Food & Drink

New Blackmore Vale, August 6, 2021 Food & Drink Cooking...

with Mrs Simkins

Jam and Coconut Sponge

Here’s an old favourite: a blast from the past for some of us, who may remember something similar for a much-anticipated pudding after the usual grisly school dinner first course. Sometimes it might be served with ‘normal’ custard, sometimes with pink. Although still a lovely oldfashioned pudding, it makes a very nice cake with a cup of tea. Raspberry jam works best: raspberry and coconut are always perfect partners.

Ingredients Cuts into 16 squares 110g (4oz) salted butter, softened 175g (6oz) sugar (golden caster works well) 225g (8oz) plain flour 2 level teaspoons baking powder 2 medium-large eggs 4 tablespoons milk Approximately 50g (2oz) desiccated coconut A little less than half an average jar of sieved (or seedless) raspberry jam

Method Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan oven) gas mark 4 or equivalent You will need an 20cm (8 inch) greased brownie tin or similar, the bottom lined with greaseproof paper, cut to fit Use your usual creaming and cake mixing method or whiz up in a food processor as below. Whiz the butter and sugar together. Combine the flour and baking powder and sieve half over the top. Add the eggs and remaining flour. Whiz briefly, add milk and whiz together until smooth but not over-mixed. Pour into the prepared tin, easing it into the corners and smoothing the top level. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Whilst still warm spread the top with a liberal amount of jam and sprinkle thickly with desiccated coconut. Leave to cool, cut into squares, and put the kettle on.

n MrsSimkins.co.uk n twitter.com/ MrsSimkinsCooks n email: info@ MrsSimkins.co.uk

Mum’s Kitchen...

with Diana Holman

Carrot and Orange Cake

Ingredients: 250g butter, softened 250g light soft brown sugar 5 large eggs, separated Grated zest and juice of one orange 170g self-raising flour 1 slightly heaped teaspoon baking powder 100g ground almonds 100g shelled walnuts 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 pink ground cloves 1 pinch ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon ground ginger 250g carrots, peeled and coarsely grated Method: Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan). Grease and line a 22cm x 8cm deep round cake tin or similar. Beat butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks one by one and add the grated orange zest and juice. Stir in sifted flour and baking powder, and add the ground almonds, walnuts, spices and grated carrot and mix together well. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff, and then gently fold them into the cake mix. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and cook for about 50 minutes until golden and risen, or until a knife or cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave the cake in the tin to cool before turning out onto a racik. This makes a lovely cake to serve just as it is, but if you want to make it extra decadent and luxurious, you can make an icing by mixing together 100g mascarpone cheese, 200g full fat cream cheese, 85g sifted icing sugar, and the grated zest and juice of 2 limes. Spread this generously over the top of the cake.

New Blackmore Vale, August 6, 2021 Food & Drink Dish pak-ed with antioxidants creates a lovely meal

Rebecca Vincent is a nutritionist working in Wincanton and Yeovil

’Tis the season for green beans and I have to admit it’s one of my favourite times of year on the vegetable calendar, I adore them, and they pair beautifully with pak choi in this Asian inspired recipe. Green beans are a great source of vitamins A, C, and K, folate, thiamine, riboflavin, iron, magnesium, and potassium, and the flavonols quercetin and kaemferol which have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.Whilst almost always referred to as green beans, fine beans can also be yellow or purple, so you can get a veritable rainbow on your plate with just one vegetable (and a variety of antioxidants as well). Pak choi contains some similar nutrients to green beans as well as phosphorus, zinc, manganese, selenium, niacin, choline, and beta-carotene. Bok choy is so nutrient-dense it ranks sixth on the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) for fruits and vegetables, this index rates foods on their vitamin, mineral, phytochemical, and antioxidant content and nutrient density indicates the quantity of beneficial compounds per calorie.

Sesame pak choi and green beans (serves 4) 2 pak choi 200g fine green beans ½ tbsp sesame seeds 1 garlic clove (finely grated) ½ thumb-sized piece of ginger (finely grated) 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp sesame oil Optional extras: dried chilli flakes, soy sauce Top and tail the green beans, then steam for a couple of minutes until just starting to get tender. Meanwhile lightly toast the sesame seeds in a small dry frying pan, shaking them occasionally so they don’t catch. When they are a pale brown colour set them aside to cool. Cut the pak choi into eighths lengthways through the bulb and heat a wok or large frying pan on a medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, ginger, garlic, and fry for about 1 minute, stirring regularly. Add the pak choi and partially cooked beans to the pan for 12 minutes until the pak choi is tender and both are vibrant green. Before serving stir in the sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds, then enjoy! Rebecca Vincent BSc BANT registered nutritionist 07515 019430 rebeccavincentnutrition.co.uk

Welcome back to pub

The Kings Arms at East Stour would like to welcome customers back to ‘a spacious and safe environment with the same great food and value for money’. The pub is keeping up covid safe precautions, with staff in PPE and sanitiser provided. Customers are encouraged to use face coverings until they reach their tables. Customers are allowed to order/pay at the bar and don’t have to remain seated at all times. Ciaran Holmes, 30, took over at the Kings Arms in East Stour a couple of years ago. It was his first pub, after a stint working for Rick Stein and various pubs in Cornwall. There’s now a new member of the team after Ciaran and his wife had a baby during lockdown. He said: “We are making use of our huge sun trap of a garden (when weather allows). We have many tables, most with a parasol. “We have a £12 lunch offer Wednesday to Friday, as well as a lot of old favorites making an appearance on the menu throughout the summer. Classic fish pie, braised pork belly classic chicken curry. As well as something a bit different, curried mussels, Moroccan style lamb flatbread, fresh seafood dishes that change regularly. “And our famous, well renowned Sunday carvery is back up and running albeit slightly different in the way it is run.” The Kings Arms welcomes food orders from 12-2.30pm Mondays to Saturdays and 12-8pm on Sundays. Go to kingsarmseaststour.com or call 01747 838325. The pub is looking for experienced staff to join the ranks. Call for more details.

