May News

May Day bank holiday brought with it some precious and lovely sunshine. Like many, I spent most of the day in the garden; digging and hoeing, pacing and juggling and eventually sitting in it, with nearly all of the Relish Team for the first of hopefully, many alfresco meals. The next version of the MR website is nearly ready to go live. Neatly sitting in amongst these newly crafted pages lies the Philosophy of Malton Relish; five bullet points that remind me of what I’m doing, Plant, Grow, Cook & Eat together is one of these bullet points. And sunny bank holidays are a great help to fulfilling these pointers. Now I just have to try and keep all my plants alive so that I can feast on many vegetables through the latter half of this year.
May is going to be a busy month, this weekend is a Food Lovers Market, May 11th and Relish will be in the Milton Rooms. Asparagus & Wild Garlic is the theme of the market and Relish will be offering some tasty specials with this in mind. Carol is flexing her mussels after a couple of well-earned weeks off and Scotch Eggs and Dodger Pies will soon be piling up in her wake. Nicki’s taking charge of quiches which this month will be filled with salmon and wild garlic. I’m in charge of filo pastry; veggie bombs and filo baskets will be bursting with flavour, asparagus, Parma ham and host of other special treats. We’re holding back though, just the tiniest bit as the following weekend brings the great annual Food Lovers Festival, 18th & 19th May. A weekend packed full of amazing foodie treats. More stalls than ever will be set up in the main square, cooking tents, beer tents, demo stages and much, much more will be on offer for you, so make sure you get the chance to come down and see what’s putting Malton on the Foodie Map. Relish will be going great guns over both days; the shelves are beginning to groan under the weight of all the amazing stock that our fabulous producers have created. Ali has the shop team polishing every surface and in the kitchen we are trying not to add to the list of ideas on the Board of delicious and tasty products to tempt you all through our doors. And this year we are not stopping at the food – not all of the deliveries are perishables. Relish is branching out into eco-friendly lunch bags, stylish water bottles, recycled bamboo crockery, and cleverly designed picnic kits. Everything has one thing in common, to help you make the most of these special days of sunshine. The 2013 picnic menu is now up and running, copies are available in the shop and orders can be taken over the telephone and via the website.

A Picnic For A Special Occasion, or Just Because You Fancy It!

£25 per head, supplied in a sturdy Relish Bag

Asparagus spears wrapped in Parma Ham with hollandaise sauce
Black Pudding Scotch Quails Eggs
Potato Blinis with Beetroot & Sloe Gin cured Salmon
Fresh olives, caper berries & tapas nibbles
(Veggie alternatives available on request)

Individual Smoked Salmon & crème fraiche Quiches
Relishes Special Shooters Sandwich
Broad bean salad with preserved lemon, Halloumi cheese, Pomegranate seeds
German Potato Salad
Coconut & Mango Rice Salad with slivers of peppers and fresh herbs in a Lime dressing

Sherry & Cherry Cake

Handmade Truffles

Order online @ http://www.maltonrelish.co.uk or
info@maltonrelish.co.uk or 01653 699389

And just in case you thought two great food occasions within the month wasn’t enough, lastly but by no means least, comes the Relish Supper Club. This month on Wednesday 29th May we shall be hosting another Italian Evening. Back by popular demand as tickets sold out so quickly for the last one, but this time with a very different menu.
Chicken Liver Crostini will be served as canapés. Carpaccio of beef with local Asparagus as the first course. Local lamb cutlets, stuffed with mushrooms, tallegio & truffles follow as the main course, alongside buttery polenta and spring veg and to finish with Tiramisu, a recipe direct from Malton’s Godfather of Food, Antonio Carluccio. As every places are strictly limited so please call the deli on 01653 699389 to book and pay for places, they soon get snapped up.
But to return to the garden and so to the kitchen, as the sun begins to shine with great warmth I tend to choose food from sunnier climbs to cook; with a few stronger herb and spice tastes that compliment this great yellow orb in the sky. They also have the benefit of being meals that can be served at room temperature, which means a lot less stress for the cook. This dish comes courtesy of The Ginger Pig, a great Yorkshire Producer. Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemons is a dish, where the herbs and spices make the it sing, whilst the long slow cooking means a very tender chicken, packed with taste,& a cook with time on her hands for a spot of gardening!
Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemons
2 onions, finely chopped freshly ground black pepper
2kg chicken olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed 1 letter chicken stock
1 tsp ginger 200g kalamata olives
1 tsp cinnamon 2 preserved lemons
2 tsp grnd cumin 1 bunch parsley & corriander – leaves only
1 red chilli 2 pinches of saffron strands

Heat some oil in a casserole dish large enough to hold the chicken and gently cook the onions until soft. Add ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cumin, chilli, saffron & pepper, cook for 1 min, cool, then smear the resulting paste all of the inside and the outside of the chicken.
Put the chicken into the casserole, add the stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover with a lid and simmer for 1 ½ hrs, turning the chicken a couple of times. When the chicken is cooked remove it from the pan and keep warm. With the metal spoon skim any excess fat from the edge of the stock pan and then boil rapidly until reduced in volume by half.
Return the chicken to the pot, along with the olives, preserved lemons, parsley & coriander. Bring back to the simmer for 2 mins and then serve.

April Newsletter

What seems like the longest winter on record is drawing to a close: there is just the slightest suggestion that spring rather than snow is in the air. The clocks have changed and albeit from the comfort of my cosy sitting room I can enjoy the longer evenings and the chance to plan a few things to get done around the garden. The veggie patch stills lies barren but hopefully it will not be long before it becomes a dark and damp oblong with straight lines and tags that promise a wealth of treasures for the season to come. I’m not the best of gardeners, too long is spent in the kitchen creating the end products but planning what delicious things are going to crop here is a fabulous part of the process. My usual strategy is to plant the things that I cannot buy but having recently been able to get candy stripped beetroot, Salsify and horseradish this year’s produce is going to be more of a challenge!

The April supper club will take place on Wednesday 17th, again with a Spanish theme, but this time without the wine tasting. The starter will be Aubergine Granada with some artisan bread from the fabulous haxby baker who now comes to the Malton Food lovers market on the second Saturday of each month. The main course will be baked fish with a garlic & paprika mash with wild garlic and local watercress muscling in on an otherwise authentic dish and these will be followed by an orange flan, juicy sweet Spanish oranges set with eggs in a dish not dis-similar from crème caramel. Tickets are £15 and please book and pay for these in advance of the evening.

