Let's go outside

Rhian Cradock, award-winning chef patron at The Feathers Inn, Hedley-on-the-Hill, celebrates al fresco dining

Photographs: Nicky Rogerson

At The Feathers country pub in the Tyne Valley, the focus is on robust dishes crafted from the best local produce. The Good Food Guide’s Local Restaurant of the Year 2019, The Good Pub Guide’s County Dining Pub of the Year 12 times between 2007-2019, and The Michelin Guide Inspectors’ Favourite 12 times 2007-2019, the food and drink here is sublime. Enjoy this collection of dishes inside or outside for simple and fuss-free alfresco dining, just in time for summer.

Spanakopita - Wild Greens and Feta Pie

Serves 2-3

In Greece, filo ideally contains only flour, cornflour and a preservative. In other countries it also contains a little fat, but always look for filo with as few ingredients as possible. The nice thing about this recipe is that it doesn’t require a lot of prep work apart from washing and cutting the greens and layering the filo. Don’t skimp on the olive oil or butter - the filo needs it, and a little fat increases the absorption of antioxidants from the greens. You can also make a vegan version with extra greens and no feta and egg.

Ingredients

250g fresh spinach or wild greens like nettles, young dandelions and wild garlic

100ml olive oil or 100g melted

unsalted butter

150g crumbled feta

1 egg

salt and pepper

2-3 tbsp chopped mint

6 sheets filo pastry

1-2 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Wash and chop the leaves. Dry well. Heat a pan with 1-2 tsp olive oil on a low to medium heat, add the greens and heat until wilted (2-3 mins) and liquids have evaporated. Leave to drain in a colander. Once cool, squeeze out the remaining liquid with your hands and place in a large bowl. In a small bowl, beat the egg and add crumbled feta, salt and pepper. Add to greens and mix well, then add the mint last.

Take a round, 20-23cm tin and brush with olive oil. Spread a filo sheet on a worktop and cut in half. Place the filo in the tin, scrunching it so it fits and makes a thicker and crispier base. Brush with olive oil and continue layering the filo until you have six layers (using three sheets cut in half).

Place the greens on top, spreading evenly. Cover with another six layers of filo using the same technique as before. After placing the last filo sheet, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with a little water and sprinkle over the sesame seeds if using. Score the top filo layers in 6-8 pieces; do not cut all the way through.

Bake in the lower level of the oven for about 45 mins. Place the pie directly on the oven bottom for the last 10 minutes for a crunchy crust. Remove and leave to cool and enjoy warm or at room temperature.

Scottadita - Roman-Style Grilled Lamb Chops

Scottadito means to burn the fingers in Italian. The intoxicating aroma that emanates from the grill while these chops are grilling tempts you to snatch one straight off the fire, hence the burnt fingers!

Ingredients

For the potatoes and asparagus (per person)

2 large new potatoes, scrubbed

3-5 spears asparagus, trimmed and washed

salt and pepper

olive oil

couple of sprigs rosemary

For the lamb chops 2 lamb chops per person

extra virgin olive oil

½ clove garlic per chop, crushed leaves from 2 sprigs thyme and rosemary, picked and chopped

salt and pepper

1 lemon

Method

Note: In Rome they cut chops very thin and have a big plateful each, whereas English butchers tend to cut them thicker. If you are using thin chops, halve the cooking time below.

For the vegetables, set the oven to maximum - at least 220C/ Gas 8. Slice the potatoes as thinly as you can and mix with a little oil, salt and pepper. Place in a single layer in a greaseproof lined tray and sprinkle with rosemary. Bake until the potatoes are softened (approx. 10 mins), remove, place the asparagus on top and put back in the oven until cooked through. Serve with the chops. For the chops, remove from the fridge 30 mins before you want to serve. Mix the crushed garlic with the herbs and enough oil to make a thin paste.

Liberally season the chops with salt and pepper, then rub vigorously with the herb oil mix. Set a grill pan over high heat or have your barbecue nice and hot. Grill for 3-5 mins each side until cooked pink and juicy. Allow to rest for a couple of mins before serving.

