Netherton Foundry Shropshire

Netherton Foundry Shropshire
Classic cookware, made in England

Tuesday 30 October 2018

Bonfires and bangers, a musing on Hallowe'en

Spiced pumpkin latte - what on earth? I mean, seriously?  If you like them, fine, but I prefer my coffee straight, no added vegetables
I have written about current day coffee culture before, so I won't bore you with that again.  Hallowe'en is in my sights today.
Autumn throws up enough images to keep an advertising agency occupied til the first snowdrops appear; spectacular sunsets, golden leaves, misty landscapes, squirrels and nuts, harvest festivals and, of course, the pumpkin.




And what have they done with these seasonal representations of cooling days and bountiful produce to increase the sum of human happiness - they "invented", or rather re-imagined Hallowe'en.
All Hallow's Eve, may the saints preserve us from this over-commercialisation. 

I have written and re-written this piece as, quite honestly, I didn't know where to start.  Bear with me, the rant is quickly dealt with and a delicious recipe follow.

But first a little history.  You may think that the Hallowe'en craze came here from America, but it seems we may have been to blame for sending it there in the first place.
Long ago and far away, well my childhood in Yorkshire, to be more prosaic, it was the 4th of November, Mischief Night, not Hallowe'en which was the pretext for pranks.  We made Jack o'lanterns from turnips (cue jokes about Baldrick and ey up, it were 'ard in those days).  However, as this article by Xanthe Clay infers, pumpkins did not become "big business" until the early 1990s.   We didn't knock on people's doors (with the odd exception, when we would immediately run away and hide behind gate posts to see the look of annoyance on the face of the grumpiest of neighbours) and the worst offence ever committed was to smear the door handle of the local telephone box with treacle.
It was also the night before Bonfire night and this prompted the deliberately ambiguous title referring, on the one hand, to the small, loud, but boring fireworks of that name remembered from years ago and also to sausages that we would devour around the back garden bonfire.

The idea was exported, expanded and re-imported, bigger and uglier than ever.
I am now in full Grinch mood, so please feel free to skip to the bottom!


RANT ALERT

Costumes.
Stop to consider, if you will, the production of cheap witch’s hats, lurid orange pumpkin suits and set of devil's horns?  How come they are all so cheap? Where were they produced, by whom, and how will they be disposed of?   The Netherton offspring have long outgrown the notion of dressing up for Hallowe’en, but we do still worry about the combination of polyester and pumpkin lanterns – the story of Claudia Winkelman’s daughter still haunts us. 
Plastic pumpkins.
And what of the plastic buckets used for collecting all the treats?  Everyone on the planet must, by now, have watched Blue Planet.  We don't need any more single use plastic and let's face it, there aren't many uses for a plastic pumpkin bucket with a broken handle.  (Answers on a postcard, there may be a prize).   These will be discarded, end up in landfill, slowly degrade, leak into our water systems and out into the ocean.
Pumpkin.
Yes, pumpkin carving is fun. Yes, we admire the fantasmagorical creations all over social media. Yes, we will be making our own.
But what about the carved out pumpkin flesh - eat it, folks.  What's the point of wasting it?  Pumpkin soup is delicious, spike it with chilli, savour it with sage or bring a little warmth with cumin and coriander.


RANT OVER

You can all come back now, I have calmed down.
The point I really want to make goes back to those childhood memories of baked potatoes and sausages around the fire on Bonfire Night.  By November, the nights are longer, colder and often damper, but somehow this make eating outdoors more appealing than a stiflingly hot day replete with wasps and wilting salads.
Eating outdoors can be as simple or as fancy as you want, but it shouldn't be limited to a summer barbecue. 
It can be as simple as throwing a couple of potatoes into the embers of the bonfire, but if you want to be more adventurous, we have a range of kit and some tasty recipe ideas for you!   Nothing beats the sheer pleasure of combating the cold air with hot food, eaten around a fire and perhaps accompanied with some mulled wine.

Our outdoor cooking range is getting ever more extensive, so check out all the options and pick something to suit you.  Here are a few examples.

Chapa
This is an indoor griddle and oven bake plate, but add the legs and you have an Argentinian chapa - all you have to do is light a fire beneath it.  You can make it even more useful by adding the iron cloche, used indoors for baking your sourdough bread,  and you can cook bigger pieces, imbued with a delicious smoky flavour.
It's as simple as 1-2-3  screw on the legs, light a fire, cook.
Cooking can be as simple as burgers, as delicious as pancakes or as impressive as a roast chicken with smoky veg and pigs in blankets.



Black treacle and raisin pancakes
2 dessertspoons of black treacle
50g butter
2 eggs
200g self raising flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
200ml milk
50g raisins

Put the treacle and butter into a milk pan and heat gently until the butter has melted.
Tip the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl and add the eggs and milk.  Whisk together then pour in the treacle and butter.  Whisk thoroughly then stir in the raisins.
Drop spoonfuls on to the greased surface of your hot chapa and flip over when bubbles start to rise to the surface.  Slather with butter, maple syrup is an optional extra and scoff.
Of course, these can also be made indoors using either the griddle plate or a large frying pan

Outdoor hob and slow cooker
Both a barbecue and an outdoor slow cooker, our favourite dish for this time of year is a big dish of home made baked beans.  And of course, if you are having beans, there must be bangers.  Cook them directly on the outdoor hob grid or as I did here, in a frying pan so that I can glaze them in home made marmalade.