Last week we had the first of this year’s meet the producers with Jason coming in to cook Wagyu Beef, which we now sell from the fridge. This was a really successful couple of hours with many people, Team Relish included, learning lots about the exquisitely tasty dish. To follow in his footsteps I have invited Sarah Pucket of Puckets Pickles to come along on Saturday 27th April to talk and offer samples of her many wonderful pickles that we stock in Relish. Sarah will be in the shop from 11.30 – 1.30 so please do come and meet her and ask her many questions about her wonderful products, many of her recipes have been pasted down to her from her grandmother and it’s great to see such dedication and passion.

So what’s in season now? Root Veg are still going strong, celeriac and Swedes, parsnips and my favourite of all beetroot. Chicory and purple sprouting broccoli are good for salads, Cauliflowers and Jerusalem artichokes too. Baby carrots and new potatoes are imminent, watercress and rocket are already here and hopefully asparagus is just around the corner and but the big flavour of the month has to be, wild garlic and nettles both of which will soon be adorning the menus of the most seasonal friendly of establishments.

Beetroot Fritters with Gravalax

Beetroots unrepentantly earthy flavours need something bright and acidic to bring harmony and balance to a recipe. Just recently it has been possible to buy beautiful golden and candy stripped beetroot here in Malton and so I have been making the most of these sweetest of root vegetables. Wrapped in foil and roasted in their skins before being peeled and thrown into a salad with a raspberry vinegar dressing, or letting them become the soft cushioning flavour in a walnut and goats cheese dish where the young, sharp lemony flavours of the cheese are counter balanced so well with the multi coloured gems and the addition of some crunchy walnut halves make it a match made in heaven.

Justin Stalls Gravalax is also a perfect match for beetroot and here is a Nigel Slater recipe that makes a brilliant canapé or starter

Beetroot Fritters with Stall Smokehouse Gravalax
350g red or golden beetroot
1 small onion
1 egg, lightly whisked
450g gravalax

For the dressing
1 tbs grainy mustard
1 tbs Dijon mustard
2 tbs finely chopped dill
5 tbs rapeseed oil
1 tbs water

To make the dressing whisk together the mustards with the vinegar and then add the finely chopped dill and water and whisk again. Leave to one side.

Scrub the beetroots and then coarsely grate through a magi mix, to produce long, thin, dry shreds. Peel the onion and slice very very finely and add to the beetroot, season with S&P, stir in the flour and add the egg.

Warm a little oil in a frying pan and gently fry teaspoon or tablespoon “drops” of the sticky mixture, when the first side is cooked flip the fritter and then flatten it out as the second side begins to cook, drain on kitchen paper.

To serve place a drop of the dill sauce onto the middle of each fritter and then twist a long thin slice of gravalax onto the top so that it “sits upright” to get some height.

Finish with a tiny sprig of dill.

So dates for the diary are:

April
13th Food Lovers Market in the Milton Rooms
17th Supper Club – Spanish night
27th Meet the producer – Sarah Pucket of Puckets Pickles

February Newsletter

One cold and snowy early Saturday morning, as I pulled racks of hot steaming pies from the oven, replaced them with sausage rolls and our new beef pasties, I thought “What better way to spend the night than sledging?” Not stopping to consider the hour I sent a quick text round the team with my idea, and then got back to the pastries and cakes that would soon be adorning the Welsh Slate counter tops. At 9 o’clock it’s time to swing open our front door on this wonderful winter wonderland – but no!! The Sun is shining down and now our beautiful white fluffy carpeted town is returning to tarmac, with rivers of melt water running down the sides of every road. By lunch time it’s positively tropical and I’ve turned the heating off. By teatime even I have second thoughts – To Hell with IT!! 6.30pm arrives and the Deli has been put to bed. We expertly choose a steep slope where the snow is still over our knees. The Beast, a spinning top, and an old faithful plough, slip, skim and crash down the bank as snowballs whizz through the air from every direction, when else can they bomb the boss? So started February; with a lot of laughing, the odd shriek and plenty of goodwill.

This week sees the introduction of the Malton Relish Coffee Blend. York Coffee Emporium have taken us under their wing and after much deliberation and tasting sessions Laurence and I have developed a blend that we think you will all appreciate. It is 100% Arabica beans, mainly African with a little monsoon Malayan and a little Indian. Its full bodied and rich, but because we all appreciate the finer things in life the 100% Arabica means that it contains less caffeine than most house blends which rely on the Robusta bean to pack a punch. We’ve gone subtler for this earthy coffee, with fruity acidity and a touch of spice in the after notes. We will be selling it not only by the cup from Relish but also by the bag, both ground and beans. Its début was on Wednesday night at the Supper Club where we served it for the last course alongside a Cantuccini biscuit and a shot of our delicious house pudding wine, Finca Antigua Moscatel. This month I had great the pleasure of cooking an Italian menu with my cousin Louise who has recently returned from 20yrs in Italy. Tickets sold out in record time and we had an ever increasing reserve list so rest assured, this is a theme we will be returning to again in the near future.

Next week brings two important food dates with it. Tuesday is Pancake Day and so we shall be selling pancakes stuffed with spinach, ricotta and sun bluish tomatoes as well as the favourite filling of Asparagus and Parma ham and of course the simple classics with Lemon and Sugar. Thursday is Valentine’s Day and we are now taking orders for our Valentine Hampers, a delicious dinner for two prepared and cooked by us so that all you need to do is pop some of the dishes into the oven to reheat and serve.
Homemade Chicken Liver Pâté with freshly baked mini bread loaves, followed by my extra special Fish Pies with lots of prawns and queen scallops, enveloped in a creamy white sauce with a crunchy potato topping. And for pudding, Chocolate Tortes with a Salted Caramel topping. The hampers are £25 and are available for collection from Wednesday 13th Feb through to Saturday 16th Feb.Please place your orders via email, phone or in person by this Monday 11th Feb, stating which day you would like to collect. Full payment is required with your order of £25.
Vegetarian and other dietary options are easily catered for so please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Having had such a fun evening on the Italian night, and having begun to understand this incredible simplistic and elegant style of cooking, below is a recipe for Loin of Pork. Pork meat is at its best in these cooler months in England but please do not attempt this dish with a joint of supermarket meat; free range with ample fat is essential. This recipe will benefit from being prepared and stuffed the day before.

Arista alla Florentina(Roast Loin of Pork Florence Style) Serves 4-6

1 rack of pork, 1.25kg with skin and most of fat removed
2 springs of Rosemary
1 garlic clove
6 tbs olive oil
S & P
1kg new potatoes, peeled.

