Food Glorious Food In Exeter (from South West Farmer)

Farmers' home

Food, glorious food – in Exeter

By Frances Kitchin

I HAD a great "day out" at the Exeter Festival of Food and Drink. We motored down to the Honiton Road Park and Ride and then used our wrinkly tickets to get a free bus ride into the city.

I've visited Exeter more times than I'd like to admit but never before have I walked through the Northernhay Gardens which is certainly worth a visit. This show was great with marquees oozing with local producers displaying their wares and telling us all about their products.

The first stand that caught my eye was the "Cornish Blue".

These blue cheeses are made on a farm on the edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.

They make this rich, blue, soft and mild creamy cheese from their own herd of cows. Once they have been made they leave them to mature for 12-14 weeks before they are offer for sale. Over the years the cheese has won lots of prizes.

Not far from the above was very small company from Tiverton called Teoni's Cookies. On his display he had huge "rusks" that reminded me of those we gave our children years ago. I picked up a sample of his shortbread made from English butter. It was simply delicious and a far cry from other rusks. He calls these delights cookies and makes various flavours in small batches which he then slides into a cellophane sleeve and ties on a label with a piece of string. I had to try his stem ginger cookies which again went down a dream. On looking on his website I see he has a recipe using these so I've adapted it for you.

TEONI'S LEMON CHEESECAKE
200g Teoni's Stem ginger cookies, crushed
50g butter
Two 250g tubs mascarpone cheese
40g icing sugar
2 lemons (finely grated rind and juice)
50g melted chocolate for curls for decoration (Optional)*
1. Melt the butter and stir in the cookies and press in the base of a buttered flan dish.

2. With a fine grater take off the lemon rind and place in a large bowl. Cut the lemons in half and then take off four very thin slices for decoration before squeezing the rest and adding to the bowl. Stir in the icing sugar and cheese. Mix it well before spreading over the base.

3. Leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before decorating with the lemon slices and serving.

(* In their recipe they don't use the lemon slices but curls of chocolate as a decoration.) One meat I like to eat, as long as it's properly reared, is veal so I was very interested in The Real Veal Company from Looe in Cornwall. Their calves are from a pedigree Guernsey and Holstein herd. They are reared in small groups at Bocaddon where they are allowed to roam in the fresh air and if the weather is unkind they can shelter in loose straw yards. They are killed at 4-6 months and after that they are hung for 10 days thus producing a rich pink coloured meat. Most cooks are aware of escalopes but obviously there are many other cuts such as cutlets from the eye of the rib, shoulder which is ideal for a roasting or slow braising in a pot roast etc. Another well known dish using veal is Osso Buco which uses shin and traditionally you use the bones as well as then you get the marrow.

BACADDON OSSO BUCO
In a large pot heat a good knob of butter with some oil and then brown the veal shins on all sides. Remove and keep warm. In the pan add a large sliced onion, cubed carrot and celery and cook for five minutes. Replace the veal in one layer and add a glass of white wine, a small tin of tomatoes and enough veal or chicken stock to cover the meat. Gently simmer for 2 hours. The Osso Buco is done when the meat is very tender and the sauce has slightly thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Combine some parsley, lemon zest and garlic in a small bowl and sprinkle over the meat before serving with a risotto or buttered pasta.

When I saw Bramley and Gage's Sloe Gin I had to see if it tasted as good as mine and my Aunt Mary's. As a family we are noted for these excellent liqueurs and we both make it in the old traditional way. So does this firm and I must admit they have got a fine product. Amongst a vast display of bottles of liqueurs was a "Slider". When asking what it was they told me it was based on an old thrifty Devon tradition where they infused the sloes from the sloe gin in cider.

This firm was started 20 years ago by Edward Kain and Penelope Gage on their farm in South Devon where they made raspberry, strawberry and blackcurrant liqueurs in their farmhouse kitchen. After ten years they sold their farm and handed over the business to their son Michael and daughter Felicity who moved the business. They still make their products by hand and from whole fruit that they source locally and not from puree or concentrate. They say "There's no colouring or preservative in our fruit liqueurs, brandies or gins." I found they had a great recipe for a sauce to serve with duck.

PLUM SAUCE
12ozs (8ozs) stoned plums
Juice of an orange
3ozs (75g) sugar
5cl (2 fl oz) Greengage Liqueur or Sloe Gin
1. Purée the plums and put in a saucepan with the juice and sugar. Boil for five minutes. Add the liqueur or Gin, check the flavour and serve with a roasted duck.

As you know I grow a lots of herbs in my garden but during the colder months the supply dries up or gets sparse. On the whole dried herbs are not nearly as good as fresh but then this not always the case. DW Enterprises from Newton Abbot make life much easier as they blend together various herbs and spices and then packet them.

Here is one of their many recipes telling us how to use their products.

New potatoes take on a whole new identity with a dash of olive oil or a dab of butter and then coat them in Chilli mint, Dill & Fennel, Egyptian, Garlic and Herb Lemon Zing, Persian or Romana. Gives attitude to mashed potatoes too!

They suggest you sprinkle on a little "Dill & Fennel" to new potatoes and fish to give them extra flavour. There's a "Tasty tomato" to add to a seafood cocktail. While "Romana" based on an Italian seasonings are ideal for pastas. They sell marinades that are inspired by countries throughout the world.

There were several ice creams on offer but it as was a cold wet day I didn't give into temptation. One I passed, that I've known about for years, is Styles which is owned by David and Sue Baker. I remember her telling me that they going to start making ice cream that she had developed in her farm kitchen.

Later I was delighted when I saw this 1930's style "Stop me & buy one" tricycle with their name on it. Of course over the years they have expanded and now have 14 tricycles, plus modern delivery vans and trailers.

In fact in the summer months they employ over 70 people as they aim to visit over 300 shows and outside events each year. They make 15 different luxury ice cream from cows milk but they also have four flavours from ewe's milk. They found there was a market for this as for many allergy suffers they find sheep's milk was better for them than cows. So when summer does arrive do go and look for those tricycles and tell your grandchildren how we use to remember the bell ringing to tell us they were in our area.

A large crowd was around one exhibitor so I went to investigate and here, in a mass of steam, was "Georgie Porgie Puddings" dishing out samples of his hot pudding. He is a one band man who makes all his puddings in Ottery St Mary based on old traditional recipes. They have that old fashioned look as well as they are mostly round and wrapped in muslin so they just need to be steamed or boiled at home. He set up this business with financial help from Prince Charles. In fact, on one occasion when the Prince was visiting a show, he threw one for him to catch and of course got no end of publicity from this action. He makes 25,000 puddings a year, which includes Christmas Puddings, Spotted Dick, Treacle etc.

The Incredible Fruitcake was another sample I remember with pleasure. These people from Lower Metherell in Cornwall baked each cake in its own wooden box, which is then sold with a sliding lid which forms its own unique packaging. What is more, the box can be used time after time as they give you a recipe so you can make your own in future. The idea of using a wooden box instead of a tin cake tin comes from way back and by using it they tell me the cakes are nice and moist. The fruit cake itself is based on an old traditional recipe, using no additives, supplements or preservatives.

Frances Kitchin can be heard on BBC Somerset (95.5 MHz FM and 1566 kHz AM).

Email this

Comment

Newsquest
Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy © Copyright 2001-2008 Newsquest Media Group A Gannett Company
This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network