Taste of the Teign Food and Drink Festival 25 September - 1 October 2017

South Devon’s third year of the most exciting celebrations of local produce is Taste of the Teign Food and Drink Festival. 

This festival puts produce that’s been picked and reared in the surrounding fields, caught in local waters or harvested from the hedges firmly at the heart of this food and drink celebration.

This is held in Teignmouth, Shaldon and Bishopsteignton.  This year it will be held Monday 25 September - Sunday 1 Oct.  Over the course of the festival many  events will take place; each one using locally sourced produce as the centrepiece for culinary creativity - it is usually a combination of demos, workshops and other events like cream teas; sausage tasting; a food quiz and tours of local food producers

For more information on the festival visit: http://facebook.com/tasteoftheteign 

It's such a good festival with lots to see and do and I think this year they have permission to host events on the Den, Teignmouth on the Saturday and Sunday.

See you there!

Devilishly Devon Cake Fest - 666 Slices in One Evening

On Thursday 26 January, I attended the inaugural meeting of the Devon branch of the Clandestine Cake Club.  Two bakers had to cancel at the last minute (we missed tasting your Black Forest gateau, Kirsty from Kirsty’s Kitchen.)

Jan Billington from Maddocks Organics kindly lent us the use of her stunning holiday cottage, The Hayloft, near Cullompton.  It has six bedrooms, a huge living space and would be perfect for two families wishing to holiday in Devon together.  The kitchen area with its huge refectory table and granite island were perfect for displaying and sampling our baked wares.

The theme was Devilishly Devon which was a great excuse to make some gratuitously unhealthy cakes.  This was my Devonshire Clotted Cream Cake (it had 225g clotted cream whisked inside, instead of butter):

 Joyce, a farmer by trade, from Pitman’s Farm had made a beautiful layered strawberry cake – some layers were sponge, some meringue and it was chocka with cream, almonds and strawberries:

Marcus, aka Country Wood Smoke, provided a ‘starter’ of his own cold smoked salmon slices (smelling deliciously and subtly of beech chippings)  atop a fresh rustic loaf, made with half white flour and half Einkorn flour (sold by Dove’s Farm).

His cake was my personal favourite, a Smoked Chilli Chocolate Cake.  The sponge had a crumbled smoked chilli baked into it – it was very subtle and there was only a small residual warmth, the chocolate ganache on top was made using smoked butter.  The combination was breathtaking and had a real depth of flavour.

Karen, who blogs here had made a delicious Devonshire Honey Cake with Lemon Frosting.  The zesty, crisp icing was a great contrast to the soothing honey sponge underneath.

Jan, our hostess, needlessly apologised for her Snakebite Chocolate Cupcakes.  They were awesome and had a decadent squidgy chocolate centre.  She very cleverly incorporated Devon produce: local cider in the icing, Otter Ale in the cake batter.  They were a surprising hit with my kids and Jan’s daughter seemed to enjoy them too!

James, the only non-blogger there, had made an alluring Sticky Love Cake.  This cake was studded with cashew nuts and had a really attractive sprinkling of rose petals on top.  It was spiced, unusual and more-ish (Moorish?)

After what felt like 666 slices of cake (OK, only six actually) plus the bread and smoked salmon and small glass of red wine, I felt unbelievably full up - we did honestly only have very small wafer-thin slices of each, plus I'd had no dinner - I thought my staying power was better than that.  The great thing about the Clandestine Cake Club is that the cakes get divided up at the end and you get to take them home, so the pleasure continues for days....well, ahem, until the next day mid-morning-ish....

Two 11 Year Olds Play with the Hummingbird Cafe Cookbook

My 11 year old daughter and her friend wanted to make something from the Hummingbird Cafe Cookbook.  We had all the ingredients for the raspberry cheesecake brownies.  Including wonderful local, Devon raspberries from our local farm, Shute Fruit.  I was getting our house ready for some guests who were coming to stay, so just let them get on with it in the kitchen.  I was rather impressed when two hours later (including a bit of refrigeration time), they presented me with the finished product:

The recipe is fairly simple, but does involve three layers so I was impressed.  The chocolate brownie and vanilla cheesecake layers are baked together in the oven and then when cool, smothered with pink creamy muck muck.

