Harvest

When trying to decide how to best celebrate my birthday, I discovered that Alex James was going to be holding a festival on his farm in Oxfordshire which combined several of my favourite things all in one field, good food, music and cider. So with tickets to Harvest booked and a sprinkling of close friends I knew I had the recipe for an excellent birthday!

Charlotte and Julia also had a few surprises up their sleeves to make it an even more memorable birthday, starting with a delicious raspberry focaccia which we ate for breakfast at the tent before heading into the festival.

At Harvest there was an exciting array of yummy food stalls it was hard to decide what to eat first - and also easy to spend a small fortune.
We began with Meat Wagon burgers which were as delicious as always, the legend of the meat wagon has obviously not reached as far as Oxfordshire as there was no queue at all! Throughout the weekend we also ate fish and chips from the Sea Cow, which is another establishment local to us in London, hog roast with quince aioli from the Salt Yard tent, chorizo and haloumi wrap from Salad Days and Charlotte and Matt tried the fish dogs created by Mark Hix.
Other options included Mexican from Wahaca (which apparently David Cameron and his family had for lunch), the Mash Up gourmet pie company, Squid and Pear and a host of farmers market type stalls full of local produce. We'll have to go back next year to try all those!

There was a tent called the chefs table where you had to book in advance to secure a table which we hadn't done but we did sample some of the food by getting it to take away. All the dishes were made to recipes by the chefs appearing at the festival such as Ottelenghi, Emily Watkins and Stevie Parle. I had the excellent lamb meat balls with tomato sauce and polenta which were by Valentine Warner.

I have to say the music at the festival definitely played second fiddle to the food, this was no bad thing though, it just made for a very different festival experience. Usually we would be trying to find time to grab a burger in between bands, at Harvest however it was more a case of catching a few songs while deciding what to feast on next. There was always an eager crowd buzzing around the farmhouse kitchen stage, where as the bands sometimes had an active audience that you could count on one hand.

We thoroughly enjoyed watching all the cooking demonstrations, particularly when we managed to secure a seat on a hay bale close to the stage meaning we got to sample some of the dishes being produced.
On the Saturday we watched Nuno Mendes (Viajante), Stevie Parle (The Dock Kitchen) and Monty and Sarah Don. We then made sure we were in a prime position before Ottolenghi was due to take the stage. He cooked 3 dishes, a tomato based one with prawns, scallops and feta cheese which we managed to get a spoon full of, a salad featuring giant cous cous and a platter covered in a caramelized fennel dish.
Just as his set was coming to an end, the compare announced that it was the birthday of someone in the audience, they called me up on stage and everyone sang happy birthday while Ottolenghi presented me with an apple and olive oil cake which Julia had baked, smuggled into the festival complete with cake stand, iced and taken back stage!

The surprises didn't end there, on Sunday Charlotte and Julia tracked down Alex James by his cheese stall. They had carried a ceramic cheese dish to the festival which they filled with cheese on toast and got Alex James to give it to me!

On Sunday afternoon we watched Tom Kerridge (from The Hand and Flowers) cook cod with salt baked carrots and a fillet of sea bass with risotto which I think was the best recipe I got a taste of. Next on stage was the comedy duo of Mark Hix and Alex James who made loads of different dishes all containing cheese, they ran way over their allotted time slot much to the displeasure of Jay Rayner who was up next. The Sunday evening headliner was Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall who was promoting his new vegetarian cook book (recipes from which are likely to feature in future Keston Kitchen posts as it was one of my birthday presents).

We all had a brilliant weekend and I would definitely recommend the festival to any foodie fan. I am sure it will be bigger and better next year, if you are planning on heading to Harvest 2012 make sure you have full wallets and empty stomachs!

Rachael x

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The Piedmonte Diet

by Charlotte

Who ate all the Piedmonte?

Sunday pranzo (lunch) a la Barbara

Bruschetta with tomatoes

Salami crostini

Salmon crostini

Tomato mozzarella focaccia

Coleslaw

Cena (dinner)

Pasta al ragu

Pasta puttanesca (whore's pasta)

Birthday cake (record breaking-lightest sponge ever)

Merlot di Cascina Capriolo (courtesy of Alistair)

Pranzo - a kind of use up / get into Italian mode meal

Roasted red peppers

Insalata Caprese - home grown tomatoes (these crop up a lot) with mozzarella

Coleslaw

Bread

Peaches & Birra

Cena - Anni's Courgette Pasta*

Grated courgette, capers, olives, lemon juice and zest, and mint. Served with linguine and Parmesan.