Ask your butcher to bone the rack of pork for you but keep the bones!
For the rosemary stuffing, strip the needles from the stem and chop the needles finely with the clove of garlic. Season with sea salt and lots of course ground black pepper and bind with 2 tbs olive oil.
Spread the stuffing on the inside of the bones and replace the meat over the top. Tie securely between each rib to reassemble the joint. Season the outside of the pork generously.
When ready to cook preheat the oven to 180°C and dice the potatoes into bite size pieces and season and dress with olive oil.
Roast the pork in a dish big enough to hold the potatoes and meat in a single layer. Lay the meat in the dish resting on the bones which will form a natural rack allowing the potatoes to fry in the oil without over browning the meat. Roast for 30mins then turn down the oven to 150°C and roast for a further 1hr. Turn the potatoes every half an hour.
To carve, snip the strings and remove the meat from the bones, carve the meat into 1cm slices and serve with the potatoes and some fresh sprigs of rosemary. Chop and separate all the bones and serve alongside with finger bowls!

Dates for your diary – reservations necessary!

February
11th Last orders for Valentines’ Hampers
2oth Curry Club

March
6th Curry Club
20th Supper Club, Easter Inspiration

January News

Happy New Year and welcome to 2013 at Malton Relish.
The beginning of the year brings many opportunities to set new goals, spring clean our habits and promise ourselves new things. Relish is no different and this year we have decided to do Dinner in the Deli as a much more regular feature.
Over the past year many of you have enjoyed the Relish Supper Club which has been held roughly once a month. We are of course going to continue this, kicking off with a Burns Night Dinner on 25th Jan but new for 2013 we will also be adding a Curry Club to our Events Programme. The first dinner will be held on Wednesday Jan 16th, 7pm start.
Dinner will be £15 per head, and please feel free to bring along a bottle of wine or beer for yourself. We shall be offering four curries and accompaniments followed by a slightly more English pudding. Having spent nearly a year living in Madhya Pradesh right in the very heart of India it will be great fun to offer some truly authentic curries to you all. The majority of food will be vegetarian at these events but at least one meaty curry will also be on offer. I am delighted that Scarborough & Ryedale Mountain Rescue Team are going to be our chosen charity for 2013 and 8 of their members will be joining us for dinner and giving you a brief insight into their activities on our beautiful Moors.
Jan 25th is Burns Night and having been cooking in the Highlands over Hogmanay I have brought back with me two very fine haggis to serve. We shall again start the evening at 7pm, this time with a Venison Carpaccio followed by a traditional Haggis main course and finished with a Tipsy Laird, a recipe from James Martin which involves a little bit more of the “Scottish Water” along with plenty of raspberries and a little chocolate. However to step away from the norm and make this a truly Relish evening we will be replacing the traditional whiskey with some from SloeMotion who will also be offering a little taster of their other products at this event.
Both events require a reservation, please call into the shop or email me at sophie@maltonrelish.co.uk
Whilst these early spring months can seem lean on the seasonal veg front in fact there are plenty of good things coming into the peak of their season. Forced Rhubarb is by far the most popular and is nationally acclaimed. Wakefield host the impressive Festival of Food, Drink and Rhubarb over the weekend of Feb 22nd – 24th and it should be added to diaries for a great day out. Red onions are also at their best, they are endlessly versatile and these sweet mild red ones have a higher sugar content which makes them ideal for caramelising so they boost a roast or a chutney with a rich sweetness. Spring greens, cauliflowers and celery are also very good right now. Winter white celery is a very prized vegetable, being far more delicate and mild than its greener cousin.

Langoustine and John Dory are at the top of my list from the fish mongers just now. John Dory, is also known as St Peters fish, tradition says that the characteristic black spot on either side of the body is an impression of the saints thumb. John Dory has an unusual bone structure which can make it hard to navigate so it is wise to ask the fish monger to fillet it for you, you will be left with beautifully firm white fleshed fish fillets ideal for pan frying or grilling. Because of its delicate flavour I tend to use garlic, lemon and coriander as a base to my recipes with it, but really any Mediterranean food will work well.

Blood oranges are a firm favourite of mine, grown mainly in Spain in that intense searing heat, a little in Italy and more recently in California they have a very short season which makes them even more special. They are available right now until the end of March if you are lucky. There is something about their vibrant coloured flesh and sweet/sour freshness that I find completely irresistible. Especially in the midst of winter and the dark coldness that surrounds us at present. I also love their simplicity for this is not a fruit to be messed about with. Sorbet, Ice cream if you must and Salads are the only way to eat them. Marmalade them if you wish, but in general simply peel them and then get inspired by their colour and fragrance. Goats cheese or curd, walnuts, beetroot, salad leaves, squash and purple sprouting broccoli all go well with Blood Oranges. But if you really can’t be bothered to make them into a wonderful, healthy and empowering salad you could just squeeze them and add vodka!

Kale, Blood Orange & Squash Salad
This fresh, hearty winter salad shows off the sweet-tart flavour of blood oranges. Use any leftover dressing to marinate chicken.

Serves 4
Citrus Dressing:
125 ml fresh blood orange juice
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
30 ml red wine vinegar
1 small clove garlic, pressed
60 ml extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper

Salad:
60g toasted walnut halves
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
300g butternut squash cubes, cut 1-inch (2.5 cm) thick
200g chopped kale leaves (thick stems discarded)
2 blood oranges, peeled, seeded, each cut into 6 circles
3 tbsp pomegranate seeds

In small bowl, whisk together orange and lemon juice, red wine vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in olive oil and set aside.
To toast walnuts, heat large non-stick skillet over medium-high. Add nuts and cook, stirring often, until they are fragrant, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
In same skillet, melt butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add squash and cook about 8 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden and just tender.
For salad, in large bowl add kale, cooked squash and walnuts. Toss with just enough dressing to moisten leaves.
Divide among four plates and decorate each with four orange circles and pomegranate seeds.

Supper Club Dates for your diary – reservations neccesary!
January
16th Curry Club
25th Supper Club – Burns Night

February
6th Supper Club – Italian Night
2oth Curry Club

March
6th Curry Club
20th Supper Club – Easter Inspiration

Winter News

Welcome to the Christmas Edition of the Relish Newsletter.

It is five years since we opened the doors of Relish.  So we thought it was time to say thank you and what better way than with a glass or two of fizz and a few canapés.

At the Party our Christmas Orders Forms will be available along with some specialist knowledge from some of our key suppliers for this festive season.  Luke Shannon, our cheese specialist, will be able to talk you through the vast selection of cheeses we are offering this year, many of which you will be able to taste.  Nick McNally, our wine merchant, will  guide you through the wonderful selection of wines available to pre order; some of the more unusual ones will be on tastings.  Paul from Loose Birds will take your orders for his succulent bronze Turkeys and Geese and Justin will be here from Staal Smoke House with some edible delights for you to try.  

