resisted complying.

In fact this act was invoked recently by a group of students in Leeds who lobbied their local authority for an allotment.Whilst they were ultimately successful, they were placed at the bottom of an already long waiting list and don’t expect to have use of their allotment before graduation.

“There’s a huge sense of community on an allotment site and that this is a joy shared by young and old gardeners alike” Allotment use peaked during World War I, when food shortages caused by Germany’s blockade increased demand. Following the Great War, demand for allotments dropped and this, combined with increased demand for land for houses, lead to the loss of many sites.

With the outbreak of World War II, Britain was once again blockaded and food shortages again became the norm. Even public parks were pressed into use for food production.The Dig for Victory Campaign famously encouraged the people of Great Britain to grow their own crops in a bid to reduce the need to import produce from overseas.

Allotment use peaked during the war years when there was a whopping 1,400,000 in use and continued after the war when food rationing kept the demand for allotments and homegrown foods high. After the end of rationing in 1954, subsequent generations abandoned their plots, drawn increasingly to cheap, industrially-produced

convenience foods instead of home-grown produce. By the 1970s the number of British allotments had sunk to around 500,000.

Exact figures of how many allotments are in use today are hard to come by but there is no doubt that allotment sites that previously had many vacant and overgrown plots are now being inundated with enquiries from eager would-be growers. I was staggered to find that in Brighton and Hove alone there are 2,300 plots spread over 37 sites and the picture is similar all over Sussex.

This means that whether you realize it or not (and I didn’t) there is more likely than not a site very near you.

Now seems as good a time as any to confess that I am not naturally possessed of a green finger. In fact, the last houseplant I had was a spider plant (student days, I hasten to add), which died almost the second I put it in its macramé hanging basket.

And assurances that spider plants thrive on neglect don’t increase my confidence in matters

horticultural, thank you.

So, when I was invited to accompany my good friend Karen down to her allotment for the afternoon I did wonder whether my mere presence might be enough to bring on a bout of blight. Giddy from all the glorious sunshine, I pulled the car up in front of a huge expanse of allotments and what struck me straight away was that, despite being just metres away from one of Brighton’s main arterial roads, there was an incredible sense of, if not exactly silence, then certainly of peace.

As I wandered along the periphery, just taking in the sheer scale of the site, butterflies fluttered past as if ordered by central casting.The next thing I noticed was the sunlight reflected off old CDs strung from oldfashioned raspberry canes, presumably to ward off any unwanted raspberry-nibbling predators. I took this to include me and resisted the temptation to try one.

As I took in the scene in I noticed that despite all the individual plots being hugely different, they all had a shared ‘make do and mend’ approach. The old bath tubs planted with potatoes and railway sleepers edging raised beds filled with pumpkins, courgettes and sweetcorn wouldn’t have looked out of place 60-odd years ago playing their part in the war effort.

Just as I was beginning to fantasise about getting an allotment to make use of all those dreadful old M People albums, my phone rang and it was Karen checking on my progress. “You can probably see me from your plot,” I ventured. “Wave your spade in the air and I’ll look out for you.” I spun round looking for Karen’s spade but couldn’t see her anywhere, which was perhaps not surprising given that I was two miles up the road and on the wrong set of allotments.

Minutes later I was rattling on the gates of the right allotments.

September/October 2008

15

Feature

16

Karen duly came down to let me in explaining that security is high priority and that rule number one in the allotment rule book is: “keep the gates locked at all times.” Karen proudly showed me round her plot talking me through all her crops, both the successful ones and the ones that she was less happy with. It soon became apparent that for Karen, who has had her allotment for just two years, the whole project was based on a couple of fundamental principles: sheer hard work and trial and error.

She went on to tell me what kind of state her plot was in when they took it over and my personal fantasy of inheriting a previously well-tended plot was squashed somewhat when she described what she and her husband had to deal with.

By way of illustration she took me to a soon-to-be occupied plot, so overgrown with the aforementioned couch grass, that it was completely hidden. I naively enquired, “So what did you do to clear it?”

“We knuckled down and dug the whole lot by hand,” was her stoic reply.

My allotment envy was starting be replaced by sheer admiration for all the hard work that goes into keeping an allotment.

Karen continued with her various chores while I went for a wander hoping to chat to some of the old boys that I could see tending to their crops and soon bumped into Phil, another young and eye-wateringly keen allotment holder. Phil is to allotments what Amy Winehouse is to parties; his enthusiasm knows no bounds and such is his dedication that he has not one but three.

With the look of a proud parent he walked me through all of his plots, explaining in detail what crops were, why they were placed where they were and what success he had had with them. He and his wife have also had their allotment for just two years, a fact which is hard to fathom when

“What struck me straight away was an incredible sense of, if not exactly silence, then certainly of peace” you see what they have achieved.

Phil proffered a Sungold tomato from the greenhouse which was warm from the sun and it burst on the tongue in an explosion

September/October 2008

of flavour.The Yellowstone baby carrot he eased from the ground was as sweet and as crunchy as it was possible to be.

My tour was punctuated with

stories of how the greenhouse blew over in last year’s gales and of the weekly trip to Harveys brewery in Lewes to collect bags of spent hops which he uses as a slug-repelling mulch.

As we made our way through the interconnecting walkways he exchanged words with everyone whose path we crossed: an enquiry about the weather here, a complement for some cavalo nero there. I realised what a huge sense of community there is on an allotment site and that this is a joy shared by young and old gardeners alike.

TV chef, Paul Mer rett, in Using The Plot, his book chronicling his adventures in allotment land, illustrates this community spirit as he recounts a stint as a speaker on a Saga cruise ship. After he informs his audience that he is new to allotments, he is inundated with expert tips and growing advice for the rest of the trip.

After my day exploring other people’s allotments I came away, not only filled with admiration for all those who have invested so many hours of hard work, but a veritable harvest of free vegetables from proud allotment holders.

Not a single person I spoke to failed to offer me a small sample of what they had produced.

It was obvious that there are lots of reasons for wanting to invest so much time and hard work in having an allotment. Saving money, physical exercise, endless fresh air, the joy of seeing the fruits of your labour and teaching the young where their food comes from are all good enough reasons to pick up a spade and start digging, but none of those very good reasons can trump one fundamental fact: that vegetables grown with love and care just taste better. Never has that been more apparent than that evening when I cooked my small but perfectly formed bag of allotment vegetables. But has it spurred me on to get an allotment of my own? Lets just see how my next spider plant does, shall we? n

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September/October 2008

15/5/08 14:48:42

In season

In season Recipes by Stephen Adams.

Photography by Jean-Luc Brouard.

The Autumn harvest is upon us and it’s a time of plenty as we reap the rewards of the season’s bounty.

ROAST DUCK BREAST & CARAMELISED PEAR SALAD Duck has a natural affinity with sweet things so combining it with English pears in this seasonal salad is a winning formula.

Serves two.

18

2 duck breasts

1 pear, ripe but still firm

100g (4oz) rocket Pinch of brown sugar Splash balsamic vinegar Oil

September/October 2008

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F. Brown the duck breasts in a little oil in a hot pan, then place them skin side down in the oven for five to ten minutes, depending on size and how you like them cooked.

Allow to rest.

While the duck is resting get the same pan back on the heat without washing it out. Slice the pear into thin strips and layer around the

pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar and once the sugar has started to caramelize turn the pear and turn off the heat.

Slice the duck and arrange with the pear slices and rocket leaves.

Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve immediately.

For Aga cooking:

Roast the duck breasts near the top of the Roasting Oven.

In season

SMOKED MACKEREL FISHCAKES WITH LEMON & CAPER SAUCE Fishcakes are a great way of making a little fish go a long way.

CRISP POLENTA CAKES WITH MUSHROOM, CIDER & TARRAGON SAUCE Polenta is an Italian staple made from ground maize. It’s rather bland on its own but it readily takes up other flavours from additions such as the cheese in this recipe.

Serves four.

100g (4oz) quick-cook polenta 400ml (14fl oz) water 200ml (7fl oz) cider

50g (2oz) Twineham Grange Farmer’s Hand or Parmesan

200g (7oz) button mushrooms, quartered 200ml (7floz) double cream

100g (4oz) onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp tarragon, chopped Salt & black pepper Oil for frying

Serves TWO.

200g (7oz) smoked mackerel, skin and bones removed 400g (14oz) potato, peeled and diced

100g (4oz) butter

50g (2oz) fine capers

50g (2oz) shallot, finely chopped

2tbsp parsley, chopped

1 lemon Salt & pepper Oil for frying

Bring the potatoes to the boil in salty water and simmer till just cooked through. Strain and leave to steam and dry for five minutes.