Torta di Ali Perry - a French style apple tart served with natural yoghurt.

Espresso & Dolcetto di Cascina Capriolo

*New recipe!

Tuesday colazione (breakfast)

Chocolate cereal

Coffee and blood orange juice

Pranzo

Linguine al ragu

Cena - Pizza night #1

10 pizzas cooked at 350C

Toppings: mozzarella; artichoke; capers; tomatoes; olives; egg; peppers; onion; spicy salami; Parmesan

Wednesday colazione

Scrambled eggs with Parma ham and toast

Coffee and blood orange juice

Pranzo - Bar Roma, Santo Stefano Belbo

Bresaola con rucola e grano padano

Insalata caprese

Prosciutto e melone

Tomino e pesto con zucchine e melanzane

Prosciutto e mozzarella

A bottle of Arneis

Cena

Bruschetta

Veal Milanese with rosemary potatoes and grilled aubergine halves filled with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil

Aperol spritz & Prosecco

Thursday colazione

Chocolate rice

Coffee

Pranzo

Gazpacho a la Julia - smoother than an otter

Seabass stuffed with capers, lemon, parsley and breadcrumbs

Insalata caprese

Grilled radicchio with balsamic vinegar

Bread

Cena - a birthday dinner (hence the size)

Ten course dinner in the hills. Creative descriptions by Ali Perry...

Piedmonte focaccini with prosciutto lardo (sausage rolls)

Veal tartare with pear and Parmesan (brains)

Turkey with a salsa di tonno (Turkey mayo)

Tortina di courgette served with a cheese stuffed courgette flower (Wet quiche)

Starters over, onto the pasta...

Ravioli with sage butter (herb sacks)

The mains:

Pigs cheek and rabbit with courgettes and aubergines (Two meat and veg)

The puddings:

Tiramisu

Baked peach with a kind of brownie on top

Gelato - the minty kind

Budino do cioccolato - an alcoholic dense chocolate bar

Coffee e grappa followed by obligatory horizontal lying down

Friday colazione

Coffee - no room from previous night

Pranzo

Insalata #2 (tomatoes, lettuce, egg, tuna and sweetcorn)

Cena - Pizza night #2

Nb. Night of the special double egg top a la Lloyd

Saturday colazione

Plum cake

Coffee

Pranzo

Penne e pesto with artichoke and pancetta

Cena - Pasta e Pasta, Alba

Antipasti to share - Bruschette con lardo - melt in the mouth

Agnolotti Piedmontese a la ragu di Fassone - an area we think...

Other recommendations-

Risotto ai frutti di mare

Filetto de manzo Castelmagno (rare steak with cheese sauce - to die for)

Sunday colazione

Plum cake

Plums (susine - new word)

Coffee

Pranzo

Lasagna

Insalata - tomatoes and cucumbers

Bread

Cena - Pizza night #3

Nb. 80% flour and 20% semolina flour - great for moving the dough around

Aperol spritz & Vino rosso di Cascina Capriolo

Monday colazione

Coffee and tea

Cornflakes (very Italian)

Pranzo - Sapori di Langa, Santo Stefano Belbo

Set lunch menu

Grissini - great breadsticks that looked like wizards fingers

Two types of baked pasta - one with courgette / one with aubergine

Two types of pasta - spaghetti al ragu / penne arrabiata

Two meat courses - grilled chicken / roast pork

Red wine & Coffee

Airport

Focaccia col formaggio - so greasy but good

Grazie mille a Barbara e Alistair. Ciao tutti.

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Barrafina

by Charlotte

A while back I went to Barcelona and ate some amazing food. Around the same time I started hearing about Barrafina, and how it was London's Cal Pep (the best tapas place in Barcelona). Finally, about a month ago I went to Barrafina, and yes, I will be going back.

