Seasonal Food | 99 Station Street

Posts Tagged ‘seasonal food’

Spring is here ?

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Officially Spring starts on the Vernal Equinox, to you and me, that’s the 20th of March each year. I like to think a bit more simply than that and call it when things start to grow again. About two weeks ago I saw the first shoots of wild garlic coming up in one our raised beds. The other sign is the lawn will need it’s first cut of the year this weekend. Overall, gardens lay pretty much dormant after all the leaves drop off and stay that way until March. The frosts should have gone and the ground is warming up. Something else that got my attention was the wormery suddenly sprang back to life and we needed to start feeding vegetable scraps and shredded paper to it.

Wild garlic growing in a garden is not wild, or is it? The “wild” bit is more of a name as it plentiful in woodlands outside of the domesticated environment. In the wild it tends to be found growing around trees, which is also a great place of interest for dogs. So, one key advantage of growing it at home, is that you can control what is grows in and what contaminants it might come into contact with. This is the same for any greenery, especially nettles, even though you really don’t want these growing at home.

Tags: In Season, seasonal food, spring
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January – What’s in Season

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

As Winter is firmly locked in, the more resilient foods flourish. Those hard root vegetables are at their best, parsnips, celeriac, sprouts and turnips all benefit from the cold snap. Guinea fowl and rabbit are available for the well wrapped up hunter and some deer are just coming to the end of their season. Firm white fish are optimum; monfish, halibut and turbot. If you like to chew on what has to be the closest relative of the hairbrush, try conger eel for it’s firm delicious meat and the unfathomable volume of bones. Some of the real gems are the shellfish; cockles, mussels, clams and winkles for those buttery, creamery, hearty bowlfuls. Oysters will be fantastic at this time of year and certainly keep at their peak until after Valentine’s Day.

Much of the food used at this time of year would have needed to be stored, preserved or immediately available to the cook. Some of the shellfish and game were gathered through foraging or hunting, vegetables stored in cold, dark places and other ingredients dried, salted or pickled. Perhaps it is no surprise that game seems to go well with a rich fruit sauce, as jam making may have been one way of keeping the produce for longer.

Our latest seasonal menu is available by clicking here

Tags: guinea fowl, In Season, january, oysters, rabbit, seasonal food
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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

Tags: guinea fowl, In Season, mussels, scallops, seasonal food, venison
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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.

Tags: blackberries, In Season, scallops, seasonal food
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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.

Tags: beetroot, In Season, scallops, seasonal food, september, wood pigeon
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Asparagus

Monday, May 11th, 2009

The season for English green asparagus is only about 10 weeks. It’s a gentle vegetable with rich flavour and very prone to abusive treatment.

Alongside meats, cheeses, tomatoes and some seawoods, asparagus has the fifth taste, umami. It is also a great source of water soluble vitamins, A & C. To bring out the great flavours and to preserve the nutrional content, the best way of cooking is to gently and briefly cook in unsalted butter. A tiny sprinkle of sea salt before serving adds to the crunch.

Select your asparagus by looking for firm stalks, not too firm, with a strong colour and a closed head. Imported, overgrown or aged stems will loose something from the above. They should snap easily when you are preparing them without leaving a stringy mass.

Tags: asparagus, In Season, seasonal food
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