Mash the potatoes, flake the mackerel roughly with your fingers, add to the potato along with half the parsley and season.

Once cool enough to handle,

form the mixture into small cakes and fry in a hot pan in a little oil until brown on one side. Turn and, when brown on the other side, add the shallots and butter to the pan.When the butter starts to brown, add the capers, the rest of the parsley and a big squeeze of lemon. Serve immediately.

Bring the water to the boil, stir in the polenta and stir while cooking for ten minutes. Add the cheese, season and spread out on a tray on some baking parchment to a thickness of about 2cm. Put in the fridge to set.

In a little oil, fry the onions and garlic, then add the mushrooms and cook until golden brown.

Add the cider and when that has mostly cooked off, add the cream.

Bring to the boil and reduce by half and then take off the heat.

Turn out the polenta cake and cut into squares about 6cm

across. Place them, smooth side down, in a hot frying pan with a little oil and cook until golden brown on one side. Turn them and put them under a hot grill or in a warm oven until heated through.

To finish, stir the tarragon through the sauce and pour over the hot cakes to serve.

For Aga cooking:

Grease the Simmering Plate lightly and brown the polenta cakes on it.

Grill on the top set of runners in the Roasting Oven.

September/October 2008

19

In season

SHELLFISH & CHORIZO GUMBO You can use any combination of shellfish to make this spicy seafood stew that originated in Louisiana where French culinary methods were brought to bear on West African flavours.The name comes from the okra originally used as a thickener, although a roux, as in this recipe, is now just as usual. Mussels are a great addition, as are cockles or clams.

Serves four.

12 oysters, shelled 12 prawns, peeled and deveined 12 crayfish, peeled and deveined 200g (7oz) chorizo, peeled and roughly diced 600ml (1pt) chicken stock 200g (7oz) chopped tinned tomatoes 150g (5oz) onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed 2 sticks celery, chopped 1 green chilli, finely chopped 1 red chilli, finely chopped 50g (2oz) flour 50g (2oz) butter 1tsp smoked paprika 1tsp cumin ½ tsp cayenne pepper 1tbsp Tabasco ½ tsp dried oregano ½ tsp thyme 1 bay leaf

VENISON & MUSHROOM STROGANOFF From its origins in Imperial Russia, variations on this classic dish have appeared all around the globe. Here, I’ve used venison instead of the more usual beef, but you can use either.

Serves four.

600g (1lb 4oz) venison, diced 300g (10oz) button mushrooms 500ml (18fl oz)) beef or chicken stock 400ml (14fl oz) red wine

200g (7oz) onion, chopped 100ml (4fl oz) sour cream

2 cloves garlic, crushed

4 tomatoes, peeled, chopped and seeds removed

2 tbsp flour

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground black pepper

2tsp ground white pepper Salt & pepper Oil for frying

20

Fry off the onions celery and garlic until soft and then add the chorizo, flour and butter and cook for a few minutes, stirring continuously.

Add all the herbs, spices and chillies, stir together and slowly add the chicken stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring all the time and only adding more when all the stock has been absorbed.

When all the stock has been

added, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer and add the tomatoes. Leave to cook for at least an hour until the gumbo is thick and clingy.

To finish, add the seafood and gently cook for just five minutes.

Serve with plain boiled rice.

For Aga cooking:

Simmer on the floor of the Simmering Oven.

September/October 2008

Season the meat and brown it thoroughly in a hot pan with a little oil. Put the meat to one side and cook the mushrooms in the same pan. Put them to one side and cook the onions and garlic until soft.Add the spices and wine and reduce by half.

In a separate pan, add some warm stock to the flour and stir continuously, adding more stock as the liquid is absorbed.

When all the stock has been added, allow to simmer for a few minutes, stirring all the while.

Add the wine reduction

to the stock, bring back to a simmer and add the meat.

Cover and allow to simmer gently for at least an hour or until the meat is tender. Add the mushrooms and season to taste. To finish, stir in the sour cream and chopped tomato and serve with boiled rice, noodles or matchstick chips.

For Aga cooking:

Simmer on the floor of the Simmering Oven for around three hours.

In season

SLOW ROASTED BELLY PORK & POTATO GRATIN WITH SHERRY VINEGAR Belly pork is one of the most economical cuts of the pig and, cooked properly, easily the most flavoursome.

Serves two.

400g (14oz) belly pork with skin scored

100g (4oz) cheddar (Tremains works well) 400g (14oz) potatoes, peeled and sliced

200g (7oz) onion, chopped

2 tomatoes, peeled, de-seeded and chopped 500ml (18fl oz) chicken stock 400ml (14fl oz) single cream 100ml (4fl oz) red wine

2 cloves garlic, chopped 50ml (2fl oz) sherry vinegar

1 tsp thyme leaves, chopped Salt & pepper Oil for frying

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 3 / 170°C / 325°F. Rub some salt into the pork skin. Place two slices of potato on a baking tray and rest the pork, skin side up, on top of them. Put in the oven for around two hours, or until the crackling is nice and crispy.

In a large saucepan, cook off half the onion and the garlic in a little oil until soft, add the potatoes and cream and cook on a gentle heat, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are cooked through.Add the thyme and season.

In a small saucepan, cook the rest of the onion until soft, reduce the chicken stock and the red wine until half the liquid has evaporated.

Add the vinegar and reduce by half again and then add the tomatoes.

Don’t worry if it seems a bit watery, this is not a thick sauce.

When the belly is cooked, take it out of the oven and leave to cool.

Increase the oven temperature to Gas Mark 4 / 180° / 350°F. Slice the belly pork into four, lay on a tray and cover with the potatoes then cheese. Bake until golden brown and serve with the sherry vinegar sauce poured over.

For Aga cooking:

Roast the pork belly in the top of the Baking Oven and finish in the top of the Roasting Oven, or on grid shelf on floor of the Roasting Oven with cold shelf on second or third runners.

Bake the gratin in the middle of the Roasting Oven.

September/October 2008

21

In season

PLUM & HONEY CRUMBLE WITH MASCARPONE CUSTARD Here is a fantastic crumble using English plums and fabulous local honey. Don’t cook it for too long so that the plums still retain a bit of bite.

Serves four.

For the crumble:

12 plums halved and pitted

150g (5oz) butter

150g (5oz) plain flour

100g (4oz) ground almond

50g (2oz) golden castor sugar

2 tbsp honey For the custard:

200g (7oz) mascarpone

3 egg yolks 100ml (4fl oz) milk

50g (2oz) golden castor sugar

1 vanilla pod, split (or ½tsp of vanilla essence)

SPINACH & RICOTTA LASAGNE This is a delicious vegetarian dish fit to grace any table.

Serves four.

400g (14oz) tinned chopped tomatoes

200g (7oz) red kidney beans, cooked 300g (10oz) onion, chopped

200g (7oz) Twineham Grange Farmer’s Hand or Parmesan, grated 400g (14oz) ricotta

200g (7oz) spinach

8 pre-cooked dried lasagne sheets

2 cloves garlic, crushed Splash of cream or milk

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp mustard

2 tbsp basil, chopped Salt & black pepper Oil for frying

22

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F. First to make a tomato sauce, fry off 150g (5oz) onions with one clove of garlic in a little oil until soft. Add the tomato puree and cook for a couple of minutes then add the tinned tomatoes and red kidney beans, simmer for 20 minutes and season. Blend with basil till smooth.

In a separate pan, fry off the rest of the onion and garlic until soft.Wilt the spinach into it, stir in the ricotta with a splash of

cream and season.

Layer the ricotta mix with the lasagne sheets in an ovenproof dish and top with the tomato sauce. Sprinkle with grated Twineham Grange and bake for around 30-40 minutes until golden on top.

For Aga cooking:

Cook on the grid shelf on the lowest set of runners in the Roasting Oven or just below the centre of the Baking Oven for about 45 minutes.

September/October 2008

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F. To make the crumble, rub together the butter, flour, almonds and sugar between your fingers until it is a sandy texture.

Lay out the plum halves on a greased dish, skin side up and drizzle over the honey. Spread the crumble mix on the top and place in the oven until golden brown on top.

To make the custard, whisk the egg yolks and sugar (and vanilla essence if using).

Bring the milk to the boil with the vanilla pod if using.

Remove the pod (wash and dry it and put it in a jar of sugar

to make vanilla sugar). Beat the milk gradually into the egg mix then return it to a very low heat, stirring continuously, being very careful not to let it boil, until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat, stir in the mascarpone and serve with the hot crumble.

For Aga cooking:

Place the dish in a roasting tin on the fourth set of runners in the Roasting Oven and cook for about 20-25 minutes then transfer to the top of the Simmering Oven until the fruit is tender, or hang on the third set of runners in the Baking Oven.

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September/October 2008

In season

APPLE TART FINE What better way to celebrate all those delicious old apple varieties than by making this lovely tart?

Serves FOUR.

2 English apples 150g (5oz) puff pastry 60g (2oz) castor sugar 60g (2oz) butter, softened 60g (2oz) ground almonds 1 egg 1 tsp flour 1 tbsp brown sugar

24

September/October 2008

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F. Roll out the pastry in a roughly square shape and place it on some baking paper on a tray.

Mix together the softened butter, sugar, almonds and flour and beat in the egg. Spread a generous layer of the mixture over the pastry (you’ll probably have some left over.)

Slice the apple into half moon shapes as thinly as you can. Layer the apple slices in rows along the tart. Now sprinkle with a little brown sugar and carefully turn the whole tart upside down onto

another piece of baking paper on a tray.

Bake in the oven till the pastry is golden brown. Turn the tart over, sprinkle some brown sugar over the top and put it back in the oven until the apples are nicely caramelised. Serve warm with cream or ice cream.

For Aga cooking:

Bake with the grid shelf on the floor of the Roasting Oven with the cold plain shelf on the second set of runners or on the second set of runners in the Baking Oven.

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September/October 2008

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For friendly, professional service call 01243 672121/672722 www.munneries.co.uk 21 Shore Road, East Wittering, Sussex PO20 8DY

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Something for the weekend

Thank gourd for C.R. Upton Peter Bayless, chef, author and BBC MasterChef 2006, meets the legendary Pumpkin Man of Pumpkin Cottage Photography by Robin Upton.

Food photography by Jean-Luc Brouard.

J

ust a few miles west of

Arundel lies the small and picturesque village of Slindon, reputed to be the birthplace of one Thomas Becket whose intransigence as archbishop to Henry II brought about his assassination at the hands of Henry’s knights in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. Thomas, or St Thomas as he became after his death, entered our history books and is remembered today as the victim of the ‘Murder in the Cathedral’.

Come with me now on a journey through time to 10th November 1921. Over 800 years after the birth of Becket, Slindon saw the arrival of another son who was destined to make history — although, deserving as he may be, I think it highly unlikely that Clifford Ralph Upton will ever be canonized likeThomas. Now in his 87th year Clifford, or Ralph as he prefers to be known, continues to

farm and produce over 50 varieties of pumpkins, 35 squashes and countless varieties of ornamental gourds with a degree of enthusiasm and passion that you might expect from a man half his age.

Always a keen propagator, Ralph began by selling peas and beans from his cottage doorstep. From this humble enterprise he moved on and began to grow and sell marrows. Then, in not such a big

jump, he developed an interest in growing pumpkins and squashes, and that was over 45 years ago.

Now, with the help of his sons and their families, Ralph produces an annual crop that runs into tens of thousands of specimens. A good year will see 25 or more one-anda-half-tonne-trailer loads being harvested — enough to satisfy the demands of the thousands of customers who flock to Slindon every autumn to buy their favourite varieties direct from the Pumpkin Man at Pumpkin Cottage. Ralph also supplies hotels and restaurants, specialist buyers from London,The Hebrides, Holland and Germany and, incredibly, some of his produce even ends up as far away as New Zealand and Australia.

The season for Ralph begins in the second week of April when the first of 15,000 to 20,000 seeds are planted in the hothouse. As soon as they have germinated,

only around two to three days, the plants are moved to the cold green houses and then on to standing out to harden up before planting out in the third week of May, weather permitting. It has to be 60°F or more or the plants won’t grow. After that, apart from keeping the weeds at bay, it’s all down to having the right amount of sunshine and the right amount of rain, plus of course the bees to perform their little miracle. Strolling through his five-acre field of squashes and pumpkins, I asked Ralph about gourds. “We grow quite a few, mainly for ornament,” he said.

“You can eat a few varieties but mostly they’re for show.We have to grow them in a separate field though otherwise the bees would cross-pollinate them and we’d have bitter varieties of squash.”

Wee Be Little, Munchkin, Spookie, Triple Treat, Goldarc, Patty Pan, Queensland Blue, Crown Prince, Turks Cap, Golden Hubbard are just a few of the names that are as exotic and varied as the vegetables themselves.Thanks to the variety of shapes, colours and sizes, Ralph is able to indulge his other passion by creating an edible artwork from his produce. Each year the family tries to outdo the displays of previous years by covering the house — roof and all - gardens and outbuildings with a mindboggling and eye-popping artwork to rival anything you might find on display at Tate Modern. A sight not to be missed, you have to make a point of getting over there to see for yourself on the run up to Halloween this year.

We need people like Ralph Upton, people with the passion to keep growing varieties which might otherwise disappear under a mountain of same-sized, orangeskinned supermarket pumpkins that are all destined to become Halloween lanterns. People with the commitment to keep going even after the disaster of last year’s crop, most of which, through lack of sunshine, rotted on the earth where it lay.And to show us that pumpkin and squash may be eaten all year round in a vast and delicious array

September/October 2008

27

Coach House

Restaurant/Bar

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

Tel: 01273 719000 59 Middle Street Brighton www.coachhousebrighton.com RTS_EatSussexqtr.qxd

7/4/08

15:32

Page 1

& Mortar QP 0508.indd 1 17/6/08 Pestle 17:37:09

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The

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Rye is a must for that day or evening out of fine dining with an unrivalled selection of fine restaurants.

Enjoy the fish from the Rye Bay Catch, Romney Marsh lamb and fresh produce from the farms of Sussex, plus a choice of cuisine from around the world.

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Something for the weekend of dishes. Ralph’s own recipe book (he’s sold over 30,000 copies of it) is testament to that.The book, at only £0.40 per copy, like the pumpkins and squashes, is available only from the cottage.

Pumpkin and squash may be peeled, deseeded and chopped and then boiled down and mashed with lots of pepper, grated nutmeg and a little butter — to serve alongside chops or roasted meats.

Or try just cutting into wedges and putting them around your roast for the last twenty minutes of cooking time. Or cut the flesh into cubes and sauté in butter.

Whether preparing for soup, risotto, as a filling for pasta or as a sweet filling for pies, flans

and even soufflés, roasting first really brings out the flavour. For savoury dishes simply cut into wedges, scoop out all the seeds and lay the pieces on a baking tray. Douse with plenty of olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt, freshly milled black pepper and a few sprigs of thyme or marjoram.

You may add unpeeled cloves of garlic if you wish. Roast in a hot oven for about 20 minutes until cooked through and beginning to brown at the edges.Allow to cool, then strip the leaves off the herbs and discard the stalks. If using, squeeze the soft garlic flesh out of its skin. Blitz everything in a

blender to a smooth purée.

This base is now ready to use for a whole host of dishes. For sweet dishes simply omit the herbs, salt, pepper and garlic. n

C.R.Upton, Pumpkin Cottage, 4 Top Road, Slindon . BN18 0RP Telephone: 01243 814219.

Serves EIGHT. 300g (10oz) shortcrust pastry

225g (8oz) sweet pumpkin purée (see instructions above) 150ml (5fl oz) double cream 100ml (3½fl oz) milk

4 eggs, beaten 100g (3½oz) golden caster sugar

2 tsp plain flour

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground ginger

Pinch ground cloves Freshly grated nutmeg

TRADITIONAL PUMPKIN PIE Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F. Line a deep 230mm flan dish with shortcrust pastry and blind bake.

In a saucepan gently warm through the pumpkin purée. Do not let it boil. Stir the double cream and milk into the purée and keep warm.

Beat the eggs with the sugar until pale and fluffy. Sift the plain flour into the egg mixture and stir in the spices. Pour the hot purée to the

egg mixture in a thin stream, beating all the while.

Fill the pastry case with the mixture and bake for approx 40 minutes.

The pie is ready when the outer edges are set and the centre is still soft. Remove from the oven and cool. If you wish, you may decorate the top with pecan nuts, dust generously with icing sugar — then use a blow-torch to glaze the top.

ROASTED PUMPKIN & GARLIC SOUP WITH PARMESAN CROUTONS AND PARSLEY OIL Serves EIGHT TO TEN. 1kg (2lb 4oz) savoury pumpkin purée

1 clove garlic

1 head of celery

2-3 shallots

1ltr (1¾pt) chicken stock A few sprigs fresh thyme Olive oil Butter Salt and black pepper

1 French loaf Parmesan cheese, grated Bunch fresh parsley Extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon

Finely slice the shallots and celery and sweat in olive oil for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool then blitz in a liquidizer.

