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!