Food & Drink

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THE CAKE WHISPERER Val Stones

VANILLA ORANGE HALLOWEEN SPIDER CUPCAKES

At Halloween I get a huge number of Trick-orTreat callers and they always love these funny, spooky cupcakes. Orange and vanilla go well together but you can simply make vanilla cupcakes. If you wish the flour can be replaced with a gluten-free alternative. Serves 24

Preparation 15 minutes Cooking 20 minutes Assembly 15-20 minutes

What you will need A stand mixer, food processor or an electric hand mixer Two 12-hole cupcake tins, lined with cupcakes cases 3 piping bag and either a 2D nozzle or a 12-point star and a fine plain hole nozzle

Image: Katharine Davies

Ingredients For the cupcakes 190g eggs 190g soft margarine 190g caster sugar 190g self-raising flour 4g baking powder 1 teaspoon milk 2 teaspoons orange extract 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Zest of an unwaxed orange

For the buttercream 60g unsalted butter 20g cream cheese 250g icing sugar 15ml whole milk 1/2 teaspoon of orange extract Orange food colouring Bright green food colouring

For the royal icing I egg white 200g sifted icing sugar Black food colouring as much as needed to turn the icing black

1 bag of Maltesers 48 edible googly eyes

Method To make the cupcakes Preheat the oven to 160C fan-assisted, 180C, 350F, gas mark 3 and place cupcake cases in cupcake or muffin tin 1 Weigh the eggs into a bowl and add the same weight of sugar and margarine. 2 Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl. 3 Starting slowly, combine the mixture then rest for 1 minute to allow the sugar to dissolve a little, then beat the mixture for 2 minutes on high – it’s important not to over beat as this will knock out the precious air you need in the cake to make a good, light sponge. Add the teaspoon of milk if needed to slacken the mixture to a dripping consistency 4 In a separate bowl, combine the orange extract, vanilla extract and orange zest then fold gently into the mixture. 5 Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases – fill to 2/3 full. Alternatively, to make sure every cupcake is perfect, place the baking tray on your scales and set them to zero. Into each bun case spoon exactly 40 grams of mixture, zeroing your scales between each one. 6 Place the baking tins in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes – the cakes are baked when they are evenly and lightly golden and, if you listen to them, they only whisper a crackle not shout out. Place on a cooling rack to cool completely. To make the buttercream 1 Place the butter, cream cheese, in a mixing bowl and beat until combined. 2 Add the icing sugar a dessert spoon at a time into the mixer bowl and beat until it resembles breadcrumbs in texture. Add the milk and orange extract then continue to mix on a high speed until the buttercream is soft and fluffy. 3 Colour half the buttercream orange and the other green, place into separate piping bags, each fitted with a nozzle.

To make the royal icing 1 Beat the egg white until soft peak and then gradually add the icing sugar until a soft piping consistency is reached – add the black food colouring until the icing is true black. 2 Decorate the cupcakes with the coloured buttercream using a swirling movement. 3 Place two Maltesers on each cupcake to create a spider head and body. 4 Place the fine hole nozzle in a piping bag and pipe eight legs with a tiny foot on each leg coming from the body of the spider. 5 Place a small blob of black icing on each spiders head and stick on the eyes. 6 Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

LAMB BASTURMA WITH BALSAMIC BABY ONIONS AND LIME CRÈME FRAICHE

Jack Smith, The Green

Image: Katharine Davies

Traditionally the meat used in a basturma is pressed and air-dried. In the restaurant we roast it using the same spices and it has become one of our most popular starters on our set lunch menu.

Ingredients: Serves 6 700g topside lamb 2 teaspoons piri-piri spices 3 teaspoons of paprika 2 teaspoons ground coriander 2 teaspoons ground cumin 200g wild rocket, washed 100g silver skin onions 50g balsamic vinegar 2 limes, juiced & zested 100g crème fraiche sea salt ground black pepper 50g olive oil

Method: 1 The day before serving, season the lamb with salt and pepper and combine the piri-piri, paprika, coriander & cumin. Massage the spices into the lamb and set aside in the fridge for a minimum of 12 hours. Marinade the onions in the balsamic vinegar on the same day. 2 Once your lamb has marinated pre-heat an oven to 170 degrees, place the lamb into a roasting tray with olive oil and cover in tin foil. Cook the lamb for 25 minutes or until it reaches 52 degrees in the centre. Remove the lamb and leave it to rest at room temperature for a minimum of 20 minutes. 3 While the lamb is cooking combine your lime zest and juice with the crème fraiche and season to taste with salt and pepper. 4 Remove the onions from the balsamic vinegar and use the vinegar and olive oil to dress the rocket. 5 To serve, thinly slice the lamb and arrange on the plate with the crème fraiche, rocket and baby onions. Serve immediately and enjoy.