Enford

Farm Shop

Durweston DT11 0QW Home reared and locally produced meats, game, deli, fruit, veg, free range eggs and lots more. Follow us on Facebook for all our latest meat pack deals and what’s in fresh that week. Fresh 昀sh van in the car park Wednesdays 9.30am-2pm Half a pig approx £100 Chicken feeds etc available Open Wednesdays to Saturday 8.30am-4pm. Outside shop with self service for essentials 8am-8pm open daily 01258 450050

IT’S ALWAYS GIN O’CLOCK: Chris Sharp at his Mounters 13 distillery in Marnhull

Pictures: @wanderingaboutjournal

Ex-British Airways pilot’s village gin distillery is really starting to take off

By Steve Keenan

newsdesk@blackmorevale.net

A former British Airways pilot is flying high with his one-man boutique gin company in North Dorset. Chris Sharp, 59, took redundancy from BA at the start of covid-19 but had long been dreaming of a distillery. “I was on holiday with friends and my two children in Italy in 2012 and had a gin and tonic there. It was my first since I was 19. I was hooked,” says Chris. “In the next six months I bought 50 different bottles to taste and told the kids I was going to make my own. I didn’t. So they me bought me a three-litre still for my birthday and told me to get on with it. So I did.” The experimentation began, with Chris finally opting for 13 botanicals – nine dried, and fresh line, mint, ginger root and cucumber. His spring water is from Yawl, near Lyme Regis. “I wanted a floral taste. I just worked on that, adjusting the concentrations against the juniper. I made my first small batch, left it for a few hours and then tasted it. “I was a bit tiddly when I rang my daughter at Bath University and told her I was going to sell it. My son was doing economics, so we agreed he’d do the money, I’d make it and my daughter would taste it.” The 70cl, 42% ABV gin is called Mounters 13, after the area of Marnhull so named as it was reputedly a Roman encampment and lookout. The 13 reflects the botanicals. A name and label re-design came about last year and was based on advice – something Chris is quick to admit. “Getting out there, marketing and selling is my weakness.” The first bottle made went for research, among customers at The Crown Inn, Marnhull – his home village. It went down well and is stocked there and in The Ship at West Stour. His licence does not allow sales to the public but it is also now on sale at the Spar shop in Marhull, Dikes in Stalbridge, Shaftesbury Wines, Compton McCrae in Semley and The Royal Oak, Swallow-cliffe. Thyme after Thyme in Stur followed last week. He has also upgraded to a 60-litre copper still and has huge capacity to move up from a current output of 80 bottles a month, made in two batches. But Chris insists he is not in the same league as Dorset’s five big gin producers: Conker, Lilliput, Fordington, Pothecary and, most recently, Viper Gin in Cerne Abbas. “I am the oddball in the crowd,” he said. “I don’t seem to be going with the same energy and direction that the youngsters are doing. “But I want it to work. I am serious about it but I am not forcing it on people. I want to spend the next five years doing this, hopefully not by employing 20 people. But you never know….” More information: mountersgin.co.uk

The Queen’s Arms is under new ownership, currently hiring for: Sous Chef Housekeeper

To apply please email CVs to info@thequeensarms.com or tel 01963 220317

New Blackmore Vale, August 6, 2021 Food & Drink Paul crowned champion of sausages

By Steve Keenan

newsdesk@blackmorevale.net

Q: What happened when Ludlow butcher Paul Buttling won an award that recognised his sausages as the best in the country? A: He sold 4,500 of his champion pork and sage sausages in a week, 50% more than he sold the previous week!

The annual Meat Trades’ Journal competition is for independent butchers, and the Champion of Champions accolade is one that Paul has sought for two decades. “Dad used to attend southwest meetings of the National Federation of Meat Traders and won awards for his sausages many a time. “That’s how it started,” said Paul. You can see several trophies and certificates on the wall of their shop. But it was national recognition that the family sought for many years. “I’ve put my sausages in for the national Meat Trades competition about 10 times over the past 20 years. “Not bad for a little old back-end country butcher to come out on top!” The family buy most of their meat from a farmer in Taunton, and the pigs are reared in Devizes. The sausages are processed in the shop, with several varieties including pork with apricot or tomato and basil. But the pork and sage has always been the main winner, selling on average 3,000 sausages a week (500lbs). “When it came to competition, the cooking always seemed to be the problem,” he said. “But I think I’ve worked it out now. It’s all about level heat cooking the sausage all over and keeping it rolling for about 10 minutes. “I’ve just won it, so that’s it. I will enter again – that was the hard bit, winning our first one.” Paul and his parents moved from a butcher’s business in London in 1978 to take over the shop in Ludlow. Paul was just 17, and he studied at Salisbury Tech with a view to going into building. But it didn’t pan out that way. “I never intended to get involved but the business started to grow, and Dad needed another pair of hands. “Mum put on a bit of emotional blackmail and that was it!” His dad Tom died last December. “It’s funny. “I’ve got a picture drawing of him in the office and one evening last week, I looked up and it looked like he was smiling. It was spooky.”

PORK OF THE TOWN: Paul Buttling with his champion sausages and his trophy