Relish Figgy Puddings and Christmas Cakes, Mincemeat, Brandy Butter, traditional homemade Marzipan and much, much more will all be available to buy on the night or order for a pick up nearer the big day.

Christmas Order forms are now available at the till or please email me directly at sophie@maltonrelish.co.uk if you would like me to send you a copy.

Our aim at Relish is to offer a helping hand to families and cooks throughout the year and there can be no busier time than these next few weeks.  The Order sheet below shows the type of food that we will be able to prepare for you, but it is not all we are able to offer; last year’s requests ranged from a huge frozen lasagne to keep in the freezer just in case, to full blown sea food buffet for Christmas Eve.

 So whether you are planning on preparing lots for your own festivities or hoping to sit back and let someone else take the strain, give us a call or pop in and we will be glad to help.

This time of year can be pretty hectic with so much to do if you have family or friends’ coming to stay for Christmas, and it takes some organising if the cook is not to spend the entire time in the kitchen.  Slow cookers and AGAs come into their prime with our one pot casserole meals that can be left to cook themselves.  Or if neither of these is an option why not try a lighter meal?  Much seafood’ and fish are coming into their prime, like a salad of steamed cod with new potatoes, peas and a sauce of half fat crème fraîche is a  super speedy meal and packed full of nutrition. Or perhaps a Duck breast seared off with some Asian spices and segments of orange with pomegranate seeds and radicchio leaves, who needs a multi vitamin tablet?!

Apples, Pears and Clementines are also in season now, as are Sprouts,

Celeriac, Beetroot, Jerusalem Artichokes and Leeks.  The Game season is too short for me and so it is really important to make the most of Pheasants, Partridge and any other Game Birds that I can get hold of.  Venison and Pork are always delicious in the winter and if you ever needed an excuse to eat Oysters, Langoustine or Lobster they are all at their peak over the next couple of months.

Shopping locally is as important as ever and with the run up to Christmas it can make an even bigger difference to all the independent retailers.  Each year as a family we challenge one another to buy at least 80% of our Christmas presents locally and this year it’s all going to get a lot easier.  Maltonopoly is the brain child of the Malton Events Group, of which I am chairman.  We have rallied together 24 venues that are all prepared to open on the four Sundays in December in the run up to Christmas.  Now rather than let it be boring, corporate and flat we have made up a game for you.  Over the next few days you will see the signs going up along the roads and in shop windows.  The boards will be available from all participating venues and available to download from www.welovemalton.com.  Each time you spend £20 in one of the venues, on a Sunday, you will have a receipt stapled to your Board.  When you have bought 5 properties simply hand your Board into us here at Relish and you will be in with a chance of winning the most amazing of prizes, B&B at The Talbot, Dinner with wine at The New Malton, a mini Spa Say etc,  One lucky person will win everything!

So this year my challenge no longer remains in the family but goes out to all of you, play Maltonopoly and I really hope you enjoy shopping in Malton on a Sunday.  Father Christmas will be here in his Grotto, the cinema will be open, the Dickens Museum will be open, and if you haven’t yet been to the Milton Rooms for Tea and a Tale on a Sunday afternoon then shame on you! – It’s brilliant!

Relish will be open on Saturday 22^nd and Sunday 23^rd December from 8am – 6pm to try and help you all out and then we shall be open as below:

Dec 24^th               9am – 2pm
25^th, 26^th, 27^th        Closed
28^th, 29^th, 31^st         9.30 am – 4pm
1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd,             Closed
4^th & 5^th                 9.30am – 4pm

So may I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas! And I hope you all get a well earned break.

October Newsletter

We all know that we haven’t had much of a summer this year so I’ve decided to go on a one women mission to create all the sunshine needed – on a plate.  The autumn is full of fabulous shades of gold and yellow.  The trees are turning into a psychedelic cacophony of colours.  The sunrises and sunsets can literally take my breath away, so why not make meals a riot of colour as well?

Butternut Squashes, Pumpkins, Gourds, Golden Beetroot, Purple Tomatoes, are all within our reach and with a good greengrocer; Purple Beans, Green Cauliflowers, Black Russian Kale……

Add to these some fresh herbs, great Middle Eastern spices and some lovely meat from a local butcher and suddenly we can all be whisked away to Never Never Land where the sun always shines and that list of chores just disappears into thin air. 

The Foragers amongst us are busy looking for hedgerow bounty. Sloes, damsons, blackberries, mushrooms, rosehips, hawthorn berries and much more, can all become a vibrant feast with a little bit of knowledge and a sense of fun.   And help is at hand in the form of two new cookery books.  Firstly we have Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries 2, a fabulous book, as inspiring as his first Diary Cookbook five years ago. I generally end up pacing up and down the room with a frying pan in my hand as I try to read this book, I just can’t wait to get started!  Secondly we have Jerusalem by Yottam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi.  Ottolenghi is, as most of you already know, my hero. This, his third book, is a fabulous as the first two, or possibly even better, with each recipe having of a story of two small boys growing up in the Middle East and their eating habits.  Not only do I read it with a pan in my hands, but within a few minutes of reading, I’m generally trying to find my passport as well …One day … Watch out Jerusalem, I’m coming!

But back to the present, Halloween and Bonfire Night will soon be here. Why do we always leave the Parkin and Mulled Cider to the last week of the month?  Let’s get cracking and feast on the fruits of this English Autumn; walnuts and cobnuts, anchovies and mussels, Guinea Fowl and Partridge, they are all here, they just need a little bit of searching out. And if it gets really wet and horrible out there, there’s always spooky cupcakes, toffee apples and cinder toffee to be made in the warmth of the kitchen.

For the first time this year, Team Relish is heavily involved with the Malton & Norton Pride Awards.  We shall be helping to create a fabulous evening with the Canapés chosen from our Autumn & Winter List copies of which is available from the shop or via email.  The main course will be Sausage & Mash, with sausages from Fletchers Butchers in Norton and veg from Dales of Malton, and for pud individual pavlovas with fresh Autumn berries and lashings of cream.  And all of that is before the Awards Ceremony starts and then hopefully we shall be able to hit the floor with everyone else to dance the night away.  So Saturday 27^th October, please put the date in your diary and go online to www.welovemalton.co.uk or www.maltonmercury.co.uk to submit nomination forms and buy tickets for the dinner.