I made it again today as a treat for my daughter as she started Secondary School today.  It's simple and very fattening, but delicious.  I recommend halving the quantities if you just want to feed 4-6 people.  The original version is enormous and serves 12.  Also, where the recipe says to beat the cream, sugar and raspberries together for the wonderful pink shaving foam topping, it's best to whip the cream lightly, then add the sugar and raspberries, otherwise the mixture won't thicken.

I've never been lucky enough to visit the actual Hummingbird Cafe in London, but we've made a couple of things from the cookbook - other notable favourites are: the vanilla cupcakes, and the double chocolate chip cookies

Making Strawberry Jam is Easy with the River Cottage Preserves Book by Pam Corbin

We picked a couple of kilos of strawberries at Netherton on the banks of the River Teign in Devon.  Their soft fruit season has been early this year and due to financial pressures, they're closing their Pick Your Own at the end of the season, which could be within a fortnight -so hurry to get your strawberries, tayberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants.

It took four of us about half an hour to pick this lot - I think it was roughly 2kg strawbs and 1kg raspberries and it came to just under £20.

I used my regular River Cottage Preserves book by Pam Corbin (£8.99 from Amazon).  A simple to follow recipe, with a few tried and tested tips e.g. plenty of lemon juice added to the strawberry jam and use of jam sugar (with added pectin to help it set).

I was tired, it was sunny and I wasn't really in the mood for a long-winded jam making session but Pam insisted that fresh fruit are essential.  So I started at 9pm when it got a bit cooler in my sun-baked kitchen.  By 10:30pm I had finished a whole batch of strawberry jam - about 10 jars and a more modest 3 jars of raspberry jam.

Stage 1: just in the pan

Stage 2: bringing to the boil

Stage 3: almost on the boil, starting to break up

Stage 4: Scary hot sugar rolling boil that unexpectedly rises up the pan at an alarming rate - help!

This batch should see us through the year to go with our breakfast scones and toast. I thoroughly recommend 'Pam the Jam's' no-nonsense approach to preserving.  She got me hooked into it (even when over-tired, hot and bothered and not really in the mood.)

Sticky Pecan Big Buns from Cornwall - Hope's Bread

These are worthy of a blog post all to themselves.  I'm not supposed to eat nuts, so I picked them all off and passed them to my other half, so used my imagination to add them to the overall delight of these sticky, enormous, calorific, doughy wonderful delicacies.  Bearing no real resemblance to a French Pain aux Raisins, these little beauties have soft sticky thick toffee sandwiching the soft spiral together and then slightly harder, more toffee-apple crunchy bits in places.  £1 - total bargain - these are big buns! No wonder I put on weight when I visit Cornwall!

We were lucky enough to be in Cornwall at the right time for the Gweek Food and Craft Fair at Easter.  They seem to have one at Easter and one over the August Bank Holiday.  Next one is Bank Holiday Monday 29 August  2011.

 The village hall where it is held may be small, but it's packed with fantastic local food producers like Sargies (puds, meringues and lemon curd); Treveador Farm Dairy, producers of Helford White, possibly my favourite cheese in the world;  and the wonderful Hope's Bread.  Hope's produce can be found at most West Cornwall Farmer's Markets during the week and at other special events - see the website  Here's the lovely Hope of Hope's Bread who makes the splendid sticky cinnamon buns....oh and just a few different types of bread (the lavender and honey bread is yummy as toast, and the olive focaccia was the perfect accompaniment to lunch outside in the sun with a glass of wine):

All the producers were located within a few miles of Gweek, a small creekside village famous for its Seal Sanctuary (Top Tip: Use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to pay for entry fees) and near the town of Helston.  See you there on August Bank Holiday!

Real Food Store, Exeter - Opening 30 March

It's about half an hour away from me, so not entirely local, but I'm very excited on behalf of the residents of Exeter for the opening of this new food emporium next Wednesday (30 March) at 8am.  I even like the early opening time, proving it's a proper bakery!  They'll have an in-house bakery run by Emma's Bread, a cafe and a shop selling plenty of fresh, locally-sourced, organic and ethical food and drink.

