 |
|
| NEW SUPPLIERS |
01 March 2009 |
|
GINGER’S KITCHEN
We are now stocking a delicious range of ready meals by ‘Ginger’s Kitchen’. Beautifully packaged in innovative pots, they are ready to eat within five minutes. Made locally by hand in small batches using the very best ingredients. The meat is sourced from our very own Elizabeth King Butchers, so you can be assured of the quality. The range includes Thai green chicken curry, roast butternut squash, mascarpone and sage risotto, Irish lamb stew, Italian meatballs with roasted peppers and a creamy vanilla rice pudding that is gently cooked for two hours.
THE PUDDING COMPARTMENT
It is not very often you try something that quite simply blows your socks off! The Pudding Compartment sent us a selection of samples and we knew you would love them just as much as us. They are just how a steamed pudding should be; rich, unctuous, sticky and packed full of flavour. They are available in two sizes; for one and another to share. Flavours include milk chocolate, Seville orange, ginger, sticky toffee and treacle pudding.
THE DORSET SWEET COMPANY
We are stocking a wide selection of hand-made sweets from the Dorset Sweet Company. Three varieties are on sale in our glass jars on the counter, which are an award winning fudge, chocolate animals and a winter assortment of boiled sweets. In little packs in the chocolate and sweet department, you will find old classics such as rhubarb and custard, Rosey apples, aniseed twists, sherbet lemons and liquorice allsorts.
|
|
|
|
|
| Return to top |
|
| SEASONAL RECIPE |
01 March 2009 |
|
QUAILS EGG, WILD MUSHROOM & BACON SALAD
This salad makes a quick and delicious light supper or starter. Quails eggs can be bought in both the Butchers and Delicatessen. You may prefer lardons of Pancetta, so please ask the Delicatessen staff to cut you a few thick slices.
Ingredients - Serves 4
4 quail’s eggs
200g of streaky bacon lardons
1 packet of organic mixed leaves
250g of cleaned wild mushrooms
Home-made vinaigrette
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
Method
Cook the bacon lardons in a little
oil until golden, then remove and keep warm Drain off a little oil and quickly sauté the mushrooms, seasoning with salt and pepper. Poach the eggs in simmering water flavoured with a spoonful of vinegar. To serve, dress the salad leaves with vinaigrette, season well and place in four bowls or plates. Toss over the wild mushrooms and bacon lardons, and then top with a beautifully poached quail’s egg.
|
|
|
|
|
| Return to top |
|
| MARCH SEASONAL PRODUCE |
01 March 2009 |
|
Amongst the very prized English vegetables, you will find curly kale, Savoy cabbage, purple sprouting broccoli, Cavolo Nero, brussels tops and sprouts, swedes, parsnips, carrots, beetroot, spring greens, spring onions, shallots, spinach and chard.
The choice of fruit is more restricted during the colder months, but we do have rhubarb coming in from Yorkshire. Chilled poached rhubarb, folded into Chantilly cream makes a luscious dessert.
Game is still available in plentiful supply and includes matured partridge, pheasants, mallard, pigeon, rabbit and hare.
Vacherin Mont D’Or comes to the end of its season in late March, but we see the arrival of Wensleydale, Comté, Coulommiers and Roquefort cheeses.
|
|
|
|
|
| Return to top |
|
| NEWS FROM THE KITCHEN |
28 February 2009 |
|
| Martin Murray , our head chef, continues to develop the range in the kitchen. March will be spent making changes to all of our food counters and he will introduce new and exciting home-made dishes. Just this week he stocked the fridge with chicken liver and Cognac pâté, creamy and tangy Baba Ganoush and a packed-full-of-flavour duck rillettes. We are lucky enough to have tried them already! |
|
|
|
|
| Return to top |
|
| VACHERIN MONT D’OR |
28 February 2009 |
|
| The cheese is shaped in cloth-lined moulds, then encircled with a strip of spruce bark and washed with brine for at least three weeks. The spruce imparts a resinous flavour to the pale interior of the cheese which becomes almost liquid as it matures. Before eating, the top rind is removed from the cheese and the paste is spooned out. In season from October until March. |
|
|
|
|
| Return to top |
|
| COMMITED TO ENGLISH MEAT |
01 February 2009 |
|
Our selection of beef, pork, lamb and chicken is now reared in England.