And another first as we shall be taking a stall at The Living North Essence of Christmas at York Racecourse on November 16^th – 18^th.  We shall be in the Food Hall on the Ground Floor surrounded by lots of other lovely local stalls.  So the kitchens at Relish HQ are all systems go for the Christmas countdown; with our Fabulous Figgy Puddings, Christmas Cakes, Mincemeat, Brandy Butter and Homemade Marzipan will all be on offer.  Do please come and see us, and to find out more visit www.livingnorthfair.com .  Every year it amazes me that I still manage to get totally overexcited about Christmas but this year seems to be no different, I’m coming up to the boil already.

I can’t let the future dates go without letting you in on the details of the next Supper Club.  The last Supper Club was a huge success, themed on Venison and Autumn Wines the tickets sold out almost instantly.  So for the November Supper Club and the last of 2012 we are going to change the format slightly and turn it into more of a party!  Wednesday 21^st November is the date and as a special Christmas treat, tickets are free, but please let us know so we can book you in. Everybody tells me that it’s a sign of age when the time goes quickly but on the 12^th of December, Malton Relish will be 5 years old, so that give us a great excuse for this November Supper Club turning into our birthday party.  I would very much like you all to come along and celebrate it with us and sample a glass or two of fizz!

Instead of supper it will be Canapés, and instead of one supplier having centre stage for the evening we have invited lots.  Justin will be here from Staal Smokehouse, Nick from Berkmann Wines,   Paul from Loose Birds and Luke from The Cheese Cellar. 

And so on that happy note, another good reason to party, here are two recipes for you to try, both taken from the new Ottolenghi Jerusalem Cook Book.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Fresh Figs

1 kg sweet potatoes                                                   5 tbsp olive oil
12 spring onions                                                         1 red chilli
6 ripe figs                                                                   150g soft goats cheese
Rock Salt, Cracked black pepper and Balsamic glaze

Cut the sweet potatoes into long thin wedges and mix with 3 tbs olive oil, 2 tsp sea salt and 1 of cracked black pepper.  Roast on a baking sheet for 25 mins until soft but not mushy.  Allow to cool.
Cut the spring onion into 4cm segments and slice the chilli thinly; fry these in the remaining oil for 4-5 mins taking care not to let the chilli burn.  Pour over the sweet potatoes.  Cut the figs into small segments and scatter amongst the potatoes, crumble the soft goat’s cheese over the top and then drizzle with balsamic glaze.

Roasted Butternut Squash & Red Onion with Tahini and Za’atar

1kg butternut squash                                                2 red onions
50ml olive oil                                                             3 ½ tbs light tahini paste
1 ½ tsp lemon juice                                                    1 small garlic clove
30g pine nuts                                                             1 tbs Za’atar
1 tbs flat leaf parsley                                     Sea salt & cracked black pepper

Cut the squash into wedges, approx. 2cm x 6cm and Red onions approx. 3 cm.
In a large mixing bowl add 3 tbs oil 1 tsp salt and pepper and toss well.  Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 30-40 mins.  Watching that the onions don’t catch.
To make the sauce place the tahini paste in a bowl with the lemon juice, 2 tbs water and crushed garlic and ¼ teaspoon of salt.  Whisk until fairly thick.
Pour the remaining oil into a frying pan and add the pine nuts, ½ teaspoon of salt and cook for 2 mins.
Pile the Butternut Squash and Red Onions onto a plate, drizzle with the tahini paste and then sprinkle with the pine nuts, followed by the Za’atar and Parsley

Enjoy!

September News Letter

25^th September 1066 is a date that all us locals should know and yet few of us do.  On this date King Harald of Norway was defeated by King Harold of England at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

A lone Viking warrior stood guard over the bridge whilst a canny Saxon floated unnoticed downstream in an empty cask and speared the Viking from beneath. 

The result of this one soldiers actions was celebrated for the next 900 years by the Feast of Spear Pie held on the third Sunday of September by the baking of a Pear Pie, initially in a boat shape pie with miniature spear protruding from the centre. 

Fruit, veg, game, fish and hedgerow produce are all in abundance at this time of year, and make a cooks life a joy.  But poor harvests this year will mean we have to carefully conserve the food we can forage for; even that overgrown courgette can find a home.   Soon I shall be gathering my tomatoes to turn into ketchup, quite possibly my most favourite sauce, the taste of tomatoes and sunshine explode on your tongue like nothing else.  Slowly the pantry begins to fill with jars and bottles of all shapes and sizes until the shelves will once more start to sag under the weight of home produce.

Enter stage right Holme Farmed Venison, our Producer of the Month.

I am delighted to introduce our new Venison Supplier.  For the past few years I have been buying Venison for Catering Events as a special treat.  Now we can offer this fabulous Yorkshire companies products in rather more manageable sizes!  Venison burgers crumbled into a toasted pitta bread with lashings of Sloe Jelly makes a super speedy and totally delicious supper.  We also have sausages, steaks, mini roasts and many more exciting cuts on offer, in fact Holme Farmed Venison are such a friendly accommodating bunch that we should be able to order any cut you would like. I have tried many of their products and find them all deliciously tender, not too gamey but above all fabulously tasty.  The majority of their Venison is farmed here in North Yorkshire, when stocks are low they then buy in from National Trust Properties and when stocks are really low, usually due to the end/beginning of seasons, they look to Ireland and occasionally New Zealand to fulfil their orders. 

Septembers dates for your diary include the Malton Food Lovers Market, in the Milton Rooms of 15^th, Relish will once again be situated in front of the stage with a Tasting Table.

We shall be giving away recipes & ideas on how to cook venison, Kate, from Holme Farmed Venison, has happily agreed to come along for a few hours to meet as many of you as possible and to answer any of your questions.  Up for taste will be our new Venison Pies, a traditional Venison Casserole with a Relish twist, Sausages, and much more.  We will also have lots of retail packs of Venison on sale for you to take home and enjoy.  The Relish Supper Club will continue the Venison theme on Wednesday September 26^th

Carpaccio of Grouse with rocket and home grown horseradish

Venison Osso Bucco with Risotto alla Milanese

Spear Pie with Raspberry Coulis and brown bread ice cream.

This month’s dinner is definitely a taxi ride home as we are treating you to some wonderful wines to accompany each course.  Nick McNally, our Wine Supplier will be here to talk you through our choices and offer some hints and tips for buying wines this Winter.  Tickets are £20 per person and selling fast so please do ring us or pop in to book your place at this seasonal feast.

Autumn brings with it a great living larder to this our most wonderful corner of England.  Many of my dog walks take me up onto the hills and moors surrounding Malton and I never miss an opportunity to head for the seaside. 