Barrafina is tiny and popular so one should abide by these rules:

If you are dining there for lunch arrive at 12.15 ideally, 12.30pm latest

At dinner you should aim to arrive by 6.30, no later

The best thing about it is you sit at the counter, not a table in sight. You watch the chefs pour you a glass of insanely good Spanish sherry and cook your food. Everyone is friendly and there's a real Spanish vibe amongst the packed in, hungry, excitable crowd. I was lucky enough to be advised by a regular diner (he chose everything) and our menu consisted of:

Summer Sherry 'En Rama'

Pimientos de Padron

Jamón de Jabugo

Chipirones - deep fired tiny squid!

Chips with Brava Sauce

Tortilla - it was a special that day and the name escapes me, however, it was quite possibly the best tortilla that has ever touched my lips

Brill

Beer to finish

A second trip is imminent...

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Barbeque the Italian way

by Charlotte

I recently gave these two recipes to our local magazine, Living South. Having spent some time thinking about a particular bbq in the hills of Bologna 7 years ago. On this occasion we got scooted into the hillside on the backs of mopeds vaguely knowing to keep an eye out for a patch of sunlight woodland. We found it and all the guys started to make the barbeque, lay a table, cook the meat and make all the salads – pretty impressive to us girls. It was all about the food, everything had to be perfectly chopped, dressed, marinated and presented. It was a delicious feast that I’ll never forget. Here are two Italian recipes that are good for sharing with friends.

Spiedini di miale (pork kebabs) - this makes six seriously meaty, authentic Italian kebabs.

12 x 1 inch cubes of pork (I use pork fillet)

6 Italian sausages – Cumberland are a perfect substitute

6 slices streaky bacon, cut in half

18 sage leaves

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 lemon, zested and halved

Extra virgin olive oil

6 skewers, soaked if wooden

Firstly marinate the meat. Twist the sausages into three so they balloon, cut them and put them in a bowl with the pork and the halved bacon. Add 12 of the sage leaves to the bowl. Using a pestle and mortar crush the garlic, remaining sage leaves and lemon zest to a pulp and then add four tablespoons of olive oil and the juice of half the lemon. Pour over the meat, mix and leave to marinade for 1-3hours.

Skewer the kebabs; I roll the bacon (two rolls per skewer), fold the sage leaves in half and alternate with three pieces of sausage and two pieces of pork per kebab. Put on the barbeque. If you fancy, throw some rosemary sprigs onto the coals before you put the meat on so that the leaves flavour the kebabs while cooking. When the meat is golden and cooked through serve the kebabs with the remaining lemon juiced squeezed over them.

Radicchio - the round purple lettuce from the Veneto with a bitter taste.

1 large radicchio, halved lengthways

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Season the halved radicchio on the cut side with salt and pepper, and rub with olive oil. Barbeque cut side down for a few minutes until hot through – the closed leaves will actually keep in the steam and help the lettuce cook. Turn it over and grill for 3-4 minutes more. Splash with balsamic vinegar and serve as a super side dish.

Enjoy.

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Pork Pies & Potted Things...

Pork Pies & Potted Things by Charlotte

The al fresco dining afternoon/soiree was planned for a beautiful mid July afternoon. Everything was going well, a little too well. To spice things up the rain arrived, I cancelled the borrowing of the bbq and announced grilled food with kitchen/lounge party as the order of the day.

In keeping with my Mark Hix obsession I had two recipes from British Regional Food planned, plus some salads, Matt's homemade burgers with Fergus Henderson ketchup, plus bits and pieces that others were turning up with, such as chilli halloumi, a large Tuscan sausage, Brasilian potato salad, homemade scones and raspberry coulis and Borough red wine. Treats, so many treats.

So, my chosen Mark Hix recipes were Pork Pies and Potted Shrimp. Two absolute classic dishes that Greg Wallace would be thrilled to get his little hands on.

The pies are very simple and tasty, requiring fatty pork shoulder and pastry made with hot water and lard; intriguing, warm and as Rachael will agree, the lard is key!

Here's what Mark says about his Pork Pies -

Makes 6-8

Homemade pork pies are nothing like the ones you buy in the shops. The pastry is easy to make and if you haven't got a mincer at home on your mixing machine, you can just chop the meat up very finely by hand. A helpful butcher might mince the filling for you. All you do is take a large disc of pastry and shape it round the filling into a bulgy-sided pie, then join it to a smaller circle of pastry at the top by pinching round the edge. You could use this recipe to make two big pies, or even one very large one.

