Food & Drink

With KATY BEAUCHAMP

It’s all Greek to me

A recent holiday to a Greek island has provided the inspiration for this month’s recipes. The pastitsio I tasted there was delicious; it’s quite like a lasagne, but much lighter and uses different flavourings. There’s no starter this month, instead a suggestion for a side dish which works with just about any main course.

PASTITSIO

INGREDIENTS

(Serves five) 500g minced beef Small diced onion Heaped tsp each of: mixed herbs, cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic 400g tin chopped tomatoes 1 tbs tomato purée 150g Fusillata pasta (or any tubeshaped pasta) 50g butter 50g plain flour 100g Cheddar cheese (or Greek if you can find some!) 100g crumbled feta 1 egg (separated)

METHOD Make the bolognese. I used these quantities of meat, onions, tomatoes, puree and herbs. Simmer until very thick then set aside. Make a white sauce by whisking the butter into the flour and then add the milk, stir in the cheese and season well, I put more nutmeg in my sauce, then leave to cool. Cook the pasta according to the instructions.

To assemble

Stir the egg white and feta through the pasta and lay it in an ovenproof dish, trying to get the pasta tubes to lay the same way. Spread the meat mixture on top, and then beat the egg yolk into the cheese sauce and pour over the top. Bake in the oven at 160°C until heated through (20 mins). Leave to cool and firm up before serving as the layers will be more distinctive! Serve with a Greek salad (recipe in last month’s issue).

Pastitsio: perfect with a Greek salad

COURGETTE & CHEESE PUDDINGS GYPSY TART

An easy but tasty side dish using this season’s courgettes

INGREDIENTS

(Makes 12 puddings) 2/3 thinly sliced courgettes 1 thinly sliced onion 150ml milk 2 eggs 75g flour 100 gms grated cheddar cheese 6 cherry tomatoes

METHOD Gently fry the courgettes and onions until soft, season and set aside. Mix up the batter by whisking together the milk, eggs and flour. Stir in half the cheese.

Oil a muffin tray and stack the courgettes up in a pile into each well, pour over the batter, sprinkle on the remaining cheese and decorate with a half tomato cut side up.

Bake in an oven at 180°C for 20mins until puffed up and golden. Serve as a side to any main dish. I always thought this dish was a myth, not a real thing, so when I came across a recipe I had to try it! And it was delicious! Don’t overcook it though, as it can go a bit grainy. This makes two tarts using ready-cooked ones from a shop, or you could make your own pastry and make one big one.

METHOD Whisk together the sugar, milk and salt, preferably using an electric whisk, otherwise you’ll have a sore arm! After about ten mins it should be light and creamy. Pour it on to the pastry bases and bake for 12 mins at 160°C until just firm. Serve with some tangy berries and yoghurt.

Not a myth, but magical –

Gypsy Tart

INGREDIENTS (Serves 10) 2 x 20cm ready-cooked tart cases 400ml tin evaporated milk 500gms dark brown muscovado sugar Tsp salt

Celebrating a decade of Somerset’s finest produce

OCTOBER will see the tenth anniversary of Wells Food Festival and there’s loads on the menu to celebrate this milestone for all the family to enjoy.

The festival, on Sunday, October 9th (10.30am-4.30pm) once again offers free entry to visitors. The artisan market will once again take centre stage with 200 stalls stretching from the Market Square, along the Palace Moat and into the Recreation Ground.

Over the last decade, this key element of the festival has provided a fascinating insight into the trends and developments that have shaped the food and drink landscape, from plant-based foods to the gin explosion. Festival director, Jon Abbott, said: “But we are also so appreciative of the producers who have been with us from the very beginning.”