Last weekend was just such a time, after the shop shut on Saturday evening I raced over the Wolds to our farm, after a summer of outside catering and weddings to have a Saturday night off was a great treat but more exciting things were to follow;

Sunday dawned bright and clear so I filled my car with the usual odd assortment of dogs and headed off to meet some friends on the beach, for miles we walked, threw tennis balls, paddled and splashed and generally had a wonderful, noisy and happy time.  Then it was back to the farm to “help” with harvest, as not a year goes by when I don’t yearn to give up work and return to the farm and clamber up into the Combine.  Here’s a sneaky picture taken by me in the combine, whilst our finest barley pours out of the Combine arm, and Dad defies all the rumours of men not being able to multi task as he manages to drive forwards, look backwards AND have a conversation with me over the radio!

To offer up a recipe for the beginning of Autumn is a tough one, there are so many to choose from, every spare minute of my time is spent making chutneys and jams to enlighten the dark winter months to come, yet right now I still want to eat salads and poke about in the garden and see what is growing.  But on flicking through some recipe books I find a picture of Carluccio hugging an enormous basket of mushrooms over which he has written me a note “Relish, still the best” Love AC

This autumn I suspect is going to be an absolute corker for mushrooms, let’s face it, it was wet enough for long enough to get the spores growing!

Celery Hearts and Wild Mushroom Savoury Baked Custard

By Antonio Carluccio

Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a starter.

2 heads of celery cut 10cm from the base and then quartered lengthways

30g butter

150g wild mushrooms, wiped clean or 60g dried porcini mushrooms reconstituted

2 egg yolks

90 ml single cream

60g Gruyere cheese

 

Preheat the oven to 200°c

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the celery hearts, cook for 10 mins or until soft.

Drain on a cloth to remove as much water as possible and then place in gratin dishes.

Melt the butter in a pan and add the mushrooms, toss in the butter until they begin to soften and then add to the celery.

Mix the egg yolks and cream seasoning with salt and pepper.

Scatter the cheese over the celery and mushrooms, then pour the custard over the top.

Bake in the oven until the surface is brown and bubbling, approx 20 mins. 

Serve Immediately.

August Newsletter

This is the beginning of my favourite time of year; it starts with Yorkshire Day, celebrated on August 1^st to promote this historic English County, naturally here at Relish we will be making the most of it with our flat caps and whippets! Yorkshire Puddings, Brack, Pontefract cakes and Ploughman’s, Rhubarb and Cheeses will all be celebrated, on sale and given away.

 And for those of you who would like to know the history it was first celebrated in 1975, by the Yorkshire Ridings Society initially in Beverley, as a protest movement against the Local Governments re-organization of 1974.  The date alludes to the Battle of Midden, and also the anniversary of the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, for which a Yorkshire MP, William Wilberforce had campaigned.

 Next comes The Glorious Twelfth, the eagerly anticipated start of the Shooting Season.  I fear the rains of this summer will have done damage to the welfare of Grouse but hopefully the sunshine of the last few weeks will have strengthened those that have survived.  Our beautiful North Yorkshire Moors wouldn’t be the same without them.

 Muddled into all of this is Harvest Time, and not a farm in the country will be idle, combines and balers that have stood idle for months now roar with activity as our patchwork quilt of countryside turns from green to golden and then back to earthy brown. The Forager in me is never far from the surface, especially at this time of year when my daily dog walks yield an idea for a new recipe or a pocket full of edible delights.

 As for my own little kingdom, the veg patch is on fire!  Having nurtured, cajoled; and yes talked to many of the plants, finally I am reaping the rewards, with salads and peas, rocket and chard and more courgettes than I know what to do with.  The Hammock is entwined in Buddleia and Honeysuckle and my redundant barbie is a thriving nest of Nasturtiums.  SloeMotion,  have bought out their latest addition to the family; Number 7, their seventh drink product, hence the name, SLOEMOTION No.7  it is a Gin-spirited blend of hedgerow, orchard and field fruits together with blossom and herbs. It is a truly novel product of the British countryside; a foragers (liquid) feast. It has a delicious smooth fruity taste with floral and citrus hints and a strong dry finish. All of which makes it the perfect drink for sipping from the comfort of said hammock on a sunny afternoon! SLOEMOTION No.7  is our product of the month and is displayed by the till with a special offer price of £17 per bottle.

Cooking at this time of year becomes a casual affair for me, many times through the year I like to think, plan and carefully consider my guests preferences.  But now through these glorious sun filled days supper becomes a carefree notion.  A chicken, quickly chopped into chunks and rubbed with a chilli paste is easy to roast on top of some fresh garden veg, so the flavors of both intertwine.  Pudding is still on the bush … raspberries, strawberries and currants always taste best when picked and eaten in one go.  Summer pudding is my only bow to conformity: picked, stewed, chilled and eaten within 6 hours my rule.

 Globe Artichokes and Fennel are both at the peak of their season now and this month’s recipe is a Vegetable dish with a nod to the sunshine.  Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients, I promise the end result is worth it!

 Braised Artichokes with Fennel, Tomatoes, Olives and Lemons

 2 heads of fennel                    1 lemon, halved
4 Globe Artichokes                  4 Juicy Plum Tomatoes
Lots of fresh sage                    100ml Chicken or Vegetable Stock
Olive oil                                   Unsalted butter
Salt & Pepper                          Bay Leaves
Garlic, chilies & saffron             Fresh Pesto & Goats Curd
Black Olives                            Preserved Lemon

Trim the fennel bulbs of any brown or tough outer layers but keep the fronds to one side for garnish.  Cut the bulbs into quarters and slices and squeeze over some lemon juice to keep their colour.

 

Into a hot, deep frying pan toss a tablespoon of butter & olive oil and once melted add the fennel and cook moving as little as possible to help the edges caramelize for about 10 mins.

Whilst the fennel is cooking prepare the artichokes.  With the artichoke lying on its side cut off the top third and discard.  Cut off the stalk and trim carefully to the choke, you now have the artichoke heart, cut the artichoke in half and remove the remaining fine choke to leave two semi circles of plump light greyie/green yumminess.  Rub these with lemon juice to stop discoloration.

 Once the fennel is cooked add the artichoke hearts, a couple of bay leaves and a big handful of roughly chopped sage leaves; following on with 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, one red chilli and a pinch of saffron.  Stir well.

 Roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the pan with all their juices, a chopped preserved lemon and 100ml of good chicken or vegetable stock.  Chicken Stock helps the dish to thicken as it cooks and adds to the depth of flavor but a good Vegetable stock can replace it along with a splash of white wine or Vermouth.