I prefer to eat the pies warm rather than cold, as that brings out the flavour and the pastry tends to be crisper. You can also add other seasonings such as anchovy essence, mace or allspice and a bit of sage to suit your taste - it's entirely up to you.

For the filling

1kg boned shoulder of pork, including 20-30 per cent fat

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the hot-water crust pastry

500g plain flour

1tsp salt

175g lard

1 egg, beaten

First prepare the filling: chop some of the best bits of pork into rough 1cm dice and mince or finely chop the rest. Season it well and mix in the diced meat. Take a small teaspoonful of the mixture and fry it to check the seasoning, then adjust it if necessary. Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas 6.

Then make the pastry: mix the flour and the salt in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Bring 200ml water and the lard to the boil, then stir it into the flour with a wooden spoon to form a smooth dough. Leave the dough covered for about 15 minutes or so, until it can be handled.

Divide the dough into 6-8 equal pieces. Take one of the balls of dough and divide it into two balls, one twice the size of the other. Roll the larger piece on a lightly floured table to about 12-14cm in diameter. Use the smaller piece to make another circle about f half the size for the top. Put some of the filling in the centre of the larger circle, lay the smaller circle on top and raise the sides of the larger one up, then pinch the lid and the top of the sides together with your fingers. If it looks a bit of a mess, you can reshape it, as the pastry is quite pliable. Repeat with the rest of the pastry and filling.

Brush the pies all over with the beaten egg and cook them for 35-40 minutes. If they are colouring too much, cover them with foil and turn the oven down.

Serve them warm or cold, preferably with homemade piccalilli.

Next up Potted Shrimp...

Potting things is of interest to me. Its simple but exciting, several small filled ramekins giving off different aromas gets most peoples attention.

Mr. Hix, of course, did not disappoint - I came across his recipe for potted shrimp with tales of the shrimpers of the Sefton coast. I went to the fishmonger to check out the brown shrimp on offer and found them to be rather pricey. We had a chat and started talking about potting crab, which got me all excited and I ended up leaving with both shrimp and crab.

I potted them both in the same way according to the recipe and actually would have to say I enjoyed the crab rather a lot. The shrimp were good too but do have a slight maggoty look about them which most people managed to point out at some point.

Recipe as follows -

180g unsalted butter

Juice of a lemon

A good pinch of ground mace or nutmeg

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 small bay leaf

1tsp anchovy essence or paste

210g peeled brown shrimps (or crab meat – I used a mix of brown and white)

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Melt the butter in a pan, add the lemon juice, mace, cayenne pepper, bay leaf and anchovy essence and simmer on a low heat for 2 minutes to infuse the spices. Remove from the heat and cool the mixture until it is just warm.

Add the shrimps and stir well, then season with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Put the mixture into the fridge and stir every so often. When the butter starts to set, fill 4 ramekins with the mixture or spoon it on to plates. If you aren't serving them that day, return the ramekins to the fridge and cover with clingfilm. Don't serve the shrimps straight from the fridge, as the butter will be too hard to spread nicely on to the toast, and won't taste as good. Serve with hot buttered toast and lemon halves.

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Glastonburger

A world of extremes on Worthy Farm.

Devoted Keston Kitchen followers will have enjoyed, and been somewhat overwhelmed, by Charlotte and Matt's food diaries from their gastronomic tours (see On Location Paris and On Location Sicily for the comprehensive documentation of their holiday feasting).

Not to be outdone, Rachael and I decided to document our food consumption at our annual trip to Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts; the funnest five days of the year.

A scary prospect, given that we usually abandon our foodie ways and focus on finding excellent bands and dancing like lunes; relying on cider and rum to fulfil our nutritional needs.

However, as we have developed into mature women, we have become increasingly aware of the fine eateries that can be found on our treks between stages. In fact, there is an array of local, health-restoring, delicious meals to be bought.

But Glastonbury is a world of extremes. You will see from the food catalogue below that we have not abandoned our festival roots - there is an irrepressible urge for fried bacon in the mornings (of whatever quality) after particularly riotous nights. And Rachael has been on autopilot on the pre-festival supermarket run for over a decade: I had to point out that there is no need for a 29 year old woman who has been on Leith's cookery courses to eat dairylea dunkers. But the shopping list hasn't changed since Reading back in '99.