Stir into the pumpkin purée.

Strain the hot stock into the purée, check for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Bring up to a simmer and keep warm at the back of the stove.

Slice the French loaf into small rounds about 10mm thick and toast on both sides.

Blitz the parsley with a little

salt and lemon juice and stir into enough extra virgin olive oil to make a thick pouring sauce.

Ladle the soup into bowls; paint one side of each crouton with a little extra virgin olive oil. Float a crouton (oiled side down) into each bowl of soup.

Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and flash under a very hot grill. Just before serving, drizzle with the parsley oil.

September/October 2008

29

Gastro Gnome’s Guide

The Gastro-Gnome’s Guide to Eastbourne and Surrounding Area They tried to make him go to Eastbourne but Boris said, “no, no, no!” The Gastro-Gnome goes where the Mayor of London declines to tread.

Photography by Paul Cassidy.

Gastro-Gnome illustration by Joseph Loughborough.

T

he Gastro-Gnome

30

couldn’t resist a snigger on hearing that Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s luggage went missing at Gatwick Airport, after the gaffe-prone politician had publically slated Eastbourne and a number of other wonderful English holiday resorts. Say what you like about our coastal towns but when you come to Bognor your baggage comes with you!

Known as ‘The Sunshine Coast’, Eastbourne has been a settlement since the Stone Age, but the town we know today came about during the 19th Century when the hamlets of East Bourne, Meads, South Bourne and Sea Houses gradually merged and the arrival of the railway transformed the place into a thriving Victorian resort.

Taking pride of place on Eastbourne’s immaculate seafront is without a doubt, the gleaming

September/October 2008

white wedding cake facade of The Grand Hotel (King Edwards Parade).This five-star retreat boasts two restaurants; The Garden, serving modern interpretations of traditional English classics and The Mirabelle where Head Chef (and Chairman of the Master Chefs of Great Britain), Gerald Röser, presides over an innovative menu that has earned the restaurant two red AA rosettes and numerous accolades.The pike soufflé is particularly lauded.

Just around the back of The Grand, Colin Barnes, Ian Jarman and John Martin offer their considerable expertise and a spectacular range of extensivelyresearched wines and spirits from around the world. Cooden Cellars (14 Grand Hotel Buildings, Compton St) was awarded Independent Wine Retailer of the Year 2007 by Off Licence News, to add to previous accolades like Regional Wine Merchant of the Year and Small

Gastro Gnome’s Guide

Cooden Cellars

Independent Merchant of theYear in 2005. In addition to retailing, Cooden Cellars also runs a busy programme of tastings and tutored courses, operates a wine club and is regularly involved in food and drink events in the area.

The Compton Lounge (12 Grand Buildings, Compton St) is café/restaurant run by Yorkshire couple, Josephine and Peter. Peter had many years of experience working in top hotels and as a personal chef before he decided to taking on his own place. Sunday lunch is popular and a leisurely afternoon tea is a must.

A few doors away, in a shop once shared with The Grand’s post office,The Gnome followed his nose to the exquisite Chocolate House (10 Grand Hotel Buildings, Compton St).

The business dates back to around 1920 but was taken on a couple of years ago by Marga and Peter who sell the Cerisette range of hand-made Belgian chocolates, nougat, liquorice and a selection of chocolates for diabetics.

Cooden Cellars are one of the many businesses locally that hold events in the state of the art facilities at the University of

The Chocolate House

The Waterside

The Culinary Arts Studio

Brighton’s Culinary Arts Studio (Darley Rd).When not in use by students at the School of Service Management, this demonstration kitchen and restaurant runs a number of exciting day and evening courses, including an upcoming one on Molecular Gastronomy, and is also available to hire for launches, courses, teambuilding, tastings, seminars and pretty much anything culinary that you can think of. For more details, go to www.brighton. ac.uk/culinaryartsstudio or call Gilly Nicol on 01273 643631.

Another educational institute, Sussex Downs College (Cross Levels Way), operates a fine dining restaurant, Kings Restaurant

and Bistro (Kings Buildings), where catering students prepare menus for lunches, dinners and themed evenings through the year. A recent ‘Sussex on a Plate’ evening was a sell-out and is sure to be repeated soon. Kings is open on Tuesday,Wednesday and Friday for lunch and Thursday for dinner. Reservations are essential on 01323 637352/637334.

Back to the seafront and another grande dame of the Victorian era, Best Western Lansdowne Hotel (King Edwards Parade) has been privately owned and run by the same family since 1910. Around the corner and by something of a contrast, The Big Sleep (Lansdowne Terrace) is the third in a chain of budget designer hotels and is partly owned by filmstar John Malkovich.

Further along the seafront is another sign that Eastbourne is starting to look beyond its traditional audience with the opening of its first boutique hotel. The Waterside (11-12 Royal Parade) offers individually designed rooms above a modern British seafood restaurant serving an imaginative menu with the day’s local catch taking pride of

place (accompanied by a basil foam, no less!). As well as some fantastic fish on offer, there are some local delights like Pevensey pork fillet and vegetarian dishes that don’t read like an afterthought.

If, like the Gnome, you’re inclined to avoid shopping centres as soulless places filled with the same old chain stores, prepare to have your expectations shattered at The Enterprise Shopping Centre (Station Parade). Here there are 58 independent businesses with not an Asda trolley in sight.The centre opened nearly 20 years ago, the brainchild of a builder, a property developer and a restaurateur who bought a large Victorian station shed and converted it into a centre for startup businesses with a collection of specialist shops unlike anywhere else. Among the top quality food retailers are N. Dean Butchers, specialising in local lamb, pork and beef and maker of delicious sausages and home-cured bacon.

Taylors Fishmongers sells locally-caught fish and shellfish, along with more far-flung stock from Billingsgate.They offer free home delivery and also wholesale to caterers. For a taste of South Africa, Nyami Nyami Biltong Bar stocks biltong, drywors, boerewors and chilli bites and is awaiting a liquor licence for South African wines and beers.

JJ Foods is like a Woolworth’s pick-n-mix, but without the E-numbers, with everything from dried fruits, nuts lentils to drinking chocolate. Anneries, the centre’s delicatessen, has locally-sourced meats, cheeses, patés, pies and quiches as well as a fine line in homemade cakes.

There is also a choice of venues to eat in, including The Brazz Restaurant, Yummy Noodle Bar and Jocelyn’s Café.

Nearby, Okto (12 Station St) is a bar/restaurant serving modern clean and simple bistro dishes with a focus on quality ingredients.

They also do some old favourites like steak (properly hung, of course) and chips and sausage and mash and the puddings are worth leaving space for.

September/October 2008

31

Gastro Gnome’s Guide

32

More traditional in style is Café Aroma (54 Ocklynge Rd), a beautifully furnished tea shop where chef, Brian, is renowned for his bakewell tarts, cheesecake and apple crumble and partner, Robert, serves a selection of over fifty teas, including ‘Miss Norris’, a unique blend of Earl Grey, jasmine and a hint of rose and violet and named after a lady who ran a music shop on the site where Café Aroma now stands.

Loose teas and coffees are also available retail.

Other notable retailers in Eastbourne include the local branch of Waitrose (High St), which sponsors a wide range of foodie events and courses in the town, and Sussex Butcher of the Year 2007, J. Heath & Son (7 Albert Parade), offering a superb range of local meat and all the expertise you need to help you make the most of it.

Part of a small pub company, The Farm @ Friday Street (15 Friday St, Langney) is a familyfriendly pub providing fresh, locally-sourced favourites like steak, homemade burgers, liver and bacon and steak and kidney pie, all cooked to order in the open-fronted kitchen.

Travelling north just out of Eastbourne, the Gnome came across Stone Cross Windmill (Beggars Lane, Stone Cross). Built in the 1870s, the mill has been lovingly restored to full working order by the Sussex Mills Group (www.sussexmillsgroup.org.uk) and welcomes visitors on Sunday afternoons between 2pm and 5pm from April to September and flour ground at the mill can be purchased from the mill store.

Sharnfold Farm Shop and Pick Your Own (Hailsham Rd, Stone Cross) sells fresh fruit, veg, meat and poultry, home-produced or from farms within five miles. At this time of year, most of the crops have been harvested although there are still blackberries, onions and tomatoes and chillis available for PYO. Nearby in Westham, Christine and Claude at Horeau’s Seafood Restaurant (4 High

hazelnut meringues welcoming back return visitors to this exquisite English cottage.

