Posts Tagged ‘scallops’

November – In Season

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

What a great month. The leaves are almost all down and the fruit is picked and packed away. November is the time of the year when you know the warm weather has gone and those cosy nights are leading you upto Christmas and the New Year. A sudden chill hardens off great seasonal veg and the last of those should be coming out of the ground. If you can find any blackberries still on the brambles, then it’s been a mild autumn to date.

The seafood is exceptional especially oysters, mussels and scallops. They go perfectly with a celeriac salad and following by hot pear or apple tart. A good fish but a sod to prepare, conger eel is at it’s best. If you like a fish with more bones than a halloween parade, then conger is for you.

Given that this is now the run up to the Santa season, there are also chestnuts, brussel sprouts and goose coming to their peak.

All of this is pales alongside the game season and fantastic venison and guinea fowl.

The only thing missing is squirrel. There has to be some way I can keep them away from the walnut tree :)

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October – In Season

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

What a great month for food. This is an especially busy period for collecting fruit and vegetables, blackberries come in to prime condition about now and apple will continue to ripen. Nuts and tree rats (squirrels) are also in abundance, with the latter trying to reduce the former.

Wild mushrooms are at their best in October and go very nicely with the game that is available at this time of year. Fresh garlic, horseradish and delicious root vegetables complete these robust dishes.

Some of the finest seafood is  to include coastal squid and gorgeous plump scallops.

The Autumn months do not offer the subtlest flavours of the year, but certainly provide hearty dishes running upto the cold season.

If you are lucky, you may witness some of the last goose migrating, you will certainly hear them. Some have already starting flying over the last week and one commentator remarked that this could signal a cold snap on it’s way.

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September – In season

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

The early Autumn delivers some great treats, even though it’s only one day in. Some of our favourites are wood pigeon, scallops and  beetroot. That just covers some of the starters on our new dinner menu.  There is also delicious Brixham crab in plaice, sweetcorn and fennel. To finish, some of our first batches of home made ice cream.

Autumn is full of strong flavours growing on bushes and falling off trees. This is the part of the year that produces the food that gets stored up for those long nights ahead. Walnuts will be ready in a few weeks and the last of the apples will have dropped by then. Plums get picked for jam and wine, which will be at it’s best in the Spring.

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