Food & Drink

With KATY BEAUCHAMP

A holiday in the Med . . . on your plate!

I hope everyone is having a good summer; who needs to go abroad when our weather has been so good so far? Why not enjoy some European dishes from the comfort of your own home or garden? You’ll really feel you are on the Mediterranean! The salad conjures up vines and olive groves, the chicken is spiced with smoked paprika and the palmiers are classic French “cookies”.

GREEK SALAD

METHOD Combine all the salad ingredients in a pretty serving bowl, whisk dressing ingredients together and mix through the salad! Easy as that!

Flavours of Greece in this tradional-style salad

INGREDIENTS

(Serves four) 1/2 diced cucumber 8 halved cherry tomatoes 1/2 thinly sliced red onion 1/2 chopped green pepper (although I prefer yellow) 15 halved olives (preferably Kalamata) 100g crumbled feta FOR THE DRESSING 60mls olive oil 15mls red wine vinegar Heaped tsp Dijon mustard Salt and pepper to taste

TUSCAN CHICKEN

METHOD Sprinkle the paprika onto the chicken and gently fry the slices in a little olive oil for about three mins each side. Remove from the pan, add the onions and cook for five mins, then stir in the garlic and add the cream.

When hot, stir in the cheese and lemon juice. Reduce heat to a gentle bubble, return the chicken and juices and cook for 6/7 mins until the meat is cooked through.

Put into a serving dish and garnish with lemon and lots of pepper. Serve with some crusty bread!

Smoked paprika brings the chicken to life

INGREDIENTS

(Serves four) 400g sliced chicken breast 3 teaspoons smoked paprika 1 small diced onion Heaped tsp of garlic (fresh or granules) Juice of half a lemon (cut the other half into wedges to serve) 200g grated Parmesan 200ml double cream Black pepper

FRENCH ALMOND PALMIERS

METHOD Unroll your puff pastry and roll out the marzipan to the same size. It doesn’t matter if the marzipan tears (which mine did in the hot weather) you can patch it up; it won’t show when cooked! Lay the marzipan on the pastry and, starting with one long end, roll them both up to the middle and then do the same with the other side so they meet. Cut the large sausage shape into slices and lay them flat on a very well-greased cooking sheet leaving plenty of room in between for expansion. Bake at 160°C for 20 mins until crisp and golden. Decorate with sifted icing sugar and flaked almonds. I only baked 12 and kept the rest of the sausage in the fridge over the next week, cutting and baking them for breakfast! INGREDIENTS

(Makes 24) 1 pack ready-rolled puff pastry 375g of ready-to-roll marzipan Flaked almonds Icing sugar to roll out marzipan and for dusting the palmiers

eat:Festivals –the hottest ticket this summer is free!

THE success of eat:Festivals in the past ten years has seen the community interest company grow from a small idea in Burnham-on-Sea to a food and drink festival organiser stretching further afield than the Somerset county boundaries.

Today, eat:Festivals – run by Bev and Sarah MilnerSimonds – hosts outdoor festivals in locations ranging from Devon to South Gloucestershire. And all festivals are free to attend.

At each festival, visitors will discover more than 50 local food and drink producers, street food, entertainment and lots of seating. They are a great opportunity to meet up with friends and family – without anyone having to put on an apron!

Producers at the festivals range from farmers’ markets regulars to start-ups who are passionate about the food and drink they create and are eager to share their stories.

Above all, eat:Festivals offer a great opportunity to get to the root of where your food comes from. Festivals coming up in August and September include Portishead, Yeovil and the Polden Hills.

eat:CastleCary attracted big crowds back in April

For details, visit: www.eatfestivals.org

WILD FOOD White fungi party

RECENTLYwe held a rather large party for my wife’s birthday. Her birthday is actually in January but it’s rather difficult to hold an outdoor “White Beach” themed event on the Mendips when the wind is blowing the rain up your nostrils. So it was With ADRIAN BOOTS mandated that the “do” was to be held in July. Of course this meant much preparation with the help of friends: marquees and tents had to be erected, a white beach constructed with a palm tree backdrop using sustainably sourced sand and a pop-up swimming pool constructed out of massive hay bales (nudged into position with my car, everyone wanted a go at this for some reason).

Not forgetting all the grass mowing, some nettle strimming and hedge trimming to get everything looking just right. All good parties attract gate crashers and this one was no different. They started off as barely registered white specs in the recently shorn nettle patch yet soon made their presence known over the course of the birthday weekend becoming much larger and louder.

It seems these uninvited fungal guests did not want to be left out and decided to join in the fun.

Giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea) can grow up to 30cm in diameter although sometimes much larger. Pure white when immature it’s covered in soft leather-like skin, which can be a creamy white when older.

The flesh is white and spongy. There is no stem but the base wrinkles to a point (like the base of a child’s balloon) where it connects to the mycelial network in the soil. Spherical in shape, it appears occasionally during the summer and autumn in grassland, pastures and roadside verges.

Sadly, whilst these puffballs couldn’t drink the cool drinks, partake in the fabulous food, play the fun games, jump in the pool or dance on the white beach to the music, it seems they were quite content to have a “White Fungi” party on their own.

Don’t feel too sorry for these gate crashers, they weren’t totally left out after all. I invited them to join us for breakfast instead . . .

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 New potatoes

WE’REeating a lot of new potatoes from the garden at the moment, while we wait for our main crop of Carolus to ripen. We are digging Pentland Javelin as I write this, a first early which produces heavy crops of short, oval tubers that With JAKE have a pure white flesh of excellent WHITSON flavour. We also like to grow Pink Fir Apple and Ratte types.

We generally get these in mid-March or early April, and mound up as they grow in the beginning, especially if there is a risk of frost.

I usually boil new potatoes whole in salty water. The salt doesn’t really penetrate the flesh if they are left whole but rather leaves a salty residue on the skin which I quite enjoy. I usually then toss them in a little butter, ground black pepper, and a big handful of sorrel leaves and other herbs such as fennel, dill or parsley if I have them. Served with a piece of fish they’re a joy, otherwise even a piece of crumbly cheese can turn them into a simple lunch. A slightly more elaborate approach is to use the Huacatay sauce I described in June and serve them cold with cold soft boiled eggs and either artichoke hearts or asparagus. To make it, cook your potatoes, eggs and artichokes a few hours ahead of time, then drain and allow to cool to room temperature.

You will need to plunge the soft boiled eggs in cold water to stop them cooking and the asparagus too if you are using it. Chill everything except the potatoes - I prefer the texture of them at room temperature, as chilling seems to do something strange to the starch.

Arrange all your ingredients on a plate and spoon a generous amount of the sauce in the middle - I love all the interplay between the subtle, cold and sweet summery vegetables, creamy egg yolk and fragrant, sour sauce, a perfect dish for the warm weather we’ve been having recently!

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

Open from midday every day

Old Parlour Café & Bar open Fri to Sun

Tucker’s Grave Inn, Faukland, Radstock, BA3 5XF.

The Tuckers Cider Festival is almost here

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26TH TO SUNDAY, AUGUST 28TH

T: 01225 962669

Featuring some of the West Country’s finest cider makers, alongside our regular 12-plus traditional ciders –including our own Mother Tuckers! Also Mallets on draught and Thatchers in bottles Live music and a wide variety of food all weekend

Family-friendly fun!

Hello to Mother Tuckers

THISsummer Farrington’s Farm is going all-out to provide affordable family-friendly fun! There’s plenty on offer throughout the holidays to make a day of it.

New for 2022, the farm park has been upgraded with new trail equipment to suit all ages, grass sledges to race down the hill, straw pool to dive in, animals to visit and the Slip & Slide running every day – all FREE ENTRY. Head into the air conditioned Playbarn if you need to cool down!

When tummies rumble, The Snack Shack has a varied graband-go food and drink offering to help keep you going. The café is open with a homemade seasonal menu, and picnic food is available from the farm shop and deli.

Events at Farrington’s this summer: Kids Fest, plus pickyour-own sunflowers and dahlias! Follow us on social media @farringtonsfarm for regular updates or visit farringtons.co.uk for more information.

Erin’s a winner

WRINGTONVale Rotary Club’s Young Chef competition was won by Erin from Churchill School, with judges Carol Baker and Jan Murray saying the youngsters were clearly focused, all produced excellent meals and loved the experience.

Young Chef Winner, Erin from Churchill School

THE famous and historic Tuckers Grave Inn at Faulkland has launched its very own cider – with the name being chosen by one of its customers.

Mother Tuckers – a dry, still cider around 5% alcohol – is now on sale, but will make its official debut at the inn’s Bank Holiday Weekend cider festival.

Tuckers already boasts around a dozen still ciders – mostly from Somerset – as well as Mallets on draught and Thatchers in bottles. They’ll be joined by a wide range of others for the weekend which will also boast live music and a range of food including campsite manager Prem’s famous curry.

Meanwhile, work is nearing completion on a new campsite shower and toilet block, whilst artist Rich Blaker, from Leighon-Mendip is busy painting a mural on three sides of the music barn.