 Cover and cook in the oven for 30 mins.  Once removed from the oven add the olives, pesto and if you like some gratings of parmesan or blobs of the delicious Goats Curd that we now stock in our cheese counter, whole sage leaves, and the fennel fronds; stir gently and replace the lid.  Leave the dish to sit on the side for 10-20 mins to let all the flavors entwine as the vegetables cool a little.

 If you are in a meat free mood this is the perfect summers evening dish; but if the carnivore inside you is roaring a seared guinea fowl breast or pork chop balance well with this deeply nourishing dish.

 Looking forward through this Olympian month, The Supper Club will resume on September 26^th as the Outside Catering Team are now in full swing, the theme of the Evening will be Game and Winter Wines.  Tickets are £20 per person and this includes wine.

 For those of you who like to plan ahead, the next Malton Food Lovers Market will be held on September 15^th in the Milton Rooms, just a week after the Ludlow Food Festival to which some of us are going so no doubt we will have lots of new ideas and suppliers to tell you about.

 In the mean time; Happy Yorkshire Day and remember …

 ’Ear all, see all, say nowt;
Eyt all, sup all, pay nowt;
And if ivver tha does owt fer nowt -
Do it fer thissen

 

 

June News Letter

The constant drip drip drip is threatening to drown out the fluttering of the bunting and the echoes of God Save the Queen that still reverberate around my garden.  But I am determined to have a great veg crop so I slam on my truly ugly “wet” hat as I tie up the broad beans and mange tout, cajole the sweet peas and wage war on the slugs and snails.

The fantastic atmosphere created by the weekend of the Malton Food Lovers Festival is still being talked about but has faded somewhat with this rain.  I have to say a huge and heartfelt thanks to my merry band of helpers. They continually walked backwards and forwards from Relish, arms fully laden with food, to be distributed to various venues; and for keeping me smiling. Around 20,000 people came to town over the weekend, and like many many more I was as proud as punch of the show that was put on, to the Festival Organisers and the CIC Team I say, thank you, I’m sure it was a monumental task but you have definitely put Malton on the map!  With the battle against a mighty super store, the recession and the humdrum of day to day it really is a massive achievement and one which we must cherish and tend, for it is a great foundation for our town to build on in these tough days.

The Celebrations of last weekend and the outrageous amounts of red, white and blue food and icing that have been produced from our kitchen stagger me.  The most fabulous community spirit enveloped the country as everyone celebrated the past 60 years of Her Majesty’s Reign. Recollections from those who can remember it to the squeals of delight from the next generation, everyone seemed to have taken a little extra time to cherish a moment with friends, rellies, or total strangers.

But looking forward to these summer months there are a staggering amount of events to take part in or, at least support, from the comfort of a hammock!  The tennis season comes to a highpoint with the Wimbledon Tournament, from June 25^th.  Relish will be cheering on our British representatives and for those of you who like to watch from the comfort of your own home we will be selling locally produced Strawberries and Yorkshire Clotted Cream.  And if you haven’t tried it the Strawberry Beer that we sell from the fridge is just perfect for a long afternoon of sofa coaching! We shall be hosting another Relish Supper Club that week, on Wednesday 27^th June, and serving Broad Bean Salad with Pomegranate Seeds & Halloumi.  This is by far the most popular salad that we sell from the deli counter.  The main course is Fresh Whitby Mackerel fillets with Sweet Potato Pickle and Mint Yoghurt, an Ottolenghi master piece that I hope will impress and delight you all.  And for pudding, Yorkshire Raspberry Eton Mess.  Well you can over do the strawberries!  As before we are kicking off the event at 7pm.  And it will cost £15 per head.  We have several delicious bottles of wine available to buy from the shop or you are most welcome to bring your own.  The aim of the evening is as ever to introduce fabulously loyal locals to a couple of new recipes and ingredients and hopefully inspire the cooks for the summer – what summer? 

Then we have the Shows; The Great Yorkshire, Ryedale, and Malton to look forward to, but it’s the Rosedale Show that’s my favourite. For many years at least one member of my family has entered one of the classes here – from a bale of hay to chickens;  ponies and sheep have been washed, brushed and polished for days in advance for some of the happiest days of my childhood.  How my father coped the year five of us decided to take our ponies I will never know, but he shuttled us back and forth to a friend’s farm at Lastingham where 5 small girls and their ponies camped out and then hacked the last few miles to possibly the most quintessential of English villages to take part in every single class we could. From ridden hunter (slightly precocious possibly), to pony club games and fancy dress. Happy days indeed, with many photos of the amazing picnics my mother and her friends put on for us all.

 Picnics and Alfresco Eating remain the highlight of the summer for me, whether it’s a snatched afternoon walking up on the moors with a scotch egg and bar of Kendal mint cake stuffed into my pockets, or the long and relaxed affairs I like to create in my garden on Sundays; Somehow food always tastes better when the sun is shining.

 I think I am far from alone in my praise of the series. The Little Paris Kitchen; it gave a great insight into modern French cuisine and Rachel Khoos intrepid ability to produce food from a kitchen that is smaller than most Yorkshire broom cupboards, instilled great confidence in me, for the kitchens here at Relish are “compact” at least.  Her chapter on Picnics really inspires me and will certainly influence the menus that I write and cook over the forthcoming months.  We, in our truly British style, shall no doubt carry on regardless of the weather and I am sure a little ray of sun shine in the form of a French influenced starter or main will help.

 The summer season this year has faltered, with the Elder Trees only just coming into flower nearly a month late, but the biggest plus has to be that it means the Asparagus Season will continue long past the traditional end date of Summer Solstice, June 21^st.  We have been lucky enough to sell this beautiful vegetable by the crate here at Relish.  I have made kilo upon kilo of fresh hollandaise sauce to accompany and shaved a mountain of Manchego and Parma Ham and I could happily continue.  But this unexpectedly long season gives us the chance to try a couple of new recipes; A frittata of Jersey Royals, Rosemary; a wonderfully soft lemony English Goats Cheese Rosary, that we now stock, and mint.  Or perhaps Rachel Khoos sophisticated Prawn and Asparagus Blancmange will grace your dining tables in the next few weeks.  

The Relish Picnic Menu is available with two days notice, £25 per head. Listed below is the vast array of foods that it contains, just let us know how many people it is for and leave the hard work to us, we will happily organise some of the chaos, which leavers you to manage the who, what & where.

