Food & Drink

With KATY BEAUCHAMP

Winter warmers to beat the January blues

These may appear simple recipes, but they are packed with flavour and just seem to suit the mood of the month ahead when we are seeking warmth and comfort. If you’re planning a family wassail party – or even a bigger event – the stew and scones served in a bowl will warm the hands and heart!

BEEF AND APRICOT STEW

Beef and apricot stew

I used to make this often for my children. It’s quick to prepare, delicious and a great one for a slow cooker. METHOD Brown off your beef and then add all the other ingredients bar the gravy granules. Bring to the boil and then turn down low for three hours, stirring occasionally, or put it in a 150°C oven for three hours or in a slow cooker (according to instructions). If you want the “gravy” to be thicker add gravy granules, then your scones/dumplings on top (see recipe) if using and cook for a further 20 minutes. You could also add some vegetables, but I like to serve mine separately as they keep their colour! INGREDIENTS

(Serves four) 500g stewing beef 1 can of French onion soup 1 can of tinned apricots in syrup (or peaches) Red wine (fill the empty soup can) 600g small potatoes (pricked with a fork) Gravy granules (as required)

HERBY CHEESE SCONES

Herby cheese scones

These are lovely baked and eaten with butter. You can drop them in the beef stew recipe for some lovely light dumplings or serve – as I do –alongside a bowl of soup.

METHOD Mix all the ingredients together, adding the water last to form a dough. Roll or press out, cut scones in any shape you like. If you’re baking them, brush a little mayonnaise over the top instead of wasting an egg and bake them at 180°C for 15 mins. If you’re putting them in a stew, place them on top 20 minutes before your stew has finished cooking.

INGREDIENTS

(Makes eight to ten) 200g self raising flour 30g dried stuffing mix 50g shredded suet 2tsp mixed herbs 75g grated cheddar 30mls olive oil 200ml water

CUSTARD TARTS

METHOD Blitz the biscuits and butter together and divide between 15 cake cases set in a muffin tray. Put all the other ingredients into a saucepan and melt on a low heat, stirring until smooth. Pour over the biscuit bases and set in the fridge. INGREDIENTS

(Makes 15) 18 custard cream biscuits 50g melted butter 130g marshmallows 500ml custard (I used a carton) Tsp vanilla essence Pinch salt

The Fully Licensed Café Bistro on the Mendips

Breakfast from 9am – all day except Sunday (until 11.15am) Lunch with an array of local and classical dishes

Tea, Coffee, great drinks range, cakes and sandwiches Champagne Breakfast & Luxury Afternoon Tea Open Wednesday–Sunday 9am–4pm

Hartley’s Kitchen, Rookery Farm, Binegar BA3 4UL • Tel: 01749 841718 info@hartleyskitchen.com www.hartleyscafebistro.co.uk

Treats for the New Year at Hartley’s Café Bistro

WITH all the Christmas festivities under way, it’s time to consider the New Year so why not celebrate 2023 at Hartley’s Café Bistro New Year Day Jazz Brunch with Wells Jazzmen and a great menu!

At Hartley’s Café Bistro, now 14 years old and based at Rookery Farm at Binegar, you’ll find a fresh new menu to cheer up the dreary days of January and February: tasty homemade soups, great breakfasts, fine fish dishes like scampi in tartare tortillas, a slow-cooked Spanish lamb casserole, local free-range chicken with Pimms and pomegranate and a favourite Mac ‘n’ Cheese to mention but a few.

On Sunday, January 15th, Mike McLennan will be reading from his beautiful Somerset poetry book A Mendip Corner and signing copies with light jazz background music from 23pm.

Hartley’s are hosting their now famous Curry Night on Wednesday, January 18th. Paul and Lynda have been to India many times so expect a spectacular range of curries from mild to (ouch) hot!

Haggis, tatties and neeps –Scotland’s traditional specialities –will be served at lunchtime on Robbie Burns’s birthday, Wednesday, January 25th, a celebration not to be missed.

What more could you want?

Grant window is still open

SEDGEMOOR District Council is reminding local food and drink businesses that there is a small grants scheme available which is still open for applications until Friday, January 6th.

Grants of up to £2,500 are available to small and microsized businesses, with up to 49 employees, to help support improvements or changes that demonstrate a clear impact on future growth and/or viability.

Examples of projects the grant could be used towards include replacement of equipment to drive efficiency, new product or service development, marketing, training and professional subscriptions or accreditations.

