Whitchurch Food festival

Food Festivals come in all shapes and sizes

First of all there are the large, corporate events held in vast venues, such as the Good food Show at the NEC.  These are great for spotting celebrity chefs and the perfect place for a celeb selfie.

Then there are the traditional festivals, all based on the original one first held in Ludlow over 20 years ago and now a twice yearly event at the Castle.  Here the focus is on local producers, alongside some splendid and varied entertainment.
Shrewsbury Food Festival burst onto the festival scene in 2013, we were there, and it has been growing like Topsy ever since.  This is an amazing outing and this year's event takes place verrrry soon. Come along and say "Hello", watch the chefs rustle up appetising grub in our pans on the Wenlock demo stage and get to use the pans yourself in the Chef's School .

Some festivals are hosted in buildings, from church halls to engine sheds - check out the Severn Valley Home and Garden Fayre in Highley, some are in marquees and some are just a row of exhibitor gazebos in a muddy field.

Every craft fair in the land will now have someone selling something delicious and homemade.

Which brings  me round to Whitchurch Food Festival - relatively new, still quite small, brought together by 3 volunteers and a councillor - and a delightful day out.
This was my first visit to Whitchurch, not as a visitor, but a sidekick to the irrespresible Chris Burt, executive chef at Momo.No.Ki, the Peach Tree and Havana Republic in Shrewsbury, on stage and demonstrating how easy it can be to create great lookout, great tasting food.....all cooked in our pans of course.

We had huge fun, as you can see in the photos and this was the first public outing for our new collaborative range of pans in conjunction with Fat Punk Studio - take a walk on the wild side
http://www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/Fat-Punk

This festival, like all the others in the county, was a fabulous endorsement of the talented array of artisan food producers across Shropshire - we are hugely lucky to have all this great food on our doorsteps.

A huge thank you to everyone involved at Whitchurch Food Festival, see you again next year.

And massive thanks to La Triestina for taking time away from their stand to take our photos

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2016

Apley Farm game cooking

Last weekend I was delighted to do my first "real" cookery demonstration at the Apley Farm Christmas  Food Fayre, miked up and everything!!!

I was pretty nervous and I can honestly say that when I saw some of the video footage that was taken, I can't remember saying what I did. There's a snippet on our Instagram page.
But I had faith in the kit I was using, our own pans, of course and my IOShen knife, as well as the splendid produce from the farm shop.

 

And what's more, I had practiced my latest dish several times in advance.
Tried and tested thoroughly by the rest of the team.

6 juniper berries

6 allspice berries

2 dstsp flour

Pinch salt

2 pheasant breasts

Rapeseed oil

Butter

100ml White wine

25 ml damson gin or port

2 Tblsp double cream

¼ Savoy cabbage, chopped

50g smoked, streaky bacon

10 cooked and peeled chestnuts

Crush the juniper berries and allspice, with a pinch of salt

Mix with the flour and put on a plate or, my preferred method, put it in a plastic bag.

Coat the pheasant in seasoned flour, if you've put the flour in the bag, throw in the pheasant and give it a good shake.

Dust off the excess flour.

Put a knob of butter and a glug of rapeseed oil in to a frying pan.

Heat the pan over a medium heat until the butter foams

Put the pheasant in to the pan.

Cook for 3 minutes.

Turn over and cook for another 4 minutes. If you've got a steak press, use it now!!

Set aside and keep warm.

Add another knob of butter and 1 tsp seasoned flour to pan.

Stir thoroughly and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the wine and the gin, stir well.

Cook until thickened.

Add the cream, season to taste and turn the heat as low as it will go.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok.

Add the chopped bacon and cook over a high heat for 5 minutes, until starting to brown

Add the cabbage and chestnuts and stir fry for 3 minutes

Place the cabbage on a serving plate.

Cut each pheasant breast into 3 slices and lay on top of the cabbage

Drizzle the sauce on top

Serve, ideally with some roast potatoes

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk