Raw Asparagus Salad Recipe

Unlike last year, the busiest time in the Summer food show season is being blessed with golden English sunshine. So, it was with a cheery bounce in my step that I recently set off for the inaugural Newbury Food Festival.

I knew that this show would be special since I had already arranged a cookery demonstration with our Lemon, Basil, Bay & Juniper Vinegar. Having corresponded a few times over the years with award-winning blogger, Caroline Taylor, this was the first opportunity we had to meet and for me to introduce Caroline to our whole range. Do take a look at her site, All that I'm Eating, where you will find some beautiful food photography doing justice to some interesting recipes like Elderberry and Apple Turnovers and Spring Green and Bacon Potato cakes. Also there is an asparagus recipe which Caroline adapted to take advantage of the depth of flavour of our vinegar, thus:

Raw Asparagus Salad with

Lemon, Basil, Bay & Juniper Vinegar

Photo courtesy of Caroline Taylor

You will need (for two):

A bunch of asparagus

Rapeseed Oil

Old Winchester (or Parmesan)

Womersley Lemon, Bay, Basil and Juniper Vinegar

Black pepper

Remove the woody ends of the asparagus but leave enough to hold on to. 

Peel the asparagus from stem to tip, keep the stems (non woody) for making into a soup, or if you’re feeling really adventurous a soufflé or sorbet. 

Pile all your peelings into a bowl, drizzle over some rapeseed oil, the Womersley vinegar, pepper and a healthy shaving of Old Winchester. 

Serve. 

 

Ceviche in Cheltenham

Grandfa and Oliver

Food shows come and food shows go. As an exhibitor, you don't always know what to expect: plenty of opportunity to catch up with fellow exhibitors, a mad panic to protect your stock from being ruined in a downpour of English weather or lots of enthusiastic people eager to talk about artisan food production.  And so it was in Cheltenham last weekend where I attended the Food Festival for the first time...

On the way there very early on the first morning of three, I had time to work out that it was fully 29 years since I had been at school at Cheltenham College. Maybe I should not have been so surprised to find myself having become a grandfather to a very beautiful boy called Oliver in the same week!


The festival was in the beautiful setting of Montpellier Gardens. We were in a large marquee surrounded by lots of other lovely producers like Cotswold Gold, Grumpies Pies (thanks for the lunch!) and Artisan Smokehouse who use maple for all their smoking, which makes particularly their smoked duck taste really sweet and tender. Being practically unique, we rarely find ourselves having to compete with many other fruit vinegar producers so we enjoy talking to people about how to use them and how to be creative in the kitchen with a good glug of our vinegars. When possible, though, we try to ensure our vinegars are included in the cookery theatre or we work with a local chef to showcase a recipe. I had recently met a charming fellow called Wayne Sullivan at an event at the impressive herb and micro leaf growers, Westlands, near Evesham and found out he is a head chef in Cheltenham, so I asked if he would like to do a demonstration on our stand on the Sunday. He loved the idea and, fresh from having moved house, he turned up with his whole family to show just how easy it is to make a delicious salmon ceviche. And, being a chef, this was also a great opportunity for visitors to ask questions about food preparation and mixing flavours and what is ceviche! (Ceviche is, put simply, raw fish marinated in citrus juice or vinegar and spices; the acid in the juice denatures the proteins in the meat in much the same way as cooking would. The flesh becomes opaque, the texture firmer and dryer, yet the flavours remain spanking fresh. Naturally, our vinegars do the job beautifully).
So, on a day off from his role as Head Chef at the local Storyteller Restaurant, Wayne made a delicious salmon ceviche with our Strawberry & Mint vinegar and finished with our Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender for a punchy sourness.

Salmon Ceviche with

Strawberry & Mint and

Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender

Vinegars

by Wayne Sullivan

Ingredients:
200g fresh salmon, diced as fine as you can make it
1 red chilli, finely sliced up to the seeds (or a little further up for more spice)
1 whole spring onion, finely sliced
10g coriander, finely chopped.
1 lime, zested & quartered
Sea salt
10ml Womersley Strawberry & Mint vinegar
Toasted ciabatta, crackers, biscuits (anything crispy)
Womersley Lime, Black pepper & Lavender Vinegar (for drizzle before serving)

Method:
Prepare all ingredient in a bowl as fine as you can as this will ensure the vinegar can infuse, cure and tenderise.
Try not to prepare too far in advance but the longer you leave it then the more cured the fish will be.
Simply spoon small quantities on to pieces of toasted ciabatta, drizzle over the Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender vinegar and serve.

This recipe was inspired by Wayne's time as head chef at Storyteller, an eclectic fusion restaurant in Cheltenham that blends traditional Californian cooking with modern and European techniques.

After training at a local college, Wayne worked his way around Gloucestershire, fronting up some premier kitchens as well as working for a while in Australia. He then went on to stage at Petrus under Marcus Wareing, and over in the United States at Wheatleigh Hotel, in Lenox, Massachusetts.

A big fan of Sat Bains, Richard Davies and Daniel Clifford, his ultimate goal is to have his own little place where he can cook food that people will come from all over to eat, preferably by the sea.