It's a community-based scheme that originated from a group of motivated Transition Exeter individuals who wanted an ethical, community-focused food hub.  It was funded by selling community shares.  There'll even be a community meeting space.

I can't wait to visit - I might even try to get there for the opening day on Wednesday when there's bound to be a bit of a buzz.  Congratulations to them for getting this off the ground!

It's in Paris St, near the Bus Station at the Princesshay end of town.

www.realfoodexter.co.uk 

Gingerbread House - From Flat Pack to Luxury Home

We bought a 'flat-pack' gingerbread house from Lori at Shute Fruit (appearing at a Farmers' Market in Devon near you) for a very reasonable £4.  This included a recipe for Royal Icing and a few guidance tips on assembly. This was far easier (and less swearing) than IKEA furniture.  We made sure the icing was pretty sticky and not too drippy and held each wall in place for a few minutes, even though we were extremely eager to get on with the sweet decoration.

We were pretty pleased with the results - this was a joint effort with my 9 and 11 year old kids.

 This one was from 2007, and although adorable, you can see that we weren't master builders at that stage:

I can't resist one more picture of the 2010 effort.  11 year old daughter made the additional gingerbread tree and reindeer.  Sweets from various sweet shops - wish we still had Woolworths Pick and Mix!

New Teignmouth Cafe - twentysix

We mourned the loss of the Michaelmas Goose cafe in Teignmouth - we loved the Goose's relaxed, bustling vibe with super-cheery waitresses and a couple of sofas and magazines - you felt you could go there on your own and just chill and eat cake.  It closed down in the summer and we now have twentysix in its place.  I am a little cynical about calling a place by a word-number - it's not too snappy and people don't automatically know what you're talking about.  As this is owned and run by a really good chef, Denise Tarriela, I would have preferred it to be called something more personal and showing its high quality home-cooking credentials.  It's also hard to find on the internet - this is their website, but I had to go via Tripadvisor to find it.

That is all the negative stuff I have to say!  
What a lovely place and what attention to detail.  My tea (pear and caramel tea - sounds weird but tasted delicious) arrived with an egg timer and a request to let it brew for three minutes.  I love that kind of gimmick.  The two of us ordered 'Croques' - his was pear and blue cheese on granary bread and mine was brie, crispy bacon with fig relish on white topped with aged Gruyere.  Both were £6.95 which sounds a little high for a sandwich (especially in Teignmouth), but they were full of excellent quality ingredients and presented well with a delicious green salad dressed with lemon oil, proper crisps and aioli.  I enjoyed every mouthful and can highly recommend a visit.  


I gawped at the cakes but didn't have time for one - they are all homemade and look quite incredible - definitely posh restaurant standard and a little bit different: New York baked cheesecake, a beautiful iced blueberry cake and Valrhona chocolate brownies plus the amazing pear, pistachio and creme anglaise cake - I want one of those!

They are open 9-5:30 every day, plus they serve evening meals as special bookable events at weekends - the cafe is holding New Orleans Cuisine and Jazz evenings this weekend )19-21 Nov with delicious items such as Drunken Prawns with Cajun Butter Sauce, Blackened Fillet of Marlin and Chocolate Pecan Pie.  There is also a Thanksgiving meal on 25 Nov, a Local Game evening on 27th Nov and Christmas events too.

Dartmouth Food Festival - Foodie Heaven

Dartmouth Food Festival was held over the 20th - 24th October. I helped out for a couple of hours, manning an information stall with the lovely Susie Bennett,
 

Susie runs an amazing B and B overlooking Dartmouth in Kingswear:
 
http://www.brightwaterhouse.co.uk/
 
She's a charming, funny person and, by the sound of it, her organic breakfasts are out of the world and her house has views 'to die for'.  This is a smart (and really good value) place to stay when visiting Dartmouth.  I look forward to staying there some time.
 