The marquee celebrating English wine is returning for 2022. As well as representing vineyards from all over the country, Ben Franks from Novel Wines in Bath will be hosting exclusive wine tasting sessions. Tickets will be available from wellsfoodfestival.co.uk

The children’s section of the festival is extending for the tenth anniversary, complete with street food stalls selling innovative hand-held meals for smaller appetites. Fun Kitchen, an award-winning pop-up cookery school, will be on hand providing free cookery sessions for children aged 3+. The popular Children’s Trail will also return, providing an interactive guide around the festival.

This year there is also a “Ready, Steady, Cook” demonstration at lunchtime, putting two chefs through their culinary paces.

Crowds throng the stalls by the Palace Moat The Fun Kitchen will be back in action

For details, visit www.wellsfoodfestival.co.uk

WILD FOOD Life on the edge

I HAVE discussed the benefits of “edges” many times in my articles but it is always worth emphasising their importance. The edge of a habitat where it joins another tends to be more diverse in terms of plant species than the middle of a habitat which often can With ADRIAN BOOTS be a bit, erm, dull. When I take groups out foraging I always explain why the landscape looks the way it does from a historical, land management and ecological perspective so that one can begin to “read the landscape” and understand the best places to look for wild foods. It saves so much time.

Many wild food plants are non-native and have been introduced intentionally (or otherwise) which is fantastic for us as it provides additional diversity, enriching the countryside. For example, horseradish was introduced from the eastern part of Europe during the Middle Ages and has found its wild home on marginal areas, the edge of fields where grassland meets hedgerow and where road meets verge. Horseradish (Amoracia rusticana) is a large-leafed perennial plant growing between 60 and 120cm tall. The distinctive broad leaves are bright green (when young), with ribs and veins forming a “fish scale” like pattern and very obvious crinkly edges to the leaf.

The flowers are white with four petals atop a tall stem. I love the Latin name, it just rolls off the tongue. The best time to collect horseradish root is the end of September through to the end of October when it is strongest.

Beware, it’s easy to confuse horseradish leaves with the similar looking large leaved dock. However these inedible plants are not poisonous and unsurprisingly do not smell of, you guessed it, horseradish – a key ID feature.

The interesting part for us foragers is below ground (remember to get permission) where you will find a convoluted root system, from which one can make horseradish sauce.

Traditionally served with succulent roast beef it’s interesting to consider that this most British of accompaniments would not have been a feature of the Sunday roast if it hadn’t been introduced from Eastern Europe all those years ago!

Adrian Boots is a Landscape Ecologist, Wild Food Forager and Adventure Activity provider. You can visit his website: www.gowildactivities.co.uk to learn more about wild food foraging and activities you can do with him on the Mendip Hills.

GARDEN FOOD Flour corn

THIS year we are experimenting with growing a special kind of corn from the States called “Magic Manna”. Rather than being a sweetcorn of the kind we are familiar with, or a fodder maize for feeding to animals, this is a kind of corn With JAKE once more common in the past, bred for WHITSON its ability to produce kernels that grind into a fluffy, powdery flour with ease, perfect for baking with.

We’ve yet to see if they ripen properly in our climate (at the time of writing) but the cobs are already well developed in mid-August and we are optimistic.

If we get a decent crop I’ll write about our experiments with it in the next couple of issues, but in the meantime I thought I’d write about the botanical curiosity pictured, which has been quite common in our patch of corn this year and which I’ve never seen before. These are “tassel ears”, essentially a cob of corn that forms in the wrong place, on the male tassel flowers on the top of the plant. Apparently, both the male and female parts of the plant start out as “perfect” or bisexual flowers, but in normal development the female parts abort on the tassels and the male parts will abort on the ears.

“Tassel ears” like the one pictured form when the female part fails to abort on the tassels. The reasons why this happens are unclear, but it is almost always on tillers rather than the main stem of the corn and is probably precipitated by stress of some sort, be it compacted soil, heavy rain, hail damage or drought.

Our corn was planted in a hastily created bed that has become somewhat besieged by creeping buttercup, which may have resulted in the predominance of these tassel ears this year or it may be that this variety (which is new to us) has a tendency towards it.

