Time for a New menu

NEW MENU

Well, with my restaurant head on this is always the best of fun, we always look to create not only some new dishes for everyone to try but also something interesting to produce.  As always the same important rules must apply, which are:

 Local, Natural, Artisan & Sustainable

 So with this in mind, we all make coffee and group up to bounce some ideas around, historically this works best when we come up with ideas before the way to cook it – which can lead to some culinary faux pas!

After some considerable discussion and a bottle of wholesome red ( we needed more creativity and this normally works just fine) we came up with the following  

Starters

·         Homemade Air Dried Ham - just like the Italians make – from our own pigs cured & air dried. Served with a green apple and loose leaf salad, dressed with a balsamic & desert wine vinaigrette.

·         Carrot and Red Pepper Soup - finished with chunky wholemeal croutons, a great soup with fresh warm farmhouse bread.

·         Local Wild Rabbit Terrine - a homemade coarse grain terrine, served with an apple brandy chutney and a simple salad.

·         Smoked Chicken Salad - fresh from the smoker, with AgA dried tomatoes, a warm mixed salad with a smoked paprika dressing.

For Middles

·         Farmhouse Mutton Stew - Our own mutton, slow cooked in the AgA, a real family favourite served with some of Rachael’s minted dumplings, extra mint jelly always available.

·         Wheddon Pork - Loins bursting with apples and filled with melted local cheddar and a Somerset sauce of apples and cream.

·         Chicken and Stilton - chicken breast wrapped in our own bacon, oven baked served in a classic light cream and stilton sauce.

·         Fish Pie - individual creamy mixed fish in a soft white sauce under a blanket of fresh mash.

·         A Mixed Nut Roast - with fresh herbs and a little garlic served with a sweet tomato sauce.

The Finishing post

·         Homemade Meringues - with local clotted cream, fresh fruit and a swizzle of fruit coulis.

·         Rachael’s Dark Chocolate Ice Cream - served in a chocolate nest with a splash of chocky liqueur.

·         Sticky Toffee Pudding - A classic sticky pudding with our own toffee butterscotch sauce.

·         Summer Fruits in a boozy Pimms jelly served with lots of cream.  

North Wheddon Farm: Time for shearing

North Wheddon Farm: Time for shearing: Time for shearing   Well, its finally June and the sun is starting to shine, more often than not…even up on the moors!   Which means it...

Time for shearing

Time for shearing

 Well, its finally June and the sun is starting to shine, more often than not…even up on the moors!   Which means it time to start thinking about sheep shearing – which to any normal person (by normal I mean the majority of the population that live in places which they see more people than sheep on a daily basis) – would think its a simple job, we’ve  all seen those pictures on the telly of the farmy men & women doing their stuff and in a matter of minutes a duly trimmed and neatly fleeced sheep is produced.

 This is not quite how it happens in the real world!

The planning stage - first the sheep have to be dry  & clean, by clean I mean  sheep have two ends of business front and back.  The latter has to be cleaned which normally means it has to be what they call in the trade ‘ docked’  in  simple salon terms -  a Brazilian for sheep .

Once completed,  albeit with a bit of antiseptic  spray for the ones that wriggled at the wrong time the sheep are ready to go  to the next stage,

Ok for anyone who the nearest they’ve come to a sheep is a woolly jumper at M&S, it worth pointing out that an average sized sheep is around 40 – 50 Kilos with one singled mind thought which is to get away from you and the electric clippers in your hand.   My farmer friend who acts as our agricultural consultant – every wannabe  farmer has one,  his words ringing in my ears ‘don’t leave them any wriggle room  if they thinks they can make a break for it they will’

 So I pick out a ewe from the 50 or so sheep I am standing in and sit it on its bum and away we go, by the time I finished, we have something that looks more like a poodle than a sheep, and as for the fleece well let’s just say it looks more like moth eaten rag.  They should come off in one tidy piece you know!

With a bit more experience it does get easier, and with help of someone kind that has been shearing for years I am becoming better, he know does most  of them as I stand back to watch for learning  purposes you see, stepping in  to do the odd one here and there.  I roll up all the fleeces and bundle  them in a big bag, sweep up between sheep and generally be a lackey helper.

It is hot and sweaty work truly back breaking stuff, it  generally takes most of day start to finish and by the end I need to make a decision to go for Radox or beer  or maybe both at the same time, not sure the wife will let me get anyway with that though!

So the next time you think about that woolly jumper, spare a thought how it all  happens sustainable for sure just not for my back!!!!! J

The veg patch

 

The veg patch!

Why is it that 3 such words, strike the fear god in any wannabe veg grower with the man (or woman not to genderist) against nature apocalypse that seems to just be around the every corner.

Always thinking & hoping that next year will be the one when the balance of power shifts to your side!