T h e a re a s u r ro u n d i n g Eastbourne is known for some wonderful country pubs. The Eight Bells (High St, Jevington) has an extensive menu of hearty pub favourites as well as some lighter options which can all be enjoyed with a pint of ale or glass of wine in the meandering pub garden, against the backdrop of the Sussex Downs. Sunday lunch is understandably popular.

On his travels around the area, the Gnome couldn’t help but notice the inclusion of a certain dessert in menus of establishments varying greatly in style.The reason why banoffi pie (for that was the pudding in question) is so extremely popular in the region can be explained by the fact that it was invented here, at The Hungry Monk (Jevington) to be precise.

A 14th Century building, with a labyrinth of interconnected lounges and dining rooms provides a cosy and intimate setting for one of Sussex’s most famous and long-lived country restaurants, currently celebrating ‘40 years of wonderful food’.

On then to another pictureperfect English village and Grimaldi’s Restaurant (The Green, East Dean) in its stunning location on the village green.

Chef/proprietor, Keith Archer, uses his classical training at The Savoy, London, to great effect in serving a traditional menu drawing on English and French techniques. “That man is an excellent cook!” said a gentleman enjoying a stroll after a leisurely luncheon, and the Gnome would not beg to differ.

Gibby’s

The Eight Bells

The Hungry Monk

St, Westham) specialise, as the name suggests, in fresh fish, and they are particularly proud of the platter de fruits de mer.

If, inexplicably, you don’t fancy seafood, the restaurant also does a good selection of local meat, game and vegetarian dishes.

Taking another direction from the town, the Gnome, like countless others before him, was thrilled to come across the delightful Gibby’s Restaurant and Tea Gardens (Jevington Rd, Filching). The restaurant was founded by Mrs Gibbons in the 1920, whose daughter, May, was affectionately known as ‘Gibby’. Current proprietors, Jackie and David Harris, have

September/October 2008

instigated a book, Memories of Gibby’s, where customers are encouraged to describe previous visits, often many decades ago, which makes fascinating and entertaining reading. As Jackie says, “With so many memories everyone owns Gibby’s. We’re just the caretakers really!” And very good caretakers they are too, with David’s legendary pastry skills, profiteroles, scones and

Grimaldi’s

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The Beach House West Wittering

Licensed CafĂŠ/Restaurant and Guest House Licensed restaurant specialising in fresh fish.

Just ten minutes walk from West Wittering Beach and East Head.

Breakfasts, coffees, snacks, lunch, teas and dinner Two course lunch for ÂŁ9.75 available.

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Seven en-suite twin, double and family rooms.

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September/October 2008 8/8/08 16:28:37

Gastro Gnome’s Guide

The Giant’s Rest

Frith & Little

A recent addition to the village is the Frith & Little Delicatessen (The Green) run by husband and wife team, Andy and Kathy Frith.The pair, both experienced chefs, moved from Hackney a year and a half ago to set up this emporium, selling a unique selection of local and international produce.They’ve already attracted numerous accolades and a number of celebrity fans. “When there’s a deli like this in every town,” declared restaurateur and BBC’s Great British Menu judge, Oliver Peyton,“we will then be a nation of foodies.”

The village is also home to The Hikers’ Rest Coffee & Gift Shop (The Green) and the Farmers’ Market (East Dean Village Hall), every Wednesday morning between 10.30am and 12.30pm.

Watched over by the mysterious figure of the Long Man of Wilmington, The Giant’s Rest (The Street, Wilmington) is a charming country pub offering delicious food in picturesque surroundings. To keep diners amused while waiting for their meals, there’s a wooden puzzle on each table and the pub also has a couple of letting rooms in case you don’t want to go home after your meal.

Another delightful country inn, The Sussex Ox (Milton St) is also a prime destination for top quality food and well-kept ales including Harveys and Dark Star.

Proprietors, David and Suzanne Pritchard have given the place and extensive but sympathetic makeover, bringing it up to date but keeping the character of a

Badgers Tea House

The George

traditional pub.

The Medieval, for mer smuggling village of Alfriston is home to the Clergy House (The Tye, Alfriston), the first property purchased by the National Trust in 1891 for the grand sum of £10. It’s also home to a number of welcoming inns including the 14th Century Star Inn (High St), reputedly one of the oldest in England, The George (High St), first licenced in 1397, and Ye Old Smuggler’s Inn (Waterloo Square) which was formerly Market Cross House, owned by notorious smuggler, Stanton Collins, before he was transported to Australia.

Quintessential English tea shops in tumbledown cottages are also much in evidence. Chestnuts Tea Rooms (8 Chestnut Cottages, High St) and Badgers Tea House (North St) both serve delicious home-baked cakes and cream teas. Steamer Trading Cookshop (High St) opened the first shop in a fast-growing chain here in 1985. Not Just Chocolate (Market Square) stocks confectionary from all over the world, including chocolate

Moonrakers Restaurant

from East and West Sussex.

Roger and Louise at The Tudor House (High St) serve a menu inspired by their travels around the world. Lunches and afternoon tea in the pretty walled garden or dinner by candlelight, this oak-beamed restaurant is always brimming with atmosphere.

Local residents, film maker and author, Robin Bextor, and his partner, designer, Polly Mockford, have recently opened Moonrakers Restaurant (High St) with an exciting, modern British menu sourced entirely from a 25-mile-radius of the village.The venture is on the site of a much-loved restaurant of the same name. Head Chef, Robert Harris, who trained under Jason Atherton at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze in London, has combined

seasonal produce with culinary innovation and quickly proved himself to be a young chef to watch out for.

A the heart of the village of Firle, The Ram Inn (The Street, Firle), has a fascinating history. It was once a coaching house and then a court house. Today the court room is still there and the beer cellar was once the holding cells but the pub has not rested on its laurels. The food has an excellent reputation and, with Harveys and Dark Star on tap and a good wine list, the Ram is a popular destination for walkers and locals alike.

Middle Farm (Firle) is a working 625 acre family farm that boasts an award-winning Farm Shop, a restaurant, Plough Monday, with a log fire in winter and a sunny courtyard in summer and always a home-cooked menu of country-style dishes, the Open Farm where you can meet the animals and see the pedigree Jersey herd being milked, a Garden Centre, a Pet Food and Supplies Shop, in short, everything you need for a great family day out. Oh, and did I mention that Middle Farm is also home to the National Cider & Perry Collection with over 100 ciders and perries always in stock.

On the day the Gnome called in, proud new mother, Bessie-Lou, was suckling her 11 piglets and a couple of baby emus were staying for the summer, but whenever you go, there’s always lots to see.

Nearby, the third annual Glynde Food & Dr ink Festival, incorporating the 34th English Wine Festival (Glynde) takes place on the 20th and 21st September, promising even more producers, tastings, live music, a children’s kitchen and one of the most beautiful spots for a picnic in England. n

35 Middle Farm’s Bessie-Lou and a few of her piglets

September/October 2008

The Black Horse BINSTED

Chris and Simon offer a warm and relaxed welcome to The Black Horse Freehouse in the idyllic location of Binsted.

While away the hours with our attentive service and sample our seasonal menu based on fresh, produce, locally-sourced where possible.

Our extensive wine list has been chosen to complement the menu. Be sure to save some room for our wonderful range of delicious desserts or perhaps a choice selection of cheeses washed down with a glass of port.

Reservations: 01243 551213 Our winter festive menus for December are now available.

Reservation recommended to avoid disappointment.

The Black Horse | Binsted Lane | Binsted | West Sussex | BN18 OLP

The Black Horse QP 0908.indd 1

RIDDLE & FINNS Champagne & Oyster Bar

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Gordon Ramsay

The Dining Room, Hove

BOOKINGS NOW BEING TAKEN FOR 12 Meeting House Lane Brighton BN1 1HB 01273 323008

129 Church Road Hove BN3 2AE 01273 721667

New take home & home delivery service available. www.riddleandďŹ nns.co.uk

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

The Standard Inn

The Mint Rye East Sussex Tel: 01797 225996, www.standardinn.co.uk

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September/October 2008

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Drink Sussex

A phoenix from the ashes Continuing his tour of Sussex brewers, this issue David Furer visits the Horsham brewery of Hepworth & Company.

Words and photography by David Furer.

W

hat does a talented brewer of 15 years and his colleagues do when their employer shuts?

Out of the ashes of Sussex’s venerable King & Barnes Brewery rose another Horsham-based brewery, Hepworth & Company.

King & Barnes’ award-winning head brewer, Andy Hepworth, whose moniker graces the brewery, and three partners commenced operations in February 2001, setting themselves up as contract brewers.According to head brewer and MD, Andy, “We got a lot of backing from locals interested in keeping brewing alive in Horsham.”Their ‘Beer Station’ is conveniently located five minutes walk from Horsham train station in its former railway yard.

