FOOD & WINE Home made

In the KITCHEN

Something to trout - sorry, shout - about this month as we present a delicious mid-week meal using local trout caught at Rutland Water...

TROUT & DILL FISHCAKES With Capers and Broad Beans

Preparation time: 30 minutes (inc chilling time). Cooking time: Five minutes. 280g Rutland Water trout • 400g Mashed Potato • Five salad onions, finely chopped 2 tbsp capers, rinsed and roughly chopped • 35g cornichons, finely chopped ½ x 20g pack dill, snipped • 2 lemons, 1 zested and juiced, the other in wedges 1 tbsp olive oil • 220g Round Beans and 150g Broad Beans, steamed, to serve

Preheat the grill to medium-high. Place the trout on a foil-lined baking tray and grill for eight minutes. Set aside to cool, then thickly flake, discarding the skin. In a large bowl, mix the mashed potato with the salad onions, capers, cornichons, dill, lemon zest and two tbsp juice. Fold through the trout, shape into eight cakes and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over a medium heat. Gently cook the fishcakes in two batches for 4–5 minutes on each side until golden brown and warmed through. Serve the fishcakes with the steamed vegetables and lemon wedges. n

In the KITCHEN

There’s nothing better than enjoying a couple of liberal scoops of ice cream on a hot summer day... and if you eschew the supermarket in favour of making your own, you can really reap the rewards in terms of flavour...

HOME-MADE ICE CREAM

Preparation Time: Two hours including chilling time. Serves Six. Four free range egg yolks • 100g (3 1/2 oz) golden caster sugar • 300ml (1/2 oz pint) double cream 300ml (1/2 oz pint) full fat milk • 1 vanilla pod or good quality essence • Flavour to suit (optional)

MAKING YOUR OWN ice cream at home is so easy it beggars belief that we just put up with watery mass-market ice cream. There are a tremendous number of variations on making your own ice cream at home, from non-churn to more labourintensive methods, and from methods involving anything from ice cubes to condensed milk. This custard-based method is a little more involved, but uses fewer shop-brought ingredients, and because it all comes together in the saucepan, it’s really easy to flavour it to your taste. Start by separating the eggs and retaining the yolks. The whites can be used to make meringues. Add the caster sugar to the egg yolks and whisk until they’re pale, frothy and thick. Put the cream and milk into a medium saucepan, then cut open the vanilla pod, scrape out the seeds and add these to the cream and milk, along with the pod, then heat gently. Don’t let it boil, or it will curdle! It’s a good idea to remove from the heat after and allow the cream mixture to cool and to infuse for five minutes. You can use vanilla essence or extract, but a vanilla pod will offer a better flavour and give your ice cream those lovely dark speckles. Once it’s cooled a little, take out the vanilla pod and stir the milk and cream into the eggs and sugar, whisking as you go. Sieve the mixture back into the saucepan and heat slowly and gently until the custard mixture you’ve created thickens. It’s ready when it coats the back of a wooden spoon – usually this takes around 10 minutes. Tip the mixture into a large freezer-proof container and cool to room temperature before putting in the fridge overnight. Next day, transfer the custard to the freezer and remove it every hour for three hours to whisk with a handheld electric whisk. This disperses the ice crystals and helps to make your ice cream smooth. Return it to the freezer after three whisks until it’s solid. It’s worth mentioning at this point that this is the only fiddly bit of making ice cream, however, you can purchase ice cream makers – brands include Magimix and Tefal – whose chilled vessels sit in the freezer ready to chill and churn your ice cream. Simply allow your custard to reach room temperature or chill it for an hour, then set your ice cream maker’s churning paddle to rotate over the frozen vessel before pouring in your custard. It’ll chill, churn and set in 20 minutes... much easier! Early on when you’re heating the milk and cream in the saucepan, you can add dulce de leche for caramel ice cream, stir in good quality espresso coffee, or you can melt in dark or white chocolate. If you’re adding fruit like strawberry, raspberry or mango (as we’ve done here), it’s best to purée it and stir it through the mixture prior to chilling in the fridge overnight. n

World Gin Awards accolade for Ormsby based distillery...

Massingberd-Mundy Distillery, in the Wolds, has won double at the Gin Guide Awards 2021 Tristan Jørgensen, head distiller at Lincolnshire’s Massingberd-Mundy Distillery will be raising a glass to two awards in the Gin Guide Awards including winner of the Flavoured Gin category for Marie Jeanne’s Pink Gin is named after Marie Jeanne Rapigeon of Versailles, who fled the French revolution before becoming the owner of Lincolnshire’s South Ormsby Estate, where the gin is made. It’s vibrant and fruity with strawberries, raspberries and hibiscus. n Marie Jeanne’s Pink Gin and Burrell’s Dry Gin are available from the South Ormsby Estate website www.southormsby estate.co.uk £39/70cl bottle.

The Wine Cellar

Wine of the Month

Derringstone Pinot Meunier 2019, Kent, UK

£117, 6 x 75cl / 13% ABV

The market for English wine has established itself beautifully in recent years, not least because climate change has caused the unique weather of the Champagne region to move north, into England. As a result the rosbifs now produce wines of comparable quality –albeit without the provenance – of France’s most famous wine region. Produced in the chalk terroir of Kent, Simpsons’ Derringtonstone is made from Pinot Noir grapes and has a sweet, poached fruit aroma and delicious red fruit finish.

Available from Simpsons Wine, 01227 832200 or www.simpsons wine.com.

JUST IN TIME FOR BASTILLE DAY ON 14TH JULY, WE’VE THREE FRENCH FANCIES, PLUS AN ENGLISH SUPERSTAR AND TWO LOCAL SPIRITS... ENJOY A TIPPLE IN THE GARDEN THIS MONTH! Banking on Berries in the Nene Valley

BASTILLE STORMERS: Celebrate Bastille Day with these glorious Gallic gods...

1. Produced with Pride in Provence, this super-dry Syrah has Cinsault and Grenache, for a dry, white, peppery acidity over red berries and citrus, £13.49 / 75cl / 13% ABV.

2. Born in Bordeaux, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, this medium bodied cassis and raspberry wine is a delight. Tannins are well integrated and lush with a bite of pepper to finish. £24 / 75cl / 13.5% ABV.

3. Heroically hewn from Pinot Noir grapes in Burgundy, there’s a strawberry-scented medium bodied drinkability to this Vosne-Romanée. £55 / 75cl / 13% ABV. Straight from Nene Valley Spirits, it’s a tale from the riverbank with a happy ending, namely the sweetness of strawberries over the gentle botanicals of small batch gin. Based at Sacrewell Farm, the Nene Valley Spirits distillery is the first to be based in Peterborough and the Nene Valley region. Enjoy as a G&T, with Prosecco or a sparkling wine, or with soda water. The taste of summer suffused into a quality local spirit. £22 / 70cl / 25% ABV, www.nenevalley spirits.co.uk

n Our featured wines are available from the best local independent wine merchants, supermarkets and online, prices are RRP and may vary from those stated.