Sardines with Panzanella (Bread Salad)

Serves 2

Panzanella is a very old Tuscan tradition – a salad made with leftover bread, which would be unsalted, in the local style. It’s a summer dish, made when tomatoes and basil are good and plentiful. If you want to make it the day before you eat it, the flavours will have longer to infuse and it will taste even better. When you cook the sardines, it’s very important to get your grill pan really hot, otherwise they stick and you won’t be able to turn them without them breaking up.

Ingredients

4 large sardines, gutted

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the bread salad

100g stale sourdough, without crusts, torn up

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 really ripe tomatoes

½ large red onion, in 2cm dice approx. 10 leaves basil

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

1 tbsp olives

1 tbsp extra fine capers

½ lemon

Method

To make the panzanella, soak the bread in the vinegar. Take the tomatoes from the vine, dice and add to the bread, together with the chopped onion. Tear up the basil and add that too. Add the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the olives and capers and set aside.

For the sardines, first, get the grill really hot, otherwise the sardines won’t release their fat and then will stick to the pan.

Season liberally with salt and put on the hot grill. Let them get crusty on one side (about 3 mins), then turn over and do the same on the other side (about 2 mins). When they come off the grill, drizzle with oil and a squeeze of lemon.

To serve, spoon some of the panzanella onto each plate, put the sardines on top and drizzle with the remaining olive oil.

Creamed North Shields Crab on Toast

Serves 4

Crab is sustainable, less expensive than lobster and in my opinion much tastier. Any decent fishmonger should have fresh picked crab. Use both the brown and the white meat for real taste - the richness comes from the brown meat, the elegance and freshness from the white. It’s great in the summer - just make sure you don’t get pasteurised tasteless crab meat from the Far East. North Sea brown crab is far superior.

Ingredients

200ml double cream

1 lemon

pinch ground mace

pinch cayenne

freshly ground black pepper

white and brown meat from one crab, picked to remove any small bones (approx. 400g)

salt

4 slices sourdough bread, toasted and rubbed with garlic while warm

1 tbsp chopped parsley

Method

Put a small pan over a medium heat, add the cream and reduce by half until very thick.

Take off the heat and add the juice of the lemon, mace, cayenne and pepper.

Fold in the crab meat and place back on the heat to warm through gently. Taste to see if it needs more lemon juice and/ or salt. Pile on top of the toast and finish with a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

Funeral Pies and the Whortleberry Hunt

Serves 6-8

Wild blueberries, known as bilberries or whortleberries, abound in pine forests and heathland in the North East; you just have to know where to look, and they are surprisingly common. They usually fruit in late July, depending on the weather, though they were a week early last year. They are traditionally used in a pie, which has the affectionate name in the North East of funeral pie due to its striking purple colour - the Victorian colour of mourning. You can, of course, use cultivated American blueberries, but it’s fun to forage for them. When cooking they exude a lot of juice, so a little apple and sprinkle of cornflour helps to make a slightly more solid pie. However, this is not a pie you can cut neat slices of. Delicious warm from the oven or at room temperature with cold cream. Happy hunting!

Ingredients

butter, for greasing

500g wild bilberries - fresh, frozen or from a jar (drained)

100g caster sugar

50g cornflour

100g cooking apple, peeled and chopped

500g shortcrust pastry

1 egg, beaten

Method

Preheat oven to 190C/Gas 5 and grease an oven proof pie plate with a little butter. Combine bilberries with caster sugar, cornflour and apple, keeping a little sugar back to dust over the finished pie, and allow to macerate for 10-15 mins while you make the pastry. Make the shortcrust pastry according to your recipe, or use ready-made (ensure it has a good proportion of butter rather than oil in it). When you’re ready to assemble the pie, cut the pastry in half and roll one half out to fit the bottom of the plate. Trim any overhanging pastry. Spoon the bilberry and sugar mixture into the pie case and top with the remaining half of the pastry. Seal and crimp the edges of the pie together, make a slit in the middle to allow the steam to escape and bake for 45-50 mins until crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with caster sugar. Allow to cool slightly before serving.