Cider Apples and Drunken Wasps

We have five cider apple trees and have just planted the same again. Fun

Collect them.

Break them up in the ‘scratter’.

Squash’em. Put the juice in a tub and let it do it’s work.

All you need is apples to make cider.

Beef shin in Cider

1000g             beef shin, diced into 1 inch cubes

30g                  seasoned flour

3tblsp             vegetable oil

250g               onions sliced

600ml               brown stock

300ml             cider

salt

pepper

250g               carrots peeled and diced

250g               turnips peeled and diced

2                      sticks of celery, cleaned and diced

 

Flour the meat. Heat oil fry onions until transparent then add meat and fry until brown.

Mix stock and cider and deglaze pan. Bring to boil.

Remove white scum from surface. Add other veg. Reduce cover and cook for 4 hours in low oven.

 

 

Topsham Bacon and Beer Festival Sept 20th – 21st 2014

Hosted by our charcuterie friends ‘Good Game’, and The Beer Temple.  Come along to enjoy both beer and bacon at the very first event of its kind in Topsham. 

The event is aid of Hospiscare.

 Advanced tickets will include:

Your own Topsham Beer and Bacon Festival tasting glass to keep.

First drink free and £3 a pint

Live Music from local bands

Bar offering their own and guest draught beers form (Exeter, Hunters, Hanlons and Tophsam Ales)

Bottled beer ranging from small local craft brewers to foreign stuff.

Larger and Cyder as well as a Wine Bar from Pebblebed

Food –  food vendors selling Pork and BBQ based food. Expect some of the following: Pork Heaven Pizza, Slow Roasted Pulled Pork, A Hog Roast, Smoked BBQ Pork and Beef and La Cantina Pork special.

Raffles and Competitions all in aid of Hospiscare.

Tickets are £5 for the day or £8 for both days, if purchased in advance.

 

September 20^th & 21^st  Saturday 4pm until Midnight, Sunday Noon until 9pm

at 

Topsham Rugby Club. Under 18’s free, family entertainment on Sunday.

For more details email steve@good-game.co.uk or rjenkins@thebeertemple.co.uk or call 07920 527691

Exmouth mussels cooked in cider with a dash of clotted cream

Mussels from the fast flowing river Ex, cooked with chopped shallots, vintage cider and a dash of clotted cream, all sopped up with delicious sourdough bread –  what could be more Devonium?

We returned from Powderham Food Festival laden with booty.  Three kilos of fresh mussels came from The Exmouth Mussel Company who use an innovative self-fluidising elevator to lift the mussels rather than traditional dredging which damages the sea bed. The elevator is low impact, allowing the maintenance of the “underwater rainforests” of the Ex. The cider

was vintage and bottle fermented, from Yarde, a Devon company that make delicious drinks  from unsprayed Devon fruit. The bread, oh the bread, from Red Dog Bakery,  in Black Torrington, mid Devon, is worth driving miles to find. In fact, I’ve just had to stop writing and go and get a piece to eat right now. I’m dipping it  in some peppery olive oil with a pinch of gray, mineral-ly  sea salt I bought back from France. Mmmm. Anyway, back to the mussels.  We invited some friends and made a simple meal.  The mussels were already cleaned by the Exmouth Mussel company (no fiddling around with beards) and packed in a modern tray system that  keeps them fresher, only 5 shells out of 3 kilos had expired with open mouths. I then soaked and rinsed them in a couple of changes of water over the period of an hour. Then all you need is:

3 kilos of mussels and a big pot (served 3 adults 5 children)

A nob of butter

3 banana shallots or 9 small shallots peeled and chopped finely

3/4 of a 75cl bottle of Vintage Yarde Cider 

A spinkling of salt

A tablespoon  or so of clotted cream

A good handful of chopped flat leaf parsley

Method:

Melt the butter in the pan, add chopped shallots and saute for a few minutes until the shallots have softened.  Pour in the cider and heat to barely a simmer. Add the mussels and place a lid on the pan as they come to a boil.  Wait for 3-4 minutes and then holding the lid firmly in place, shake the pan. Replace on the heat and cook for a further 3 minutes. After this time take of the lid and check that the mussels have opened. If not put the lid back on and give them a bit longer and a bit more shaking.  When ready, scoop them out into a bowl with a slotted spoon. Add cream to the remaining soup and stir, taste, add salt if needed. Finally, add the chopped parsley and pour over the mussels. Serve with plenty of bread, napkins and bowls for the shells. Enjoy, we did.