CRAB AND NECTARINE SALSA

Johnny Jones, Head Chef, The Queen’s Arms

Image: Tory McTernan

This dish is reminiscent of summer days at the beach, but it also incorporates the wonderful, sweet taste of autumnal stone fruits now in season. The heat of the chilli gives it warmth and the citrus brings it all together, lifting it in harmony. It’s one of our current favourites.

Ingredients 454g of pasteurised white crab meat 3 nectarines 1 small red chilli 1/2 bunch of flat leaf parsley 1 lemon or lime, zested Olive oil Approx 150ml

Melba Toast White bread, finely sliced Extra virgin olive oil Sea salt and black pepper

Method 1 Pick through the crab to ensure no shell or pieces

remain. Refrigerate immediately and keep below 5°C at all times. 2 For the salsa, cut the nectarines in half and remove the stone. Dice the nectarines into little 0.5cm cubes and place in a bowl. 3 De-seed the chilli and finely dice, add to the nectarines. 4 Wash, pick and chop parsley, add to bowl. 5 Grate the zest of the lemon or lime and add altogether. Add olive oil until consistency is loose like a sauce around 150ml. 6 For the toast pre-heat oven to 160°,place fine slices of bread on a baking tray,season well and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Cook around 10 minutes or until crispy. These can be made in advance and set aside. 7 When ready to serve add 85g of crab to a bowl, season well with salt and pepper, add two tablespoons of salsa and combine. I place mine in a ring but you don’t need to. Spoon over a bit more of the salsa and toast to garnish.

A MONTH ON THE PIG FARM

James Hull, The Story Pig

Wow, that’s been a busy summer! As the days shorten noticeably and the valley below us fills with early morning mists rolling in and forming an inland sea, there is a crispness in the air which makes me grab a jumper before I head out to feed the pigs in the morning. The grass is laden with dew and the pigs, all asleep inside again, are snuggled up in their straw beds. Thoughts turn towards the dreaded winter and the mud to come. We have all our straw gathered in for the harsh months ahead, its smell when I cut a bale open takes me back to the months before; you can smell summer right there. We have made some silage too, lovely, sweet-smelling bales, made from our new herbal Ley just below the farm. It was full of clovers and herbs and we are looking forward to experimenting how to feed it to the pigs in the winter. Pigs love grass, it’s just not that easy to feed it to them – we will see how it goes and report back.

Last month we had the privilege of being on the front cover and everywhere inside The Sherborne Times – it was exciting to do and lovely to be featured in such a way. We had lots of new visitors to the cafe who hadn’t read my inside articles before. I know, I couldn’t believe it either! But hopefully more of you will follow our story now. I started by saying it has been busy, well it has, seven days a week. We have created a monster and we can’t keep up, and, like everyone else, we have struggled lately for staff to help us in the café. Over the summer we had two youngsters, Connie and Rosie, who started with us as we eased into cafe life. But aged 16 and 18 they have returned to education, both destined for greatness in the future. They made life easier and we are missing them already! At the time of writing, we are hoping that we have found some new members to help us, but a plea to all our readers, if you have teenagers that want to work on the weekends in a beautiful, safe, family environment, then please get in touch. We have had lots of questions lately about the cafe and what we will do in the winter. Well, we are going to cut down to two days a week and move into our lovely shed and make it beautiful. Charlotte is busy coming up with new ideas for the winter months, we want it to be a real hub for people to enjoy, and of course our meat sales continue as normal.

Outside, the garden has been incredible with, unfortunately, minimal intervention from me this summer. Four days a week in the cafe has taken its toll, but the flowers have been amazing and a constant source of joy for so many. The pigs have been generally well behaved this summer – the weather has suited them, not too hot most of the time. They have all been grazing on grass paddocks and loving life. It’s the easier time of year when loading them is straightforward, feeding them is easy, photographing them is a constant pleasure. We have ten new gilts down by the farm that are going into our breeding herd – they have had a summer of basking by the cafe, being photographed by so many. They are getting big now and will farrow right on Christmas. I will probably regret the timing, we will see. At the time of writing we are waiting for one sow to farrow – she lost her litter last December, having only two piglets and then couldn’t conceive. Well, she must have eventually because she is swollen in belly and laden with milk. She needs to have at least 20 piglets to earn her keep, but that’s most unlikely, so we will have to settle for a healthy 10 and hope that she does better than last time. She has had a lucky escape!