Dunstall Estate beef is farmed in the Derbyshire hills by Simon Clarke and is traditionally reared to the highest of welfare standards. Skilled stockmanship, the best animal husbandry and natural feed has resulted in extra matured beef of the finest quality, full of tenderness, flavour and succulence. The stock is entirely taken from premium Charolais and South Devon Cross young heifers under 20 months old. Reared on a natural feed of grass, hay, root, cereals and always free from additives and hormones. Their herds are all located less than 5 miles away from the abattoir, reducing stress and keeping food miles to a minimum. Dunstall Estate beef is extra matured in the traditional way; hung on the bone for a minimum of 21 days, allowing the beef to naturally develop its distinct and succulent flavours.
Our pork comes from Plantation Pigs, who farm traditional breeds that naturally thrive out in the fields, roaming completely unrestricted within their social groups. Plantation Pigs live on GM free diets from traditionally grown crops, are fully traceable and regularly monitored. Their lifestyle produces beautiful, firm textured, juicy pork. Plantation pork is also used in our home-made sausages.
Brety Lambcomes farm-assured lamb comes from the Falder family, who has been farming for over 100 years in the South Derbyshire hills. The stress-free environment, along with the grass based diet, gives all the right qualities to produce succulent and tender lamb.
All of our poultry is English reared, including our entry level barn-reared farm-assured Banham chickens. We also stock English free range poussin, Packington free range chicken, duck, pigeon, mallard, grouse, partridge, pheasant and guinea fowl, all of which have a delicious depth of flavour. Sutton Hoo organic chickens complete our range of poultry.
|
|
|
|
|
| Return to top |
|
| PEAR, RADICCHIO, HAZELNUT & GORGONZOLA SALAD |
31 December 2008 |
|
Serves 4 as a side salad
A handful of hazelnuts
1 large radicchio Treviso
2 handfuls of watercress, thick stalks removed
100g Gorgonzola, crumbled
1 ripeish pear
½ tbsp redwine vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp hazelnut oil
1 Heat a frying pan, throw in the hazelnuts and stir until the brown skins start to flake and char. Rub them in a tea towel or a piece of kitchen paper to remove the skins, then lightly crush with a rolling pin.
2 Halve the radicchio Treviso and cut out the hard core at the base. Tear the leaves into bite-size pieces and put in a salad bowl with the watercress. Slice the pear lengthways, removing the core, then halve the slices and add to the leaves.
3 Mix the vinegar and lemon juice with the mustard and season well with salt and pepper. Whisk in the oils until thoroughly mixed, then toss with the salad and half the hazelnuts. Scatter the remaining nuts and Gorgonzola over the top before serving.
|
|
|
|
|
| Return to top |
|
| PARSNIP, APPLE & CHESTNUT SOUP |
31 December 2008 |
|
Serves 6-8
50g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
700g parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 medium Bramley apple, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp runny honey
175g peeled cooked chestnuts
1.5 litres vegetable or chicken stock
100ml double cream (optional)
1 Heat the butter and oil in a large heavy-based pan until the butter begins to foam. Stir in the onions and cook for 8-10 minutes to soften, ensuring they do not colour.
2 Add the parsnips, apple, chestnuts and honey and cook for a few minutes. Pour in the stock, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer for 20 minutes until the parsnips are cooked.
3 Blend until smooth and return to the pan. Season to taste and reheat before serving with crusty wholemeal bread and English butter.
|
|
|
|
|
| Return to top |
|
|