Rich’s goes from strength to strength

FORowner of Rich’s Cider, Jan Scott, completion of the newlook farm shop is the latest chapter in a family business that has remained on the same site in Watchfield near Highbridge, for nearly 70 years.

She said: “I still live in the same house here that I was born in and every time we add something it just adds to the sense of family pride.”

It was her parents Gordon and Betty Rich who purchased the site in the early 1950s and started producing cider to supply local cider houses. Whilst cider production is still very much at the heart of everything that Rich’s do, there is now so much more to the business.

Jan said: “We opened the restaurant 15 years ago and that has proved to be incredibly popular, so much so that we added a large extension 18 months ago.”

The success of the restaurant sowed the seeds for completely refurbishing the farm shop. Jan explains: “We had always stocked cheese and chutney alongside the cider but little else.

“Diners in the restaurant would consistently ask us where we got our produce from. It felt a natural progression to have a shop that stocked that produce.”

The project to design and fit out the new farm shop was placed in the capable hands of Jan’s 22-year-old daughter Molly who is the general manager of both the shop and restaurant.

Molly said: “Myself and mum visited a lot of farm shops. We took inspiration from what they did well and also learned from what we perceived as their mistakes.”

One thing that they committed to from the outset was showcasing other local food producers with prominence given in the shop to a map of the region that pinpoints exactly how close they all are to Rich’s.

Molly said: “We had a wonderful opening night when all our suppliers joined us at the launch. Everyone was so supportive.”

Rich’s truly is a family orientated business. In addition to Molly’s involvement, the head cider maker is Jan’s son George. Under his leadership their cider has won numerous prestigious awards in recent times.

Jan knows that there is one person who would be very pleased with their progress: “Not long before we lost Dad he asked me to ensure that the business continued in family hands.

“He would be immensely proud of his grandchildren and all the staff here at Rich’s. He used to say to me, nobody does cheese and cider like we do in Somerset.”

White Hart looks to the future

WHENGina Pike and Mike Devaney took over the White Hart at Cross in April 2019 little did they realise what lay ahead for them.

Gina said: “This was the only pub that Mike and I would have ever taken on. The decision was purely an emotional one as it’s a place that had given me so many memories down the years.”

Just like all of us, their lives changed dramatically less than a year into their tenure at The White Hart. With Covid came the real prospect that their dream of running the pub was going to end before it had barely started.

As Mike describes it: “We had worked so hard in those early months to establish both ourselves and the pub’s reputation. We had just about managed it when everything was brought to a shuddering halt. It was devastating.”

Despite the setback Gina and Mike set about preparing themselves for the time when they would be able to re-open. One of the biggest challenges was to try and create some usable outdoor space.

Mike said: “We had land at the back of the pub which was completely overrun and inaccessible. It took a considerable amount of planning and even more physical effort to get the area how we wanted it to look.”

The result of all their hard work is stunning with plenty of table space and an outside bar, complemented by a spacious grassed area that allows the younger visitors to play whilst mums and dads can relax and enjoy their visit as well.

The pub is a 17th century building with plenty of history. It’s referred to in records from the time of the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 when Judge Jefferies came to the West Country and held the so called Bloody Assize Courts in the district.

Legend has it that The White Hart is haunted by one of his victims. Mike said: “Over the years there have been various TV Crews with paranormal experts trying to determine whether or not there is anything to that story. I remain sceptical but I’m prepared to be proved wrong!”

WINAFREEMEALFORTWO

To win a free meal for two with a bottle of wine at The White Hart simply answer the following question: Judge Jefferies, the judge who held the Bloody Assize Courts in 1685, was also known as: A) The Kindly Judge B) The Justice Judge C) The Hanging Judge Please send your answer via email to advertising@mendiptimes.co.uk or alternatively send your answer on a postcard to: Mendip Times, Coombe Lodge, Blagdon, Somerset BS40 7RG. Closing date August 12th. The editor’s decision is final.

The WHITE HART

Est. 1690

“Putting the heart back into The Hart”

On Sunday, August 14th from noon, we are hosting a summer fun day which includes live music and a barbecue, a chance for customers to come and enjoy our new garden, as well as attracting newcomers who haven’t visited The White Hart before. We like to think we offer one of the warmest welcomes you are likely to find anywhere in the region. Come and join us for a day of fun for young and old.

Serving fresh, homemade food at lunchtime –12pm until 2.30pm

Opening hours: Wednesday, ursday, Friday. Saturday 12-11pm Sunday 12-7pm e White Hart | Old Coach Road Cross | Somerset BS26 2EE 01934 733108 www.whitehartcross.co.uk