Our information stand was cunningly placed next to Devonshire Teas who obligingly provided a sample of their wares.  They've been operating since last June and have a huge Twitter presence so it was good to meet them in person.  The tea was refreshing, well-balanced with a good flavour and perked me up on a cold October morning on Dartmouth Embankment.  The tea isn't grown locally, but they've created a 'Devonshire' blend that is perfect to drink whilst in Devon with scones.
 

 
 
I pottered around tasting some fantastically fresh crab and then ended up tasting salt at one my favourite food producers, Cornish Sea Salt.  They've branched out into flavoured salts (Smoked, Chilli, Onion, Garlic and Pepper) - my favourite being the smoked one.  He's a jolly nice chap!
 

 
The Luscombe girls were having a good time and I enjoyed their Lime Crush - it had a good kick and not too sweet (as I think some of their drinks like their raspberry lemonade are).
 

 
There were loads of top notch food demos going on. 
 
I watched Miranda Gardiner, author of Teaching Dad to Cook Flapjack, making crabcakes and I tasted them at the end.  She seemed a bit nervous, but she needn't have been as her style and cooking are inspiring and natural and the finished product was yummy.  I picked up her book, it looked wonderful (she takes her own photos too), but I'm trying really hard to buy no more cookery books as I have enough to last me a lifetime.  
 

 
 
 Mitch Tonks, now a prominent Dartmouth restauranteur  (I remember him refusing to open some oysters for me in his Bath fish shop, this has coloured my opinion of him!) was promoting his book, the sound quality was pretty bad on the PA system, so I didn't linger but hurried over the road, round the corner, behind the church, to the unpreposessing Flavel Centre.  My one (major) criticism of the Dartmouth Food Festival was that if you're going to spread out over several venues, please advertise the fact and provide plenty of signage.  For me, all the best local food producers were in  here and there were barely any punters to be seen!
 

 
 
One of my highlights in The Flavel Centre was Lahloo Tea:
 
Kate is passionate about working with small tea producers and creating the perfect blend.  She's based in Bristol and her products are classy and tasty too.  She mentioned that they're gracing the shelves of some high end upmarket retailers and restaurants - I can see why.  Enjoyed chatting to Kate and bought a set of heart shaped tins containing tea, a Tea Tasting Kit for £7,  all for me me me.  Treat.  The two teas I've tried so far have been great.
 

 
 
 
These were the divine homemade custard creams she was selling:
 

 
 
Next door to Kate was the Totnes-based Bean and Pod - what an awesome display of handmade goodies.  These are chocolates with a difference (Choclette, take note!).  Raw cocoa used (I think I have this right) from a small cocoa farm, sweetened with dates (no refined sugar) and studded with beautiful flowers.  Loved chatting to Lu and think she's doing something really different.
 

 
 
A close-up of one of the beauts:
 

 
 
And from Red Earth Kitchen (based in Kingsbridge) I bought a thick slice of delectable quiche chocka with butternut squash, gorgonzola and sage.  Delicious flavour combination and a very satisfying, good value lunch
 

 
 
Dartmouth Food Festival was a free event and had a lovely atmosphere.  The Exeter one is bigger, better and you have to pay to get in.  This one suited Dartmouth and it was great to meet some new local food producers.
 
 

Devon Apple Cake - Award Winning Recipe

This is a regular autumnal warmer in our house that is dead simple to make and uses up at least one or two of your surplus cooking apples at this time of year.  I won second prize with this cake in the local Village Show in early September.  Yes, I forgot to take a picture of it when it was whole - too eager to eat it.  It's a basic sponge cake and then has a lovely crumbly sugar and cinnamon topping.

Ingredients:

225g cooking apples (peeled, cored and chopped any size)
juice of half a lemon
225g plain flour
7.5ml baking powder
115g butter
165g sugar - I've used caster, soft light or dark brown - all good
1 beaten egg
30-45ml milk
2.5ml ground cinnamon

1 - Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Grease and line an 18cm round cake tin. **

2 - Toss the apple with the lemon juice and set aside.  Sift flour and baking powder then rub in butter until it resembles breadcrumbs (I throw this in the food processor)

3 -  Stir in 115g of the brown sugar (keeping 50g aside), the apple and egg and mix well adding enough milk to form a soft dropping consistency.