Apparently these ears rarely ripen as without their protective husk the kernels are at the mercy of the weather and the birds. Luckily we have plenty of normal ears ripening so hopefully we’ll be able to report the back with recipes and experiments in a future issue!

Jacob Whitson is a chef, food writer and smallholder –he divides his time between the Mendips and Pembrokeshire.

Root Connections CIC 11537595

Our new farm shop and café at The Middlewick is now open

Open seven days a week offering coffee, cakes, snacks, produce and much, much more. Serving cooked breakfasts and lunch specials. Our cafe has seating for 45 indoors with another 40 on our patio. You are always welcome to park here to walk up Glastonbury Tor. Call in on the way out or on the way back for a bite to eat and a drink.

Middlewick, Wick, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8JW. hello@themiddlewick.co.uk 01458 832351 www.themiddlewick.co.uk

Fruits of their labours wins praise

PIONEERING work by the community interest vegetable and flower company Root Connections to help the homeless and people in recovery has been Mark Sheldon is presented with a Root praised by the Connections veg box by manager Sue CrossBourton watched by project founders and Home Farm tenants Rob and Suzanne Addicott Commissioner for Avon and Somerset Police. On a community “engagement day” visit to the market garden project at Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Mark Sheldon met workers, volunteers and residents of the Dairy House community house next door.

Root Connections, based at Duchy of Cornwall-owned Manor Farm, offers veg box and cut flower delivery services and recently opened its own farm shop in a building funded by wellwishers.

A perfect location

Jill and Jonny with some of the team

NESTLED beneath Glastonbury Tor, the new Middlewick Farmshop and Café is the latest chapter in Jill and Jonny Barker’s life at the

former farm.

First opening a small shop to offer some essential supplies to guests at the holiday cottages complex, the couple had little idea how popular it would become, especially during lockdown.

Now they have built a bespoke shop and café with plenty of seating inside and out and shelves full of locally produced foodstuffs. The café and shop is open seven days a week and serves everything from cooked breakfasts to cakes.

The couple say: “We love supporting local businesses, and in Somerset there are so many great producers we want to shout as loud as we can about them. From cheese to cider to ales to chocolate.

“Glastonbury and the surrounding towns here in Mendip have a huge array of producers. By shopping with us you help these small businesses get a foot into the market.”

Somerset’s “other” festival

THEninth annual Sand Cider Festival takes place at Ashgrove Farm, Sand, near Wedmore in a beautiful orchard overlooking Tealham Moor

and Glastonbury Tor.

It’s back better than ever this year on September 2nd and 3rd with a focus on family fun, music and arts!

A donation from the profits from the festival will be made to the Wedmore Play Area Association.

As well as a great selection of music, there will be cooking demos, wellness activities, family fun and lots, lots more throughout the weekend with pop-up food vendors, a fully-stocked bar serving a wide range of spirits and locally produced beers and ciders, including of course, their very own Old Jollop!

Don't be put off by the Great British weather as they have a large marquee if it rains!

Details: tickets at www.OLDJOLLOP.com or Wedmore Village Store

Celebrating 60 years

ARTHURDavid Food with Service celebrated 60 years in business in style at Bishop Sutton Football Club with a fun day for all their staff and their families to enjoy free food, fun and games for the day, allowing them to enjoy what they have helped create and be part of.

In 60 years they have grown from a very small, fruit and vegetable supplier to a £46million business, employing over 400 local people and selling over 3,000 products. Over the years many fresh produce suppliers have come and gone, but founder, Arthur David, has always held the strong core value of exceptional customer service dear to his heart and has weaved this throughout the business.

Arthur is by definition a true entrepreneur and always looked for the next product or service he could offer. He was the very first person in the region to offer prepared vegetables. Many members of the David family are still involved. Phil David, Arthur’s eldest son, now runs the business on a day-to-day basis and can always be seen around the farm making sure everything is running smoothly. A spokesman said: “We are very proud of what we have achieved as a business even with significant ups and downs over recent years but we have come out stronger and ready for the next 60 years.”