During his tenure at King & Barnes, Hepworth was instrumental in developing a range of award-winning malt- and hop-specific beers at a time when the British beer-drinking public was awakening to the greatness

of the indigenous beverage.

Unlike the spartan offices of his colleagues in the next room, Andy’s is cluttered with papers, magazines, and bottles. Nearly as chaotic are the brewing vessels riddling the Hepworth facility which provides a small history of English brewing. Culled from the likes of Courage, Brakspear, King & Barnes, Ridley’s and Red Root, Andy laughingly hopes to include for one from Young’s, recently merged with Wells, “just

to complete the set.”

The progression to own-beer production was gentle at first but now accounts for 33 per cent of Hepworth’s total production.

60 per cent of their own-label production is bottled, a rather high percentage, not only for a Sussex brewery but for any British brewery. “When we opened there were 15 other breweries in Sussex (now 21, with Hepworth the only one aside from Harveys with a serious bottling operation),

making the sale exclusively of real ale a tough market.We’re brewers and engineers, we enjoy our competitors’ beers, but we’re not salespeople! Our greatest point of difference was the experience gained from our tenure at King & Barnes in bottle conditioning, lagering (which none of the others had nor have), and the high level of expertise we had being supported by locals.Very unusual for a microbrewery we bought a relatively large 60-barrel brewery, thereby avoiding the disruption and growing pains others endure when they grow step-by-step.”

One of Hepworth’s contracts is for Marks & Spencer’s Sussex Ale, a bit stronger and hopped later than their own bitter. He proudly claims the retailer has adopted and applied Hepworth’s rigorous standards for their entire range.

Unusually for a microbrewery, Hepworth has brewed lager — and an organic one at that — for five years. All of their malts and hops, with the exception of the Belgian organic hops, hail from Sussex. Their major supplier, Goodwood Estate, has begun a project Andy and his partners initiated to supply them with organic hops in the next few years. “This keeps the fuel miles down and, besides, the quality of Sussex crops is superior to anywhere else in the country.We deal direct with the farmers in developing quality standards.They don’t sell to a maltster; rather, they get a maltster to do the work for them, retain ownership, and sell all of their production to us. In exchange we brew their beer.

They take back the organic spent grains to feed their cattle so we have almost a ‘perfect circle’.

“If you ask people to pay more for organic products then they should be at least as good as ‘normal’ products. The trick is to sell people a beer which they’ll buy a second time, because anyone will buy a first one to sample.”

When queried about the organic market, Andy admitted, “It’s very small. We produce ours with the understanding that we’ve a good local supplier but, surprisingly, most is sold in the general market.

September/October 2008

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Drink Sussex

“We carry the whole range because it’s local, it’s good, and I like beer,” said long-time Hepworth customer David Smale of Hove’s Coriander Restaurant & Deli. “It’s ridiculous that a majority of beers are from the big guys and these mostly aren’t even from the UK!” Though better known for its eclectic, organic wine list, Hepworth’s Organic Blonde is the house lager accounting for over half of Coriander’s beer sales.

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We don’t place the ‘organic’ word in larger type than the brand ‘Prospect’ as we want people to first accept and enjoy the beer for what it is.We charge more money for it because the ingredients are more expensive.” Their blonde lager came out of a contract producing an organic beer for Goodwood.“The big boys’ patch is lager and they’re not nice people.

We can’t compete with them so keeping it organic keeps it niche and off their radar.”

Rather than brewing to fit a perceived market taste, Hepworth thinks that it’s important to brew beers that he and his partners like to drink as they think that others will enjoy them too. “We don’t have to appeal to people who drink cheap, excipient-filled lagers.We’re also not out to follow fashion by creating new styles.We like to keep to traditional ones. For example, I thought that the ‘best bitter’ style was being neglected so we chose to focus upon that.”

The traditional British brewery echoed with the sound of Dire Straits over the speakers. “We’ve all got a work ethic which allows us to trust one another. We can see when the others may be flagging and then pick up the slack,” Hepworth explained.

The large facility allows for the production of either lager or ale, which require different yeasts and different temperatures.A lagering vessel is more cylindrical because, since the fermentation takes place at the bottom of the vessel, solids gather at the bottom.This allows for easier cleaning of the vessel,

making it a favourite of brewers who otherwise, when making ales, need to manually remove tons of spent mash from those vessels. His aging tanks for the lager include ones he originally purchased for King & Barnes in 1985.When the brewery was sold two years later he bought them from a secondhand dealer. No preservatives or stabilizers are used at Hepworth.

Following pasteurization and cold-filtration, active yeasts are then added to bottle-condition the beers, making them ‘live’ again for the customer who may purchase it up to one year later.

Hepworth & Company’s main marketing focus is on events such as the Brighton and Horsham Food Festivals, the Ashdown Forest Anglo-French Market in October, and December’s Ardingly Festive Food & Drink Festival, allowing people to try what they have.Andy asserts that, “fermented barley, malt, and hops are wholesome ingredients which people can, in moderation, taste and get hooked!”

A few tasting notes Blonde Organic Lager Toasty golden malt gives the a slightly perfumed aroma which Andy claims is from the ‘Weihenstephan’ (Bavaria’s famed beer school)-sourced yeast which receives six weeks lagering, giving a low-bitterness beer. Light but some unique character which he claims is popular with women and even ale drinkers. The label, courtesy of Andy’s linguist wife, cleverly translates ‘beer’ in 50 languages.

Sussex Bitter “Following a drinking session, farmers have to return to their fields to labour, so it’s not too strong at 3.5%. Our intention was to have a lower-alcohol beer that has enough flavour to drink as a 5% beer,” shared Hepworth.

The traditional Goldings are used for the late-hopping, the more modern Admiral for bittering.

A bit citrusy with some light caramel aroma. Still, light and refreshing with a dry finish.

Pullman Best Bitter Light brown. Boiled Goldings and brown malts give a dry character to the beer without it losing its fullness.Accent is on the malts for the nose with a crisp, long palate of hops.

Prospect Organic Sussex Pale Ale An odd spearmint note which Andy claims comes from the organic barley as none of their other beers possess this ingredient.

Light and crisp with a decidedly dry, hoppy finish.

Iron Horse Premium Bitter Rich crystal malts predominate, masking some of the hop-derived bitterness.Touch of caramel, stewedfruit aromas.Round,toffee,medium toasty.Warming finish.

Old Ale Having worked briefly with him in Chicago in the mid-1990s, I was pleased to make the acquaintance again of Andy Hepworth’s former employer and mentor, Bill King. King raised a pint to Hepworth saying, “Andrew and his team have built a fine brewery and good reputation in the relatively short time The Beer Station has been in production. I think it was a bold move to specialise in contract brewing and bottling and their own branded products have also clearly gained their own following. Andrew is an experienced brewer and under his leadership I am sure the brewery will continue to flourish.”

Medium brown colour. Low intensity nose with a striking bitter-texture palate, some wheat malt to give fullness of palate. Hint of chocolate. n Hepworth & Co. Brewery The Beer Station, The Railway Yard, Nightingale Road, Horsham,West Sussex.

RH2 2NW 01403 269 696 www.hepworthbrewery.co.uk

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.

September/October 2008

The Countryman Traditional country charm in a rural setting

Paul Noble - Head Chef/Owner

fresh seasonal local The Countryman is set in open countryside close to the small village of Shipley. Inside youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find it warm and cosy in the winter and light and airy in the summer. There are cask-conditioned ales and 40 wines from around the world as well as fresh ground coffee and a range of classic and herb teas. Free-range meat and vegetables from local farms make their appearance on the menu alongside fresh fish from Shoreham and Newhaven with local game in season.

New for the summer: Open air garden kitchen serving a range of ploughman lunches with home baked bread, various BBQ grills and freshly made sandwiches and snacks.

Table reservations: 01403 741383 COUNTRYMAN INN, SHIPLEY, WEST SUSSEX. RH13 8PZ Web: www.countrymanshipley.co.uk Email: countrymaninn@btopenworld.com ,ES 2OUTIERS $INING 0UB OF THE YEAR s .OMINATED FOR 5+46 ,OCAL &OOD (ERO 7ILLIAM 2EED 0UBLISHING "EST &OOD 0UB s !! PUB 'UIDE 0REMIER 0UB 2ESTAURANT

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Nobles Restaurant 17 High Street Battle 01424 774422 w w w. n o b l e s r e s t a u r a n t . c o . u k

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The Shepherd & Dog Relax in the countryside

The Laughing Fish A traditional country pub nestling at the foot of the South Downs in the picturesque village of Fulking.