4 - Transfer batter to tin.  Mix the remaining 50g sugar with cinnamon - sprinkle this over the cake mixture.  Bake for 45- 50 mins until golden.  Leave to cool for 10 mins in the tin before transferring to wire rack and your mouth.

**I love these Lakeland cake tin liners for lining tins:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/baking-parchment-cake-tin-liners/F/keyword/cake+liners/product/5550_5551

Freeze Garden Herbs Now!

It's time to freeze our green herbs - this is our tea tray covered in a veritable mountain of flat leaf parsley from the garden.  I consulted my herb book which says that green herbs such as parsley, chives, basil, dill and coriander can all be frozen directly in freezer bags without any preparation like blanching or chopping.  Ideal.

I'm aware that frosts are around the corner so these herbs have a death sentence on them at the moment.  So quick, if you have any lovely, lush green herbs in your window box / veg patch, get them in the freezer for use over the cooler months.

My book recommends to freeze them in small batches in freezer bags and then place them in a larger box to prevent crushing.  It'll be interesting to see how intact they are when I use them from frozen, or whether they go khaki and mushy.

Foraging for Free Food - The Joys of the Hedgerow

Whilst walking on part of the South West Coastal Path last week we came along a stretch near Dawlish that had a mass of hedgerow berries.  After the walk I consulted the fantastic River Cottage 'Preserves' book and decided to take the family foraging for some free food one warm Sunday afternoon.

For hedgerow jelly, you need a combination of blackberries, crab apples (or cooking apples), haws (from hawthorn), elderberries, rosehips (from wild roses),

sloes (look like hard blueberries with a bit of a bloom on them) and bullaces (a kind of wild plum.) It was a very social occasion as every passer by wanted to know what we were collecting and what we were going to use them for.  Several people turned out to be a mine of information about making sloe gin - seems to interest folks more than the hedgerow jelly....

On a quarter mile stretch of path, we found all that we needed (no bullaces - shame) and filled our pots. The children were fine about the blackberries and apples, but were seriously worried about the potentially poisonous rosehips, haws and sloes.  

I have to say that my natural inclination is that they are possibly inedible unless cooked to a high temperature - but people have been making rosehip cordial, sloe gin and other autumnal treats for years - I think it's part of that worrying tendency that we have in modern days to assume that plasticised shrink-wrapped supermarket food is 'good' for us, whereas there might be something wrong with the real thing that's growing on trees and bushes right under our noses.

Back at home I put 225g sloe berries in the freezer - to be turned into sloe gin or vodka at a later stage - apparently the berries work much more effectively after the first frost - or to improvise, you can just bung them in the freezer for as long as you want before use.

So onto the serious job of Hedgerow Jelly.  I used:
180g sloe,
75g elderberries,
160g rosehips,
90g haw berries
500g blackberries
1kg cooking apples.

I put them in a pan with a 1.2 litres of water and simmered them until tender.

We then rigged up a rather dodgy looking muslin cloth on upturned stool to allow the cooked fruit to drip through.  The following day, I measured the deep purple liquid and added 450g granulated sugar per 600ml liquid and boil it up together until it reaches setting point.....

So far so good...only the blinking jelly didn't set.  So, I emptied it all back in to the pan, washed the jam jars again, sterilised them again  and boiled it all again in a big pan until my thermometer read a definite 105 degrees - allegedly the 'setting point' for jams and jellies.  Doing this whole procedure once is enjoyable - the second time I was cursing.

The jelly still hasn't set; however the thick gloopy liquid is delicious, similar to blackberry and apple but with a more intense berry-ish flavour.  It spreads wonderfully on toast and is really good on vanilla ice cream.

I would love to know if anyone knows about the toxic qualities of haws, sloes and hips and also any advice on how to get jellies to set....

This blog post has been entered in the Simple and in Season Blogging Event: http://www.renbehan.com/2011/09/simple-and-in-season-september-blogging-event.html