Asparagus spears wrapped in Parma ham with shavings of Manchego
Filo baskets with The Malton Relish and crumbled Goats Cheese
Potato Blinis with Beetroot & Sloe Gin cured Salmon
Caramelised Garlic Tart
Sliced Venison Wellington or Veggie Empanadas
Broad bean salad with preserved lemon, halloumi cheese, pomegranate seeds & fresh herbs
Spears of locally grown tender stem Broccoli with root ginger, garlic & chilli oil
Coconut & Mango Rice Salad with slivers of peppers and fresh herbs in a lime dressing
Strawberry Tart with springs of mint
Handmade truffles 

Now to flex those culinary muscles here are two recipes that are must-haves for me over the next few months.  Firstly, a French take on a pizza, Tarte Flambée, which no real picnic can exist without in the Legard Household and secondly Strawberry & Basil Snow, by Rose Prince, which I intend to serve at every lunch party I can this summer.

Tarte Flambée
250g Bread Flour (replace with 150g chestnut flour and 100g tapioca starch for a gluten free version)
1tsp fresh yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
6 tbs crème fraîche
½ red onion, thinly sliced
200g smoked lardons
100g Reblochon Cheese, thinly sliced.

Put 50g of the flour in a bowl with the yeast, sugar, 1 tbsp olive oil and 4 tbsp water. Mix and leave for 1 hour, until the mixture is bubbly and doubled in size.
Put in a food processor and, with the machine running, gradually add the remaining flour and 2 tsp salt. Add just enough water to make a soft but not sticky dough (about 2 tbsp). You can also do this by hand.
Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Roll the dough out thinly into a square or round about 30cm and put on a baking tray. Spread the dough with the crème fraîche, followed by the onions and bacon, making sure to go all the way to the edge with all the ingredients. Season well with black pepper.
Bake for 20 minutes, until the tart is golden and the base crisp. Top with the Reblochon and pop back into the oven for 3 minutes until the cheese has melted.

Strawberry Ice with Basil by Rose Prince
I love the gentle aniseed flavour from the basil. The balsamic vinegar is mellowing, but use an aged type that is rich, thick and quite sweet.

150g sugar
500g ripe strawberries, mashed to a pulp
2 tsp aged balsamic vinegar
4 basil leaves, torn

Put 50ml of water and the sugar in a small pan and allow to soak for a minute or two. Place over the heat and bring to the boil. Simmer until you have a syrup the texture of double cream. Remove from the heat and put in an ice-cream machine with the strawberry pulp. Freeze and churn until you have a soft ice, then add the vinegar and basil. Churn for another 10 minutes and serve. 

Happy Cooking

May News Letter

May Newsletter 

Christmas might only come once a year but 156 days later comes something just as special; possibly even better for the big kids amongst us; The Malton Food Lovers Festival.  Now in its fourth year this Festival line up is truly amazing so this month’s newsletter is my unofficial guide to all things good in Malton over the Festival Weekend, 19^th & 20^th May 2012. 

To start with we have the market stalls, nearly 100 of them this year.  All are Yorkshire Producers and for sale will be Yorkshire’s Finest, the best quality ingredients that are sourced, grown, made, harvested and produced by this fine county of ours.

 The Cookery Theatres will be unmissable.  The one and only Antonio Carluccio will be on stage at regular intervals, not once but twice on each day, and will be joined by many other great chefs, Tom Parker Bowles, Rosemary Shrager, Andrew Pern and Stephanie Moon to name but a few.  And there is a good sprinkling of locals within the time table; Rob Green who has won many awards with his Restaurant in Whitby.  James Mackenzie, our Michelin starred chef from Dalton near Beverly.  Dan Farrell, now owner of The Jolly Farmers at Leavening, and even me.

 This year’s Beer Festival has been massively expanded to include ciders and wines.  There’s even going to be a Pimms and Champagne bar.  Here’s hoping I get time to enjoy that!

The Taste Trail returns, with 20 shops on the map, 12 of which are non food shops, and for which I am mostly responsible for the food.  Last year saw the beginning of the Taste Trail and it was a huge success so we have tried to build on these foundations and are upping the quality, standard and presentation of all of the dishes.  I seem to be forever going on about how great Malton is and what a fabulous place this is to live and work. So it’s a great pleasure to be able to put food where my mouth is and I hope you will all enjoy some of the Taste Trail offerings I have created for these shops.  Relish will be hosting a Yorkshire Rarebit made with Ampleforth Abbey Cider, but other items include: Wild Garlic Soup, Elderflower Champagne Jelly, Pigeon Pies, Lamb Samosas and Whitby Crab Cakes.

 The shop is as ever bursting full of goodies, and we now have all of our Jubilee Celebration Cake Making Kits out on sale on the dresser. This will I think be the greatest of excuses for baking cup cakes, and we have everything you would need to decorate them. From toppers with pictures of Corgis on to Red White and Blue Icing and beyond, to Paper thrones for your cup cakes and even paper cups saying long live G&T!

 Another new comer to our shelves is Naturally Med, a producer of lots of handy kitchen gismos in beautiful olive wood that I can’t help but stop and touch each time I walk past.  Hopefully this will help with the problem of what to give a foodie friend for their birthday or even wedding.  The rustic pestle and mortar is my favourite closely followed by the heart shaped chopping board.

 Food at this time of year is an easy one to discuss, Asparagus, the six week season of the most wonderful of vegetables should have started last week but what with the atrocious weather we have been experiencing it is late in starting, hopefully this will mean that it is able to continue longer.  The Focus of the Supper Club this month shall be on this mouth wateringly tasty of vegetables.  Alongside we are serving some gorgeous smoked salmon from Staal Smoke House in a salad with local watercress.  Followed by fabulous slow roasted belly pork and finishing the meal off with a crème brulée with local rhubarb roasted with ginger and brandy.  Tickets are selling fast but there are still a few remaining so please get in contact with us ASAP.

Valentine Warner’s Asparagus & Crab Tart

250g of plain (short crust pastry)                               1 egg, beaten
2 bundles of Yorkshire Asparagus                                   50g butter
1 small onion, very finely chopped                 ½ tsp tomato puree
1 generous tsp Dijon Mustard            300g fresh brown crab meat
2 medium eggs

Heat the oven to 190°C  Roll out the short crust pastry until thin and tuck neatly into a 25cm loose bottom tart case.  Blind bake.

Cut the Asparagus spears in half and blanch in boiling water for 2 mins. Refresh in ice cold water, drain and pat dry with a tea towel.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan and sauté the onion for 10 mins until totally soft and pale golden in colour.

Stir in the tomato puree and mustard, cook for 1 min.  Add the crab meat, followed by the cream, salt and pepper to taste and stir together carefully.  Take off the heat and beating all the time add the 2 eggs.  Leave to one side.

Scatter the asparagus over the cooked pastry case and the pour the crab mixture over the top.  Return to the oven for 20-25 mins.  The Tart is cooked when the centre has a slight “wobble” to its centre. Eat either warm or at Room temperature.