The grant scheme has been subsidised using EDF’s business support funding to mitigate the impact on communities affected by the development of Hinkley Point C.

Mendip Times reduces travel costs

100,000 potential customers within a short distance of your business

WILD FOOD Worthy alternatives

WEhave become rather accustomed to mild autumns and winters. My grandmother used to say there were hard frosts in November and even snow in December, but I can’t remember any. If you consider the recent chilly weather we have been experiencing, With ADRIAN BOOTS you can well imagine the difficulty that people who rely on finding or growing food for themselves have had.

This resonates with the cost of living issues affecting so many today. It is difficult to see yet more people having to use food banks in our 21st century, first world country. This leads me on to considering responsibly sourced and affordable wild meats.

Why limit ourselves to conventional meats when we can enjoy venison, rabbit, pheasant, pigeon, and a whole host of other game?

Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) are common and widespread throughout the UK. A native species of Britain, this animal has been present in the UK since the last Ice Age. They became extinct in England by 1800 due to woodland clearance and overhunting but have been successfully reintroduced.

Since the Covid lockdowns, deer numbers have exploded and need to be managed, helping the sustainability of our wild areas such as ancient woodland and forests. There is a game season, fresh wild venison (Roe) is available until the end of February, but there are also companies that provide a steady supply outside of autumn and winter.

There are many ways to cook venison from hearty and warming one-pot wonders, roasting joints, to a grand venison wellington. It is very low in fat so be careful not to overcook. One way of preventing this is to wrap the venison in bacon which also adds a little fat and additional flavour.

Speaking of which, venison loves red wine, shallots, garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms, rosemary, wild thyme and juniper berries. And seasoning of course. Speak to your local butcher or game supplier, or a quick internet search shows that there are some deals to be had and costs can be kept down with cheaper cuts.

This is a great way to put affordable, sustainable and extremely tasty food on the table and is a worthy alternative to a traditional seasonal lunch or dinner. If you want to help others this season with a meal that is protein rich, delicious and nutritious please go to the Country Food Trust charity website to find out more: www.thecountryfood trust.org

Here's wishing you all a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year!

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 Salsify and scorzonera

THESEtwo plants, both in the daisy family, are grown similarly and yield similar long, thin roots, filled with a creamy white flesh that has a similar character to Jerusalem artichoke or celeriac. We started growing these for With JAKE the first time in 2022 and they’ve been WHITSON really trouble-free, rewarding us with a bumper crop in the autumn.

They prefer a light soil and it takes a bit of finesse to lift them without breaking the roots, but once lifted they can be stored in a root cellar or similar through until the spring.

Over-wintered plants also produce a crop of young shoots the following spring, which can be blanched by mounding up soil on them to produce a crunchy white salad leaf – we’ve left a few of our plants in the ground to try this and will report back on the results! Both salsify and scorzonera blacken quickly once peeled, so the peeled batons should be submerged in cold water with a little lemon juice added to prevent this. They can then be boiled for 1520 minutes until tender and eaten in any number of ways – we particularly enjoy a puree of them with a little cream, lemon, salt and pepper, served with fish.

Alternatively, the roots can be boiled with the skin on and the skin removed after cooking – this avoids the sticky latex that can build up while peeling (apparently once used as chewing gum!). They are also great roasted, with a little butter added towards the end of cooking to brown them up.

Batons are especially good wrapped in rashers of bacon and roasted to make “salsify in blankets”. The roots can also be grated raw (just do it quickly to avoid browning), mixed with a little egg, salt, pepper and thyme and fried up into delicate tasting fritters.

All in all, a great pair of forgotten crops that are well overdue a revival – definitely one we’ll be planting again in 2023!

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

Wassail and more at the Tucker’s Grave Inn

HAVING fun and helping to raise money for good causes are at the heart of the team behind the Tucker’s Grave Inn at Faulkland.

And whether it’s chatting with friends over a pint in the pub itself, enjoying the atmosphere of The Old Parlour or a party in the barn, there’s always plenty going on to satisfy both the “regulars” and the increasing number of campers, many of whom return time after time.

Not that long ago, food at Tucker’s usually consisted of crisps and a pickled eggs, but how that has changed. Prem’s authentic Friday night Nepalese curries are a big hit and now the inn has introduced Prem’s Pizzas – all hand made and cooked to order, to eat in or takeaway on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

In the run-up to Christmas, the Tucker’s hosted a charity craft sale and afternoon tea party in aid of the Bowel Movement charity, which took up both the Old Parlour and the skittle alley.