Barbecue basket
This is a handy accessory for your barbecue for all those little bits and bobs that normally fall through on to the coals.  
You can also buy this with a tray and oak chips to use as a hot smoker. 

Here are a few pictures to whet your appetite for year round outdoor cooking.







If you are lucky enough to have a wood fired oven in your garden, then we would urge you to buy Genevieve Taylor's book which "tells you everything you need to know about your oven, from initial setting up to choice of woods, plus tips and tricks for perfecting cooking times, and of course, over 70 amazing recipes." 



Or turn to DJ BBQ's book for further inspiration



Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©




Sunday 21 October 2018

Mushroom and goat's cheese risotto

Funny stuff, fungus; not an animal, nor a vegetable, almost other worldly, alien.
And a bundle of contradictions too, the prettiest are often poisonous, such as fly agaric,  whilst the ugly or unprepossessing are delicious, bordering, in some cases, on divine - think ugly shaggy ink caps and unprepossessing truffle, neither would win prizes for their looks.
They are also very much of the moment, a true reckoning of the changing seasons, brought to life by the damp of early autumn, as seasonal as pumpkins and quince.  There are wood blewits to be found in the Wyre Forest, well worth a detour on the way home and a bank of shaggy ink caps just outside the workshops, their briefest of peaks to be watched for between shy emergence and ebony liquefaction. Fascinating fungus indeed.
Instagram has been full of envy evoking baskets of foraged ceps and chanterelles this year.  Sadly we have found neither and have had to resort to handing over our hard earned cash for a little mushroom magic.
Fortunately a small amount of mushrooms can be transformed into a delicious dinner and this is what I did with our humble haul from the farm shop.




For 2 of us
130g Arborio rice
Approx 300ml of chicken or vegetable stock
1 onion, finely chopped
80g butter
4 - 5 sprigs of tarragon
Grated rind of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lemon
75g soft goat's cheese
A handful of wild mushrooms (use chestnut mushrooms if there is nothing more exotic available)

Keep the stock simmering (not boiling fiercely) in a saucepan
Melt 50g of the butter in a frying pan or prospector pan  over a low heat.
Add the onion and cook gently until translucent.  Add the rice and cook until it turns white and opaque.  
Gradually add the stock, one ladle full at a time, stirring all the time.  
When almost all the stock has been added, stir in the chopped tarragon, lemon rind and goat's cheese.  
Adjust the seasoning to taste. 
Stir in the final stock and then cover with a lid and set aside while you cook the mushrooms.
Heat the remaining butter in a frying pan and when it foams, throw in the mushrooms.  
Cook until the mushrooms are golden and there is no liquid in the pan. Season with white pepper and add the lemon juice.
Place the mushrooms on top of the risotto and serve immediately, ideally with a glass of chilled white wine.


www.netherton-foundry.co.uk
Netherton Foundry Shropshire © 2018




Sunday 7 October 2018

Apple and almond pie

There is nothing to beat an apple pie and with Autumn well established, this is the best time of year for getting your hands on some apples, be they from friends' gluts, scrumped from the wild or overhanging branches or from your local farm shop.
Regular visitors to this blog will already know that we have 3 ancient and prolific apple trees and an annual challenge to use our harvest, ahem, fruitfully.

This is a special apple pie - elevated, to coin a much overused and current culinary adverb, above the ordinary.



This will make 6 - 8 portions.

Short crust pastry
250g plain flour
125g cold butter
1 egg yolk
Cold water

Pie filling
2lb apples
2 tablespoons jam
50g ground almonds
1 egg white
70g sugar

Chop the apples into 8 - 10 chunks and put them in a saucepan with 200ml water.
There is no need to peel or core them.
Cook gently until the apples have completely collapsed.  Push the apples through a sieve and then place the pulp in a muslin bag (use a J cloth or an old pair of clean tights if you haven't got a muslin bag.)
Leave to drain.  Pour off the juice, sweeten to taste, dilute with water to suit your palate and drink!


Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC
Grease a 10" prospector pan or your favourite pie dish.

Make the shortcrust pastry; rub the butter into the flour then add the egg yolk and enough water to bind.
Roll out just over half the pastry and line your pan/pie dish.
Spread the jam over the pastry, I used home made damson but any other tart jam would work, such as a good quality raspberry.  Avoid the sweeter jams like strawberry.
Sprinkle over the ground almonds.
Whisk the egg white until stiff, then whisk in the sugar until glossy.
Fold into the apple purée and then spread this over the pie base.
Top with rest of the pastry and put 3 small cuts into the top.
Place in the hot oven for 30 minutes.
Serve at room temperature with clotted cream.


www.netherton-foundry.co.uk
Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©