I S F I E L D

Harveys, Old & Best, Dark Star, Hophead and various guest ales.

Outside you will find two terraces and a large garden with side-seating overlooking the freshwater spring which makes this a popular retreat on a warm summers day.

The Shepherd & Dogâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sunday Roasts have been voted in the Top Ten in the country by The Guardian Newspaper and last year voted as a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Hidden Gemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in Wine & Spirit Magazine.

Excellent choice of quality wines and at least six real ales including

Open all day for food from midday to 9pm (Except sundays close at 6pm).

The Shepherd & Dog

Andy & Linda invite you to join us at this friendly village pub providing great home-made food, real ales, and a warm welcome. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re easy to find â&#x20AC;&#x201D; just off the A26 between Lewes and Uckfield, right next door to the Lavender Line at Isfield station, and thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 ÂŁ2.00 off.

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

The Street, Fulking, West Sussex. BN5 9LU

01273 857382 Half way between A2037 (Upper Beeding) and A23 (Poynings)

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

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Barbecue

Licence to grill Recipes by Dominic McCartan.

Photography by Jean-Luc Brouard.

There’s something about a barbecue that makes even the most kitchenshy chap eager to man the coals. Our relationship with fire and food goes way back before the dawn of history and it’s clear that cooking on a naked flame holds a primeval appeal that thousands of years of civilisation have yet to dim. The important thing is to allow the initial flames to die down and cook on the glowing embers to avoid that burnt on the outside, raw on the inside effect that we all dread.

MACKEREL WITH LIME, CHILLI & CORIANDER Mackerel works very well on barbecues and should be really fresh. For the very best results, try catching your own.

Serves FOUR.

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4 whole mackerel, gutted and cleaned

1 large chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

2 tbsp coriander, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 limes, zest and juice Splash olive oil Salt & black pepper

September/October 2008

Put the mackerel on a chopping board and, with a sharp knife, diagonally score the fish on both sides.

In a small bowl, mix together the chilli, coriander, crushed garlic with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper and a slug of olive oil. Add the juice and zest of the limes.

Place the mackerel in a shallow dish and pour over the lime, chilli and coriander marinade and leave

in the fridge for two or three hours, turning occasionally.

Lightly brush the fish with a little olive oil and place on the hot grill.

Spoon some marinade over the fish and allow to cook for about five minutes before turning and basting some more.When the fish begins to flake, it’s cooked.

An alternative method is to wrap the fish in a parcel of foil with some of the marinade so that they steam rather than grill.

Barbecue

LAMB KOFTAS WITH HARISSA SAUCE I’ve made these koftas on skewers but they can just as easily be made into balls or patties.When using bamboo skewers, remember to soak them for an hour before using so they don’t burn. There are lots of recipes for harissa sauce but I think the carrot and beetroot in this version add a lovely touch of sweetness and a great splash of colour.

Serves SIX. For the koftas:

450g (1lb) shoulder of lamb, minced

75g (3oz) onion finely chopped

50g (2oz) breadcrumbs

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

½ lemon, juice Salt & black pepper Oil for frying For the Harrisa Sauce:

1 large red chilli skin, stalk and seeds removed

2 cloves garlic

1 bunch coriander, stalks and all, roughly chopped

½ lemon, juice

75g (3oz) beetroot, cooked

75g (3oz) carrot, peeled and roughly chopped 30ml (1fl oz) good quality olive oil

25g (1oz) sugar Salt & black pepper

HALLOUMI & VEGETABLE KEBABS Vegetarians often get short changed at barbecues but halloumi, a traditional Mediterranean sheeps’ cheese, is ideal for grilling.You can use whatever vegetables you fancy and I used halloumi from High Weald Dairy to make these delicious kebabs.

SERVES FOUR.

Fry the onion in a little oil until soft then add the garlic and cook for a further minute until the garlic smells fragrant. Add the ground cumin and cook for another minute. Allow to cool.

Put the minced lamb in a bowl with the onion, garlic and cumin, breadcrumbs, lemon juice, oregano and season with salt and pepper. Mix together by hand. If the mixture is too wet, add some more breadcrumbs to help bind it.

Chill for at least half an hour.

Shape some of the mixture around a pre-soaked bamboo

skewer or into balls or patties.

Chill until ready to cook and then place on a hot barbecue or in a grill pan.

To make the harissa sauce, put all the ingredients except the oil in a food processor and blitz to a smooth paste. Stir in the oil until you get a nice smooth consistency and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Put the sauce in a pan and cook gently for five minutes, adding more oil or a little water if it gets too dry. Serve as an accompaniment, hot or cold (I prefer cold).

250g (9oz) halloumi, diced

2 oranges, juice and zest

2 lemons, juice and zest 50ml (2fl oz) olive oil

1 tbsp mint, freshly chopped.

Selection of vegetables, cubed (eg. peppers, courgettes, aubergine, red onion, mushrooms, sweetcorn rounds) Olive oil Salt & pepper

Soak bamboo skewers in water for at least an hour.

Mix together the orange and lemon juice and zest, olive oil and mint and marinade the halloumi cubes for at least two hours.

Spear the vegetables and halloumi onto the skewers, brush with oil and season. Place on the barbecue and turn regularly.

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Barbecue

BUNNY BURGERS This is my version of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s innovative dish.They’ve become a great favourite at barbecues, especially when there are allotment holders among the guests.

MAKES AROUND FOUR BURGERS.

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280g (10oz) rabbit meat, coarsely minced

110g (4oz) pork sausages, skin removed

1 spring onion, finely chopped

2 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 tbsp sage leaves, chopped Salt & black pepper Oil

September/October 2008

Mix the rabbit meat, sausages, spring onion, mustard, sage and salt and pepper with your hands and chill in the fridge for around an hour.

Shape into burgers and chill until ready to cook.

Brush the burgers with a little oil and place on the hot barbecue or in a hot pan. How long they take to cook will depend on how thick you’ve made them.

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

Traditional quality food from a traditional quality Butchers

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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. 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.

• 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

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

Browns Quality Butchers

114 St. Geor ges Road Brighton Sussex

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

P&A Butchers 0708.indd 1

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.

Tel: 01273 682 611 www.bramptonsbutchers.co.uk

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CHANCTONBURY GAME 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.

“We source all our traditionally-reared hogs direct from local farms to guarantee high welfare standards and top quality meat. Good rearing and perfect cooking gives our whole or half hogs old-fashioned succulent flavour and perfect crackling every time.”

AVAILABLE FOR WEDDINGS & PARTIES

TEL: 01243 776849

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

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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)

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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

September/October 2008

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Barbecue

JACK DANIELS GLAZED CHICKEN This barbecue glaze, courtesy of Mark and Barbara from the award-winning Relish in Spice Company, gives a delicious, smokey flavour to meat or vegetables. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve used it on chicken here but feel free to experiment.

Serves FOUR.

4 chicken legs (cut into thighs and drumsticks)

For the Jack Daniels Glaze:

2 tbsp Jack Daniels

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp olive oil

2 drops Tabasco sauce Salt & black pepper

To make the glaze, mix all the ingredients together.

Brush over the chicken and cook on a medium to hot barbecue turning and basting frequently.To check if the chicken is cooked, pierce at the thickest part with a skewer and press. The chicken is cooked when the juices run clear.

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September/October 2008

Barbecue

BARBECUED BANANAS WITH CHOCOLATE Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s another great barbecued fruit dish. For adults, you can squirt a drop of rum in with the chocolate for an extra bit of warmth as the evening turns chilly.

Serves four.

FRUIT SKEWERS A guaranteed way to get children (and adults) to eat their fruit.

Serves four.

2 pears, cubed

2 peaches, cubed

2 nectarines, cubed

4 plums, cubed caster sugar to dust

Spear the fruit onto pre -soaked bamboo skewers, dust with sugar and grill on a hot barbecue until the fruit starts to caramelise.

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September/October 2008

4 bananas 50g (2oz) chocolate, buttons or chopped

With a sharp pointed knife make some incisions along one side of the bananas and insert the chocolate (and rum if you wish).

Place the bananas on the barbecue and cook until the skins go dark.

Serve on their own or with ice cream.

Camelia Botnar advert:Layout 1

EL M CA

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HOMES AND GARDENS CAMELIA BOTNAR BISTRO OPEN DAILY FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCHES, SNACKS, CAKES, TEAS & SUNDAY ROASTS

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.

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.

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.

For home-made, freshly prepared, quality food.