Thursday

(to note Rachael has already been here for a day guarding the pitch, but no food record exists)

I arrive at midday and decide that I must immediately have a pint of cider and a burger.

This was to reward the extreme mission I had just completed - it is too traumatic to go into, but involved carrying twice my body weight in camping equipment, sequined clothing, wellies and cider through the London rush hour - train/tube/train/bus - trekking through many many muddy fields and a heroic effort with an airbed and a £2 pump.

I was just at the point of collapse when Rachael announced that Meat Wagon were making their debut appearance at Glastonbury. Halleluiah.

Rachael and Julia both ate Dubble Bubble burgers.

Generally Glastonbury involves one proper meal a day*, followed by snacking on random items from the '99 list. Therefore for dinner:

Julia: Snack a Jacks. Hummous. Bread.

Rachael: Sainsbury's pasta salad. Dried apricots.

Friday

Breakfast

Rachael: cereal bar, carton of apple juice, satsuma.

Julia: woke to the immediate realisation that cereals bars wouldn't cut the mustard and headed straight for the nearest bacon buttie vendor.

Lunch

Rachael: Bread roll, hummous, french fries (s&v), caramel chocolate wafer biscuit (those ones with the red and gold foil), apple, dairylea dunkers

(Julia still full of bread and meat)

Dinner

Rachael: Stonebaked pizza: peppers and mushrooms

Julia: Stonebaked pizza: meat feast

Saturday

Breakfast

Rachael: Cereal bar, carton of apple juice, satsuma.

Julia: Bacon baguette the size of my forearm

Lunch

Rachael:Bread roll, avocado, McCoys (steak flavour), caramel chocolate wafer, apple, dairylea dunkers

Julia: no need

Dinner

Rachael:Thali Cafe butternut squash curry with rice

Julia: Realised severe lack of veg in recent days - headed to Manic Organic for a vegetable stir fry and side salad.

Sunday

Breakfast

Rachael:Cereal bar, carton of apple juice, satsuma

Julia: Sorreen malt loaf, apple, orange juice

Lunch (or more accurately, random snacks dispersed though the day)

Rachael: carrot cake, smoothie, doritos (cool original), apple

Julia: carrot cake, watermelon, iced-coffee

Dinner

Rachael: Made a pilgrimage to Pie Minister for a Henny Penny pie (of course) - chicken and porcini mushroom. With mash and mushy peas

Julia: Discovered an amazing organic falafel stand with no queue. Falafel on flat bread with hummous and three salads (carrot and orange, beetroot, leaves)

Monday:

Let's just say it involved a service station and a very long drive. Best not to divulge.

*Unless you are Robert or Jack, in which case you buy 4 meals a day, at least one of which is a Meat Wagon burger.

**not necessarily consumed in the am.

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Goosnargh Cakes (pronounced 'Goozna')

These little beauties are easy to make, they can be served as a sweet or savoury biscuit/cake, and not only that, they come from my favourite cookbook of the moment - British Regional Food by Mark Hix. These tasty little cakes, or biscuits, come from the north west, Lancashire to be precise. They can be dusted with sugar for a sweet kick or served with some cheese if you are that way inclined. This week I have been mostly eating Goosnargh cakes with cheese at my desk at 11am. Satisfying it has been.

They may remind you of shortbread with a caraway kick. Pretty darn good.

ingredients:

275g plain flour, sieved

225g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

20g caster sugar

2tsp caraway seeds

icing sugar to dust (optional)

method:

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.

Put the flour and butter in a bowl and rub together with your fingers until you achieve a breadcrumb-like consistency.

Add the caster sugar and caraway seeds and mix well. It should now be a smooth dough (mine was a little sticky so I added a bit more flour). If you think the dough is warm chill it in the fridge for ten minutes.

Roll out onto a lightly floured surface to about 1cm thick. Cut into rounds, I used a 7cm cutter.

Dust with sugar (or not if you're taking the savoury cheese route).

Bake for about 20 minutes until they just begin to colour.

You can dust again while hot and cooling on a wire rack.

Enjoy.

Thanks Mark.

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