Charlotte and I are off to Falmouth this morning to deliver required items to Sten, Charlotte’s son, who is off to university there. We are sure he is going to have the best time, good luck Sten. We have his replacement here now, Max, 17, who is keen to learn. So, it’s jumper on and out to feed the pigs and then into the car and off to the seaside – our summer holiday of 6 hours!!

thestorypig.co.uk @thestorypig

ALSACE

David Copp

Many wine drinkers consider Alsatian wine more German than French. This is hardly surprising when you consider that Alsace was at the heart of the Frankish Empire and the French had control for quite a while, before it was ceded to Germany in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War. It was retroceded to France after the First World War and has stayed French ever since. It remains a treasure among French wine regions but its wines are heavily influenced by German methods.

The climate is semi-continental, mostly dry and sunny thanks to the protection of the Vosges mountains. The vineyards enjoy ideal conditions for growing grapes because they ripen steadily, ideal for making good and tasteful wine.

The three most memorable varieties used are Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer. Alsatian Riesling is sound and soulful, largely due to the precision of German winemaking. I hold it up as a model for all white wine makers. Alsatian Pinot Gris is something special; a fleshier grape than Riesling it delivers depth of flavour and subtlety. It may seem somewhat more austere, steely even, when you first come to it, but I recommend persistence because it is an extremely classy version of what has become a ‘popular, light refresher’ elsewhere in the wine world. At its best it is supple and racy and is a good match with fine cuisine. Alsatian Gewurztraminer, the most distinctive of the three varieties, produces a range of styles from dry to sweet. Harvested at perfect ripeness it offers rich and complex tropical fruit aromas which make it a good match for Asian foods.

The late harvest versions (often referred to as vendages tardives) pair wonderfully well with

Jean-Luc Schmitt/Shutterstock

Roquefort, Stilton and other blue cheeses as well as apple and other fruit tarts, and fresh fruit salads. The Selection de Grains Nobles are late harvested, almost shrivelled grapes, the Alsatian version of Tokay: truly superb wines but unfortunately quite expensive to buy. What I like most in Alsace is that there are so many good family winemakers with a history of making classical wines that reflect their varietals and their vineyards. There is so much to admire in their thorough winemaking process and how they continue to perfect it. I have long been an admirer of Hugel, one of the oldest and best Alsatian wine producers based in Riquewihr and Trimbach which owns Clos Sainte-Lune, the most sought-after of all Alsatian wines; rich in taste with bright distinctive flavours. In a good year Pinot Gris can produce rich and spicy wines, a perfect match for the local speciality goose liver and the typical Alsatian lunch of pâté en croute and Munster cheese and apple tart. It is also an absolute joy with good friends. Alsace wines should be served chilled but not too cold, between 8-10 degrees C and the wine is ideally served in long stem glasses. They are best when they young (one to five years) but the great wines will last a lot longer.

Alsace has had some success in making Pinot Noir although it struggles to get the depth of colour of Burgundy. It is often blended with Pinot Blanc to make a very acceptable crémant. The Alsace Grand Cru appellation was instituted in 1983 for single wines made from the greatest vineyards in a single vintage. Permitted yields are lower than for standard appellation wines. There are some very fine wines being made by the established, older houses such as Trimbach and Hugel but Josmeyer, Zind Humbrecht and Rene Mire have also made a name for offering very good value. Alsace is a delightful place to visit with a wellsignposted wine route and well-ordered medieval towns with half-timbered houses and cobbled streets which reflect a society that takes pride in its wines.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

Hauller Organic Pinot Blanc £15, Vineyards Facing the colourful fortified gate of Dambach-la-Ville, Alsace’s largest wineproducing village with its beautiful halftimbered houses and a place also known for the esteemed Grand Cru Frankenstein, you’ll find Hauller’s cellars. Located on the ‘Route des Vins d’Alsace’, you cannot miss the local curiosity ‘Vins d’Alsace Hauller’ written in coloured tiles on the roof of House Hauller, founded in 1775 during the golden age of Alsace winemaking.

Their Organic Pinot Blanc is fresh as a daisy with green apples, ripe peach and white blossom playing on your palate. Pure elegance, a silky texture with delicate floral layers and lingering flavours. Distinctively Alsace!

vineyardsofsherborne.co.uk