Foreword by Jimmy Doherty

WILD GARLIC TARTE SOLEIL

A sun-shaped tart to celebrate the glossy, pungent wild garlic foraged each Spring from our woodland. Wild garlic not in season? Simply use spinach or chard instead. For a vegan version, use dairy-free puff pastry, brush with oil instead of egg, and replace the cheese with tapenade or vegan pesto.

100g wild garlic 2 sheets of puff pastry (approx. 300g each) 1 egg, beaten 1½ tbsp Dijon mustard 120g cheddar cheese, grated 60g parmesan, finely grated Black pepper 1 tsp poppy seeds Put a kettle of water on to boil. Thoroughly wash the wild garlic and sit it in a heatproof bowl. Pour over the boiling water and leave it for about 30 seconds until it has softened and wilted. Drain and cool it by covering in cold water. Drain it again and then squeeze out as much excess water as you can before roughly chopping it. Roll each pastry sheet out into a large circle (approximately 26cm in diameter). It’s a good idea use a dinner plate as a template to cut around, to give you perfect circles. Put one circle on a lined baking tray and pop the other into the fridge until needed.

Brush some beaten egg in a 1cm border around the edge of the pastry circle on the tray. Smear the inside of the circle evenly with mustard and then scatter over the chopped wild garlic and three quarters of the cheddar and parmesan. Finish with a few turns of black pepper. Remove the second sheet of pastry from the fridge and place it directly on top of the filling, pressing the edges together to seal. Mark the centre of the circle by pressing the rim of a small glass or cup onto it. This gives you central hub to cut towards.

Take a ruler and lightly score the circle into 24 equal divisions through the centre. Take a large sharp knife and cut each line to the mark you made with the glass rim. This will give you 24 spokes radiating out from a central hub. One by one, take the end of each spoke and give it a full turn, making two distinct twists in the length. Try and bring the end back down in line with the circle edge. Do this all the way around. Brush the whole tart with beaten egg, then sprinkle the poppy seeds and remaining cheese over the top. Return it to the fridge for 10 minutes to rest while you preheat your oven to 190°c or Gas Mark 5. Transfer the tart to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm.

E. OLDROYD & SONS

BY JANET OLDROYD HULME

“I am as determined as ever, together with my sons, to ensure the future of Yorkshire forced rhubarb and the industry producing it by keeping costs affordable and raising its profile.”

In 1930 my great-grandfather left farming in Cambridgeshire to begin the family’s association with forced rhubarb in Wakefield. My father Ken was determined to hold the declining rhubarb growers together by forming a cooperative, so in 1967 the Yorkshire Rhubarb Growers was established at our Carlton Farm. In recognition of his service to the industry over the following years, Ken was awarded the Northern Horticultural Society’s highest accolade, The Harlow Carr Medal, in 1995 and became known by the media as the Rhubarb King! Today our family business, E. Oldroyd & Sons Ltd, has five generations of experience in forced rhubarb production and is run by myself and my sons, Lindsay and James. I joined the business in 1980 and was shocked to see how much this world-renowned industry had declined. We had to open the bottle neck by increasing demand, which meant making the public more aware of the health benefits English fruit and veg can give us. In 1996 I was approached by Wakefield Council who wanted to use the local forced rhubarb industry in their regeneration program to promote local tourism. I wasn’t sure it would work but we put talks and tours together which eventually developed into a festival that still takes place every February. The awards and nominations followed thick and fast, from Rick Stein Food Hero to Young British Grower of the Year, and in 2010 Yorkshire forced rhubarb was finally given Protected Designation of Origin status. Our company is currently committed to an expansion program in all sectors of production, from crop rotation to constructing new forcing sheds heated by a sustainable energy production system. We also have a hedge and native tree planting scheme underway, not only for crop protection but to prevent soil erosion and as a wildlife habitat and food source, and have installed a bore hole to supply irrigation for the strawberry plantations. I am as determined as ever, together with my sons, to ensure the future of Yorkshire forced rhubarb and the industry producing it by keeping costs affordable and raising its profile. We may not have been among the first families to force rhubarb in 1877 but we are one of the remaining 11 growers in the historic rhubarb triangle, where there were initially over 200. Our hard work aims to prevent all of us from being the very last of these skilled farmers.

JANET’S RHUBARB PANNA COTTA

You will require six glass dishes for this recipe, which makes the pink and cream colours look delightful. I prefer to leave the panna cotta in the dishes, preventing any mishaps when serving. If you do want to turn them out, don’t forget to grease the dishes beforehand.

For the panna cotta

6 sheets of leaf gelatine 600ml (1 pint) single cream 300ml (10fl oz) double cream 85g (3oz) caster sugar 1 tbsp vanilla extract

For the rhubarb topping

2 sheets of leaf gelatine 800g forced rhubarb 85ml (3fl oz) pure orange juice 85g (3oz) caster sugar Mint sprigs or edible flowers, to garnish

For the panna cotta

Soak the gelatine leaves in a small bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes until soft. Meanwhile, combine the creams and sugar for the panna cotta in a saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, stirring gently until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat just as it starts to boil. Remove the gelatine leaves from the water, squeezing gently to remove excess liquid, then add them to the warm cream and stir until completely dissolved. Stir in the vanilla extract, then pour the mixture into a large jug (this makes it easier to fill the dishes). Pour the panna cotta mixture carefully into your 6 glass dishes, leaving enough room for the rhubarb topping. Allow to cool for around 30 minutes before covering with cling film and chilling the dishes in the fridge overnight. The panna cotta should be set and firm to the touch.

For the rhubarb topping

Soak the gelatine leaves in a small bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes until soft. Meanwhile, wipe the rhubarb with damp kitchen roll to clean it and then cut into small chunks. If you’re making this in summer, use 400g of outdoor rhubarb and 400g of hulled and sliced British strawberries for great colour and a lovely tangy flavour. In a pan, combine the orange juice (for a special occasion, try replacing this with sparkling wine) with the sugar and then add the rhubarb chunks. Simmer gently until the sugar has dissolved and the rhubarb is cooked, then squeeze out the soaked gelatine leaves and stir them into the pan until completely dissolved. Transfer the rhubarb mixture to a glass bowl and cover with cling film. Once the panna cotta has set firm, carefully spoon over the cooled rhubarb mixture and smooth out. Finish with sprig of fresh mint or edible flower placed on top before serving.