I started this year with just such a positive feeling,  that this was the year when I would concur and this veg patch would be tamed a gladiatorial battle with spade and rake  in hand ……

I weeded, raked, planted & sowed in a fevered commitment that any motivation coach would have been proud of.  I waited, it was the beginning of the year a  time when everything is waiting in the starting blocks for spring to start, with very little rain and  lots of sun, still things didn’t really get going.  I tended well during this time and felt quietly confident that my mission was on course ……

Then the rain came & lots of it for days at a time,  our sheep started to lamb, this year’s lambing went on for 6 weeks (another story about a lazy ram to come).  Time wise lambing is an all-consuming adventure in itself, this being so, I turned my back on our patch and tended our small flock .

During this time the balance of power shifted and my little patch of home grown delights with its well tendered borders, and neat lines of promise turned into war torn trenches, now it looks more like an Amazonian forest and in no way resembles any sort of  horticultural achievement

Aw well there’s always next year!    

Time to make some more smoked salmon!

Time for some more smoked salmon!

 As we all know there is good smoked salmon and there is some really ropey stuff around, well we make our own and its surprisingly easy to do. Lots of our guests have commented on how special it is and I am always telling everyone that its really easy to make, so I thought it was time to blog all about it.  That way you can just get on and try it out.   It’s  great fun and very rewarding so go on, have a go!!

 First, you will need a side of salmon, try and find a good fishmonger as ideally you don’t want farmed, but don’t worry if all else  fails swing  into your  local Morrison’s their fresh fish is pretty good  ask the deli guy to take out the pin bones though to make life easier for yourself.

When you get home put the side of Salmon on a plastic board, skin side down,  don’t use anything metallic as this woud react with the salt and you’d end up with a rusty piece of fish – not wholesome!

 Cover the open side with freshly ground pepper you can be quite liberal give it a good covering using a pepper mill of course, then make up the cure,  100g of table salt & 100g of caster sugar.  Mix together well and spread it all over making sure all the flesh is coated. Wrap up in cling film lots of it, (it is worth using a catering size it’s wider)  then bang another chopping board on top and put it all in a tray (good to catch the drips ).  Pop it into the fridge and then put something heavy on top – like a brick  leave alone for 5 days , then unwrap wash the cure off and pat the side down with some kitchen roll,  the ground pepper can stay and will stay on

Then pop it in a smoker for about 4 hours, if you don’t have a smoker yet check out the blog post on how to make yourself a home smoker .

Cutting the smoked salmon can been a little daunting, I would suggest the easy way is to cut the fillets as in the picture you’ll  need your sharpest knife – if you get into trouble no worries just cut the slices a little thicker,  this will easily keep in a fridge for 7 to 10 days .   If you prefer just slice the whole thing  and portion up say a couple of slices wrapped in cling film and store in the freezer until you  fancy it, it will only take a few minutes to defrost  and will be good and tasty for at least a month.

 You’ll never buy the shop smoked stuff ever again!

New menu time at North Wheddon

Spring is now well and truly upon us, and summer is in sight.  I am increasingly thinking it’s time to redo our menu.  Late Spring / early summer is such a great time for food and ingredients.   But what to try out?  Let me explain, we try as much as possible to make, grow and produce our own dishes,  so we need to plan ahead to either to produce or raise the livestock.  The Geese are ready which is a great, we are thinking of trying out  a smoked goose breast,  with loose leaf salad and an AGA dried tomato dressing  - we will be trying this out in the next week or two.  We’ve got some pheasants left from the end of the shooting season which we are going to casserole with our own homemade lardons of smoked bacon, shallots and root vegetables slow cooked in the oven finished with some very good wine from our wine list, Im thinking of probably using a new world wine.

Our coq au vin is always a winner, it’s easily as good as its French counterpart but English!  These birds will soon be ready.  And of course our own fat lambs will be ready although I do prefer mutton for a fuller flavour but spring lamb always has a place when in season with rosemary & mint jelly.  As for fish, well we only live 10 miles from the coast so always best to check with the lads to see what’s about – last time we ended up with 40 odd fresh mackerel – which we cured , smoked and turned into a hot smoked mackerel pate served  with a horseradish toast .   The poultry laying has started to take off after the winter downturn,  so we’ve plenty of chicken and duck eggs to choose from,  which means homemade meringues are a winner!

Rache & I will always try out our new menu  idea’s which although it not good for the waistline, its a hardship we can just about bear!  

The Seasons

The Seasons

Never used to pay very much attention to the seasons, never had to - things just seemed to keep coming round, time was about meetings, deadlines,  projects  and schedules- with little or no time to spare always working at breakneck speed to just keep bobbing along.

Things couldn’t be more different now, sure there’s  lots to do, but there’s more time to do it and the pace is slower. Everything has its own pace which for the most part cannot be hurried. A new born lamb trying to suckle requiring a little help won’t be told  you’ve got a busy day and telling your prize pig that you’ve only got 15 minutes to move her into a new field just doesn’t work!  Things just take as long as they take and that’s the way it is.

 Seasonality is of course now very important to us – whether its planning newly born animals, planting in the veg patch or updating our menus with some of Somerset’s local larder.  We do still watch the time of course but more waiting & planning for the seasons rather than the minutes, hours & days.