Details: #Leaveitwithus

The benefit of a hedge

THEMendip Hills AONB Service wants to help farmers fund hedgerow planting and management across the AONB.

The Farming in Protected Landscapes programme has already supported the planting of 2398 metres of new mixed-species native hedgerow, and the management of a further 440 metres of existing native hedgerow. Nine farms in Cheddar, Hutton, West Harptree, Blagdon, and Priddy have already benefited from support with hedgerows through the fund, with more projects in the pipeline.

Hedgerows are evocative of the Somerset countryside. Mingled with drystone walls and laid in the traditional Somerset fashion, they don’t just define a single field, they define the feel of a whole landscape. There is a wonderful book by John Wright; A Natural History of the Hedgerow, and stiches, dykes, and dry stone walls – absolutely to be recommended for any bookshelf – which delves into the history of how hedges came to be such an integral part of the English landscape. He writes at length about the way different people over time divided up the land, how they manged their boundaries, and the various uses they had for hedgerows outside of containing stock. Nowadays, foraging in hedgerows is a fun pastime rather than a recognised source of food, but hedges still provide us with many more benefits than the obvious.

Mitigation of the impacts of climate change is a huge benefit of planting or maintaining a hedge. Hedges buffer extreme weather conditions and provide vital shelter for livestock and crops. They also capture and store hundreds of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Some of this is trapped in the growing leaves and stems of the hedgerow plants, but even more is stored in the soil underneath – in the second year after planting, soils under hedgerows can store 3.3% more than the soils in the middle of the same field, and the soils underneath a 100year-old hedge can store 57% more CO¬2! Managing hedgerows sustainably can lock away that carbon indefinitely, so where there are established hedges on your land, managing them by laying (in the Somerset style of course), or giving them a haircut every few years will encourage new growth to soak up more carbon and preserve the carbon stored in the soil underneath.

Unfortunately, many hedgerows were lost after the war, but since 1993 the rate of hedgerow planting has outstripped the rate of hedgerow loss, thanks to concerted efforts from farmers across the country. Restoring and managing hedgerows is a straightforward way to help nature thrive on your land, contribute to preserving the feel of the countryside, mitigate against the impacts of climate change, and add resilience to your holding.

If you have hedges that need managing, or empty spaces that need hedges, please get in touch with Megan from the Mendip Hills AONB Service to see if you can apply for advice or financial support. Hedges are a great asset for a farm looking to enhance its Natural Capital – if you want to develop your understanding of Natural Capital management, the NFU and the Mendip Hills AONB Service are running a information workshop in October as part of a series of free workshops in partnership with Mendip DC, Somerset Wildlife Trust, and FWAG SouthWest – in next month’s edition we will be sharing more details of the events programme, but give us a ring or an email to pre-register your interest.

A section of beautifully laid hedge on a farm above Ubley, funded through the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme

For more information, or to make an application enquiry, head to the Mendip Hills AONB website: mendiphillsaonb.org.uk/farming-in-protected-landscapes

A special place for wildlife

Rich in wildflowers, plant and insect life the flower-rich limestone grasslands on the steep south-facing slopes are very rare and internationally important, supporting some of the scarcest species. Many people and organisations over the last 50 years have helped make this such an important place for wildlife. 'It is the variety and diversity of the landscape in the Mendip Hills that I love – dramatic geology, fantastic flower-rich grasslands, broadleaf woodlands supporting rare bats and a fascinating cultural heritage.'

Rachael Fickweiler, Head of Nature Reserves and Land Management,

Somerset Wildlife Trust

Megan Godley Farming Engagement Officer Farming in Protected Landscapes Mendip Hills AONB Charterhouse Centre, BS40 7XR Office telephone: 01761 462338 Email: megan@mendiphillsaonb.org.uk www.mendiphillsaonb.org.uk