With money still coming in, the event has raised £1,400; organisers hope to boost that total with a bingo afternoon on Tuesday, December 27th (table reservations a must) to at least £2,000 – enough to cover one of the charity’s £2,000 hardship fund donations.

On Boxing Day itself, everyone is welcome to join the 15th annual charity walk from the pub in aid of Dorothy House hospice (10.30am start) with plenty of refreshments afterwards.

Although regular live music events are taking a break in January, there’ll be a party on New Year’s Eve and inn’s the now famous wassail will take place on Friday, January 20th from 7.30pm.

Dawn Chapman, who helps to organise the Bowel Movement events in memory of her nephew Benj who died from bowel cancer, said: “We’re always happy to try to accommodate charities who want to run an event here for free; it’s part of what we do.”

Fundraising in the Old Parlour for the Bowel Movement

OPEN: Noon-11pm (Mon-Sat) Noon-10pm (Sun)

Tucker’s Grave Inn, Faukland, Radstock, BA3 5XF. T: 01225 962669 E: info@tuckersgraveinn.co.uk W: www.tuckersgraveinn.co.uk

Celebrate 2023 at the Tucker’s Grave Inn

Prem’s delicious, freshly-prepared pizzas. Served from 6pm Fri - 6pm Sun, £7 each. Pizza and a pint £10.80

A wide range of ciders and our beautifully kept Butcombe Bitter are always available

A warm welcome in our Old Parlour

Why not hold your charity event with us?

Ward closure campaigners fight on

The latest protest took place in Glastonbury

PEOPLE opposed to the planned closure of an acute mental health ward in Wells have staged their 15th demonstration.

The ward – on the Priory Health Park – provides care for adult patients from across Mendip who are experiencing an acute situation, but NHS Somerset says the 14 beds must move to a new unit in Yeovil.

The campaigners say public transport between Mendip and Yeovil is a concern and the town is too remote from places such as Wells and Glastonbury. Campaign leader Emma King said: "One of the main reasons given for closing the ward and moving it to Yeovil is because it is deemed to be too far from an Accident & Emergency Department.

“Moving this ward not only deprives us of a vital service, but it still leaves all of us in the Mendip area too far from an Accident & Emergency department, which leads me to ask why we are not being provided with an A&E rather than having more services removed?”

The next demonstration is due to take place on Thursday, January 12th outside the Crispin Centre in Street.

Paul and Rob to the rescue

Cheddar players Rob Salway (far left) and Paul ‘Jock’ Rodgers (far right), with Freya Gudge and Paul Lapham of Bridgwater Town at the presentation in the Cider Barn

CHEDDARWalking Football Club turned up to compete in a Somerset FA “friendly tournament” at Strode College – and ended up saving a man’s life.

During the course of the second round of games, a player from the Bridgwater team collapsed. Fortunately Cheddar players Paul Rodgers and Rob Salway have 70 years’ experience as first responders between them in the fire service and went to the rescue.

The club had also had the foresight to buy a defibrillator, which they take to games. The two Cheddar players worked with the paramedic in attendance to bring the player back to life, using the defib to great effect!

Cheddar instantly awarded the two the clubman of the year award, jointly. They have also been inducted into the club’s first ever Hall of Fame, with certificates presented by club president, former professional, Paul Randall.

Bridgwater players attended an event at Cheddar’s sponsors, the Cider Barn, to present Paul and Rob, with gifts of gratitude.

They also read out a letter from the injured player saying how he was feeling and expressing his extreme gratitude for saving his life.

Holy Thorn is fit for a king

HISTORY was made by Eris Collins Diaz when she cut a sprig of Glastonbury Holy Thorn from the tree in St John’s churchyard to be sent to King Charles – rather than the late Queen Elizabeth – to decorate his Christmas table.

As the eldest pupil at St John’s Infants School, Eris, aged seven, had the honour of performing the ceremony in front of fellow pupils and VIPS.

Vicar, Predendary David MacGeoch, told Eris she would be mentioned in a thank you letter from the king in January.

The tradition of sending a cutting to the reigning monarch is said to date back to the reign of King Charles I.

Eris with St John’s vicar Prebendary David MacGeoch and Glastonbury mayor Jon Cousins