You can follow Wayne at twitter.com/ChefWayner 

 

Wayne Sullivan

Taste of Game

Why eat Game? It is Wild, Natural and Healthy. Game live in the wild and are free to roam: the ultimate in free range! Game is not domesticated, they enjoy a life in the wild. Venison, for instance, is lower in fat than chicken and game species have no artificial feeds, chemicals or additives, they are just as nature intended.

A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to meet José Souto who has worked as chef at the House of Commons, Mosimann's, the Ritz and the Savoy Grill. When he was at the House of Commons, he also wrote a manual on game cookery and followed this up by taking up the role of chef lecturer in culinary arts at Westminster College. Since taking the post, José has built a good reputation as one of the country's leading game chefs, also educating others on the harvest and preparation of game. I met José at Covent Garden Market for a blackberry convention and he demonstrated how superbly our Blackberry Vinegar tenderised and flavoured a loin of venison. In a recent recipe leaflet for the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) José included this lovely recipe for Roast Saddle of Hare with our Blackberry Vinegar:

Serves 2

 

José likes to share his knowledge on game with chefs as well as home cooks, so if you are interested in learning a bit more about the harvest, preparation and cookery of game, there is a wonderful opportunity to attend a one day game seminar at Westminster Kingsway College coming up very soon:

This is a one of its kind event and is as popular as ever with many areas of the hospitality industry regarding it as a must in the CPD of their staff now that wild food and game has become such a large part of our menus. For students it is a must as the seminar covers all Game theory students need for VRQ and NVQ qualifications.
The Game seminar gives attendees the ability to be educated and have a good understanding about the wild game that is produced by our countryside and it also gives them the ability to understand its background and provenance, enabling them to give this information on menus and add value to the product as well as be aware of costs and potential profits that can be made from preparing your own wild game.
Whether you are a Chef, foodie or Countryman or Lady the Game Seminar will be of interest to all.
There are 2 dates in January this year: Monday the 21st and Monday 28th January. There is a little more information on the Westminster Kingsway College site, too. Let me know if you are interested and would like more information on how to book ASAP as places are limited and I will pass on your details to José.
Are you game enough?

Canapes and Cake

A little while ago, I paid a visit to BBC Radio Oxford to talk to the charming Bill Buckley about vinegars on his Sunday lunchtime show. It was a funny feeling: a mere, ahem, 30 or so years earlier, I went to Summer Fields prep school on the opposite side of Banbury Road. Little could I have predicted that I'd be in a radio studio across the road years later...
For this visit, I thought it would be good to show Bill a couple of ways you can use fruit vinegars and so produced a savoury and a sweet canape and a Gluten Free drizzle cake with a twist. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Urvashi Roe for the inspiration for the canapes and Simon Blackwell for the cake: both British Bake Off Greats.

 

Smoked salmon with fresh herb salad,

Womersley Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender vinegar dressing

Use a quality smoked salmon for this dish.

Mixed garden herbs (chives, parsely, thyme) dressed with a little virgin oil

Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender vinegar to taste

Slice the smoked salmon thinly, sprinkle over the herbs and drizzle over the vinegar

Leave to stand at room temperature for about half an hour before serving

Blinis/Pastry cases with Mascarpone and Blackberries macerated in Womersley Blackberry Vinegar

Ingredients:

6 Blinis or Pastry cases

A 250g tub of Mascarpone

Womersley Blackberry Vinegar

Blackberries

Method:

Place 6 blackberries in a smal bowl with a couple of teaspoons of Blackberry Vinegar and leave to macerate for a quarter of an hour

Blend a teaspoon of the Blackberry Vinegar into 100g Mascarpone

Level fill your pastry cases with the blended mixture and top with a juicy Blackberry

Serve

Urvashi Roe did these when we were exhibiting at BBC Good Food last November at the NEC. She made them look really pretty with the addition of edible flowers; sadly my photo does not do them justice, though:

   

Gluten free Lemon Drizzle Cake

 with Womersley Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender Vinegar Drizzle

Ingredients for the cake:

125g unsalted butter

75g caster sugar

2 large eggs

Zest of one lemon

175g gluten free self raising flour (we used Doves Farm)

Pinch of salt

4 tablespoons milk

Ingredients for the Drizzle:

Juice of 1½ lemons

100g icing sugar

2 tbsp Womersley Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender vinegar

Method:

- Pre-heat oven to 180°C/ gas mark 4

- Butter and line a loaf or cake tin (make sure the lining goes well up the sides of the tin)

- Cream together butter and sugar, add eggs and lemon zest and beat well

- Add flour and salt, folding gently until mixed

- Add milk and mix in

- Spoon cake mix into prepared tin

- Cook for 45 minutes until golden and skewer comes out clean

For the Drizzle:

(Make just before the cake is due out of the oven)

 -    Put icing sugar, lemon juice and Womersley Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender Vinegar into a small saucepan

-    Heat gently until the sugar is dissolved and the vinegar has reduced the mixture to a viscous drizzle

-  When cake is ready, take out of the oven and pierce it all over with a skewer. Pour the drizzle all over. Make sure the cake is totally cooled before taking out of the loaf tin or it will crumble.