Open: Mon-Sat 9-5pm, Sun 10-4pm Littleworth Lane (off the A272), Cowfold (01403 864773) Email – sales@cameliabotnar.com www.cameliabotnar.com

#HERRY 'ARDENS /RGANIC &ARM 3HOP

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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16/6/08 13:22:09

British Best of

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for organic & biodynamic: fresh fruit & vegetables dairy, eggs & meat dried goods, juices and honey cakes & ice-cream PYO fruit & vegetables in season

Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am - 6pm Cherry Gardens Farm, Cherry Gardens Hill, Groombridge, TN3 9NY located on B2188 between Groombridge & Crowborough

info@cherrygardensfarm.co.uk 01892 862307

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Great for: �STIR FRIES �ROASTS �BAKING �DRESSINGS �MARINADES Contact: Priors Byne Farm, Bines Road, Partridge Green, West Sussex RH13 8EQ Tel: 01403 711956 www.sussexgold.co.uk

September/October 2008

Farmers’ Markets in Sussex East Sussex 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

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

Lewes

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

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

1st and 3rd Friday of every month, 9am-2pm, East St & North St Tel: 01243 785166

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

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

Midhurst

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

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.

Chichester

3rd Wednesday of every month, 9am-1pm, Jengers Mead Tel: 01403 215386

Horsham

Rye

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

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

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

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

Billingshurst

Hassocks

1st Saturday of every month, 9am-1pm, Cliffe Pedestrian Precinct Tel: 01273 470900

Guarantee your copy now with each issue delivered direct to you.

Order by post or online at www.eatsussex.co.uk

Arundel

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

Every Thursday 9am-2pm, High St Tel: 01932 788001

Heathfield

A subscription makes an all year round treat for yourself or a friend.

West Sussex

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, 9am-12.30pm, Village Hall Tel: 01403 700624

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

For full flavour and freshness buy your seasonal fruit locally Situated in the pictueresque village of Herstmonceux (just 12 miles from Eastbourne) we supply many farm shops, wholesale outlets and local business. Why not see us at most of the Farmers Markets throughout Sussex? s !SPARAGUS IN -AY s #HERRIES IN *ULY s 0LUMS $ISCOVERY !PPLES IN !UGUST s -ANY TRADITIONAL VARIETIES OF !PPLES AND 0EARS FROM 3EPTEMBER TO *ANUARY PLUS SEASONAL VARIETIES OF APPLE JUICE

Greenway Fruit Farm

For more details call us on 01323 833118 or 07843 576625 (mobile).

'REENWAY &RUIT &ARM 3TUNTS 'REEN (ERSTMONCEUX ". 00

September/October 2008 Greenway Fruit Farm 0908.indd 1

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Direct from the Farmer.

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.

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.

The Fairest Trade in Coffee.

No Pesticides, Herbicides or Fungicides 100% Arabica Coffee A smooth, great tasting coffee loaded with crema for all your speciality coffee drinks

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 29140-17x4-maws 30/5/08 17:06Fax: Page01825 1 Tel: 01825 791636

791641

www.highwealddairy.co.uk

High Weald Dairy QP 0508.indd 1

Rye Bay Coffee Co. 23 Robertson Street Hastings East Sussex TN34 1HL Telephone: 01424 202600 www.ryebaycoffee.co.uk

8/4/08 Rye 14:57:24 Bay Coffee 0908 QP.indd 1

14/8/08 11:56:05

www.mawsforfinefood.co.uk A COMPREHENSIVE FOOD WHOLESALER ABLE TO SUPPLY CHILLED,AMBIENT AND FROZEN PRODUCTS THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND FROM THEIR MULTI TEMPERATURE VEHICLES. As with almost everything in life, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and at Maws we offer a particularly tempting range for you to consider: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Game and specialist poultry Charcuterie, cured meats and sausages English and continental cheeses Butter, cream and crème fraiche Pates and Terrines Smoked meats and Fish Frozen fish and prawns Fresh market produce Fresh wild mushrooms Nuts, beans and pulses Olive oils, infused oils and truffle oils Herbs and spices Flour, sugar and basic dry stores Balsamic vinegars and flavoured vinegars Mustards, jellies, jams and sauces Oriental ingredients Patisserie ingredients, pastry cases, raw and frozen pastry products Frozen fruit, fruit purees, fruit fillings and natural fruit flavourings Chocolate, personalised chocolates and after dinner chocolates Frozen chips and vegetables

Tel: 01580 755390

W: www.suma.coop; T: 01422 313845; E: info@suma.coop; Ref: S/CT 1007 Suma - the ethical alternative to supermarket shopping.

September/October 2008

The Wild Side

Fergus Drennan Credit crunch crustaceans

O

ur coastline, seas

and inland waters are heaving with a wealth of underutilized or patently ignored yet nourishing, free and delicious wild foods. Sea foods, including seaweeds, are a great source of protein, vitamins and minerals, are relatively low in fat and possess unique textures and f lavours for gourmet experimentation,

so we’d be really hopping mad not to make more use of them. Speaking of hopping madness, and looking beyond the more obvious foragables of fish, shellfish, crabs and shrimps, I’d like to introduce a food requiring no particular skill to collect and, what’s more, can be harvested in large quantities at that most magical of hours — the still, quiet and peace of dusky

CARRAGEEN AND SAND HOPPER SAVOURY MOUSSE

50

I tend to use fresh carrageen most of the time, however in the following recipe the sand hopper flavour is quite subtle, as is the gentle orange coloration of the milk, so it’s best to use dried.

To prepare the seaweed in this way, wash it well in fresh water, shake off the excess and lay spread out on sheets in the sun. Once dry, wash again and repeat the drying process. Do this three or four times over a number of days until the seaweed is completely white and dry (it can be purchased in this form from health food shops.).

September/October 2008

twilight. I recommend that you give sand hoppers a try; they’re credit-crunchingly cheap — free, in fact, and are fun and easy to harvest.

Sand hoppers are small (1825mm), shr imp-flavoured crustaceans — amphipods of the Talitridae family. They live above the high water mark amongst and beneath strandline debris on both sand and shingle beaches.

They gained entry into my wild food repertoire for several reasons.

One of my favourite dishes is oriental-style seaweed and jelly ear soup made with a spoonful of those delicious, tiny dried shrimps that can be purchased at Chinese supermarkets. For several years I’d been looking for a local equivalent. One evening, collecting seaweed on a low tide just after dusk, I was astonished to witness a vast seething mass of sand hoppers that appeared to make the sand come alive. A few weeks later, whilst on the beach heating up some oil to cook deep-fried seaweed, a few hopped in and fried instantly.They tasted delicious, just like prawn crackers — my Chinese shrimp substitute had been found!

How to harvest sand hoppers Most active at night, sand hoppers are best harvested after sunset

when the tide is going out.Take two very large plastic tubs (with lids) and a giant sieve down to the intermediate seaweed strand line — sandy beaches are best as this is the favoured habitat of our largest supralittoral sand hopper,Talitrus saltator. Here the clumps of seaweed are neither too wet nor too dry and are teeming with sand hoppers.With one tub half-filled with sea water sneak up on the seaweed clumps.

Sand hoppers start dispersing in all directions once they know you’re on the scene so speed is of the essence. Grab a large handful of seaweed then dunk and shake it in the tub of water.

Drag the tub to the next clump of seaweed and repeat moving along the beach. Like this, it’s possible to harvest two kilos in half an hour. Next, sieve the sand hoppers into the other tub (you really need at least two people to do this). Keep filling up with fresh seawater and sieving until you are just left with seawater teaming with sand hoppers. Deep fried, there and then, is one of the tastiest ways to eat them. Boiled, they look and taste lovely but are somewhat chewy due to the thin shell — which is too fiddly to remove. Other than deep frying, here’s a recipe for my favourite way to use them. n

INGREDIENTS

10g (½oz) dried carrageen 600ml (1pt) milk 500g 18oz) sand hoppers

1 egg white Sea salt & pepper

As Mrs. Beeton might have said, first catch your sand hoppers.

Place the live sand hoppers in a pan with enough boiling water to just cover them. Boil for about two minutes or until they have all turned orange. Pour in about a pint of milk and bring this to the boil. Tip the milk and sand hoppers into a liquidizer and blitz for a minute.When it’s sufficiently cool to do so, strain off the milk.

Next, soak the carrageen in water for 15 minutes. Transfer

to a saucepan together with the sand hopper-flavoured milk, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 20 minutes, at which point the milk should be fairly thick. Strain through a fine sieve. Beat the egg white until it’s stiff and fold into the milk mixture. Spoon this into a greased, lined mold. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before turning out and serve accompanied by shallow-fried sea lettuce or deepfried dulse.

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