Powderham Food Festival 6th October at the castle in Devon

The archivist in the music room at Powderham Castle ph. Matt Austin

I’m thrilled to be promoting the very first Powderham Food Festival, on 6th October 2012, (sponsored by Helpful Holidays). The event will celebrate West Country food producers in a spectacular location – Powderham Castle: a 600-year-old stately home, set amidst a beautiful deer park with breathtaking views across the Exe Estuary. The historic setting not only serves as a stunning background but will be at the heart of the festival, linking the food of the past with producers in the present. The festival will take place inside the majestic ground floor rooms and outer courtyard, with stalls, food demonstrations and tastings by artisan makers.

Some Highlights:

The Courtenay Family’s Golden Age – Food Accounts of the 1700’s by Powderham archivist Felicity Harper, the Powderham Castle archivist will discuss the Castle’s culinary stories such as the flamboyant third Viscount’s three day birthday party, supplied by “ten wagons of provision from London and supplemented by delicacies from Exeter and the adjacent towns” that cost hundreds of thousands of pounds in 1790.  Investigations into kitchen purchase ledgers and account books (see a video of the book by pressing the blue words) have raised fascinating questions of diet and custom during the period, from why they bought such quantities of lemons to the unexpected popularity of estuary cockles? The records will be on display and Felicity Harper will discuss their contents and share her knowledge.  There will be a Q&A session after the talk and she will be available throughout the afternoon to chat to the public about life in the castle in the eighteenth century.

James Crowden – The Renaissance of Westcountry Cider

James Crowden is poet and renowned cider expect.  He is the author of Ciderland, which charts the development of cider making in the West Country, from the sixteenth century monks to the diverse industry of today. Crowden will discuss the beautiful and fragrant West Country orchards, describing how the best cider makers translate their passion into the process and treat each different batch of cider like winemakers would a vintage.

Shaun and his family took over the management of the Farm Shop at Powderham Castle eighteen months ago.   Ryder’s Homemade Bakery, is part of the shop, and he has campaigned for many years to make loaves without any additives or improvers.  Ryder bakes rustic loaves (the farmhouse cobs have no less than a 32-hour fermentation) which develop a wonderful crust and flavour.

Fishing in the Estuary at Powderham – Talk, demonstration and tastings

Clovelly fisherman, Dan Garnett unapologetically fanatical about fish and fishing, Dan conducts his own one-man crusade for the North Devon fishing industry. He’s committed to sourcing and selling the freshest local fish of the finest quality, straight off our local boats.  Dan will be demonstrating, creating a recipe and talking about Westcountry Seafood (Powderham had huge fish bills – crab, lobsters and cockles).

Wine in the Devon area from the Romans to today.

Pebblebed Vineyards have been proudly producing Devon wines, just south of Exeter, for the last ten years. The first commercial vintage of Pebblebed Rosé 2004 caused a stir when it was a surprise winner of a prestigious Gold Medal in the English and Welsh Wine of the Year Competition, one of only a handful of Gold Medals presented.  They now also produce red, white and a particularly fine sparkling rosé.  They have just opened a new winery, run regular vineyard tours and do tastings with local tapas at their wine cellar bar in Topsham. His ‘Partner Vineyards’ scheme was on the BBC Dragons Den, successfully gaining the support of Duncan Bannatyne. Partners invest in the vineyard, join events and get their money back in wine (with their own label) over ten years. Geoff will be talking  about the history of winemaking in Devon

Gabrielle Jackson making Chocolate Teatime Goodies

Gabrielle is a cook, TV producer and winner of “Best Chocolate Cake in Britain”. She produced three series of “Rhodes Around Britain”, and has worked with Heston Blumenthal among many other noted chefs. She champions British food and will be bringing her historical knowledge and culinary expertise to provide a fantastic chocolate demonstation and tasting of teatime treats. She will be demonstrating with Midfield Granola

Shute Fruit talk on fruit vinegar and jams

Shute Fruit and Produce is an established family farm run by Lori Reich and David Lamboll. Lori’s award winning jams, jellies and pickles are based on our own grown produce which she makes in her farmhouse kitchen stirring up over twenty different delicious varieties of preserves using plenty of love, traditional recipes, family secrets and contemporary innovations. They also do pick-your-own at the farm see their website for what is in season http://www.shutefruit.co.uk/ Lori will talk and demonstrate the making of fruit vinegars and discuss their huge popularity in the past.