I was wondering what to talk about this week, my buying local is going well and I continue to be impressed by every new cut of meat I try from Southalls. The veg box is good every week and we had no problems suspending the odd week where we were on holiday. I am using the supermarket so much less than before I started this which I am really pleased about. I was talking to my brother and he gave me some ideas of what to discuss instead so here goes.

There are a few things missing from our diet now the main ones are chicken and fish. I now realise how chicken used to be a rare thing. A well produced chicken does not cost £3 (sorry but for it to be that cheap the production has to suffer) I have always bought whole chicken because I cant stand paying the same price for a couple of brests as for the whole chicken but when the butchers has chicken in it is a treat not a weekly occurance. This comes simply from the fact that it takes time and effort to produce good free range chicken which then tastes so much better for it. Supermarket chicken is no comparison and if they showed the conditions the birds are kept in at the point of sale no one would buy it I guarantee. As for fish, the last fishmongers in Bedford closed recently so that is what supermarkets do for the local community. The problem is being quite a way from the sea here how do we buy local fish? I will look into that over the next few weeks and let you know what happens.

The idea of how to increase the type of meats we have is that the game seasons are either on or starting in the very near future. This means phesant, grouse, wild duck maybe a bit of rabbit which is always in season. We have a game dealer close to the office so I will try there and see how we go. It is important to try and use all the things that are in season not just veg but meat as well. You cant get much more natural and free-range than wild game.

So I will have a go with game and try and source some fish in the next few weeks. If anyone has any especially good game recipies then please post them in the forum so we can give them a try.

When you’re really busy it’s great to get home from work in the evening and have something in the fridge for dinner. Whack the oven on, pour a drink and wait.

As you may have guessed, I’m not talking about ready-meals here. Instead, I want something I’ve made myself, something warming and satisfying, and most importantly, something that won’t mind a night or two in the fridge. Casseroles, stews and the like generally respond well to a night’s rest often tasting better the following day.

The following dishes were – believe it or not – staples while I was at University. I religiously made pate every week for sandwiches, and the sausage casserole with my version of pommes dauphinoise was often on the menu on Friday nights while I was having a night in before Saturday’s rugby match and all my housemates were out on the lash.

Best of all, these dishes can be made in advance (ie: on Sunday for Monday’s supper) or, if you make more than you’ll need you’ll have a fridge full of wonderful leftovers for the following couple of days! Yes, folks! Leftovers = supper with zero effort!!!

The pate will happily last two or three days, as will the sausage casserole. I used to make the potatoes in batches – one to go in the fridge for tonight/tomorrow night and the rest for the freezer.

Chicken Liver Pate

This is a fairly rich and flavorful without the addition of the stout, but hey, I was a student! Fois Gras it’s not, but it is superb spread thickly on hot buttered toast!

Ingredients:

1lb Chicken Livers, rinsed, gristly nastiness removed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Handful fresh parsley
1 can of stout or dark ale
Salt, pepper

Cook the onions and garlic in a knob of butter until soft, sweet and beginning to brown.

Add the livers to the pan, quickly brown and then pour in half of the beer, the parsley and lots of salt and pepper.

Bring the beer up to the boil and turn down to a gentle simmer while you drink the rest of the stout.

Once the livers are just cooked remove from the heat and allow to cool for about 15 minutes.

Whizz the mixture in a food processor until smooth and check for seasoning. Transfer to a bowl or small casserole that can be covered and put in the fridge.

Sausage Casserole

The quality of your ingredients is crucial here. A well-made meaty, herby butchers sausage is what you want, and lots of fresh veg to throw in the pot with them.

Ingredients:

6 good butcher’s sausages
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 or 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Handful button mushrooms, sliced
1 Beef stock cube
1 Bay leaf
Handful fresh chopped parsley
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
1 tablespoon of flour
2 pints-ish water
Salt, pepper
Your choice from:
1 small swede, chopped into 1 inch cubes
2 parsnips, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
Handful broad beans, shelled
Half a Savoy Cabbage, shredded

Put a large casserole over a medium heat. Pre-heat the oven to 150°C. Cook the onions and garlic in a knob of butter until soft. Add the sausages and cook slowly for half an hour until the sausages and onions are brown and sticky. Remove the sausages from the casserole.

Add the flour and the crushed stock cube to the onions and stir well. Cook for a few minutes and add the mustard and the bay leaf. Stir and then add the water.

Bring the water to the boil and add the sausages and whatever vegetables you have chosen to use. Season to taste.

Put the casserole in the oven and leave to cook for an hour and a half or so, until the veggies have cooked and the sauce thickened to a medium thick gravy.

Obviously, you can serve this straight away, but if you leave it to cool and pop in the fridge for tomorrow’s dinner, it’ll be so much better!

Poms Dolphin

I don’t think I ever bothered to look up a proper recipe for Pommes Dauphinoise because this always seemed to deliver. I’m sure it’s not far off the mark, but please feel free to correct me.

Ingredients:

1lb floury potatoes, scrubbed and thinly sliced
3 or 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
A couple of knobs of butter
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
1 small pot double cream
1 pint of milk

Grease a deep oven dish with some of the butter. Place a layer of the potato slices in the dish. Sprinkle with a little garlic and season well. Toss in the bay leaf.

Repeat these layers until you have used up all of the potatoes. Mix the milk and cream together and pour over the potatoes. You want the milk/cream to come to the level of the spuds. Season well and dot the top with the remaining butter.

Put uncovered into a 100° C oven for about an hour until the potatoes are cooked through and slightly browned on top.

Again, you can serve this straight away but if you save some for tomorrow night it’ll be even better!

If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can’t be done – Peter Ustinov
Despite what many believe having a large garden is not a prerequisite to growing vegetables. The main point to remember is to grow good Veg all you need is sunlight, water and soil. Even within the smallest flats there is possibilities of planting.

Window boxes make perfect cultivating patches for bush tomatoes or even lettuces. Just about all root vegetables can be grown in tubs. Potatoes grow very well and are easy to harvest if they are grown in old tyres stacked on top of each other. When plants are in tubs they are totally reliant on you to provide the water and nourishment. If the soil in the pots is poor then its a good idea to add a compost or even blood fish and bone to provide some food. You must also ensure they are regularly watered as they cannot throw out deeper roots to find water on hot days

If you have a pathway border to your front door try growing some runner beans. When they come on flower they have a lovely red colour that is attractive to the eye. Conservatories allow us to grow fruit that would otherwise have to be imported. I have a lemon tree that is prolific in mine and there is now a choice of almost all citrus fruit in a small bush tree variety.

Finally for those who neither have the time nor inclination to tend the growing greens why not try stopping at the gates of those people who have too much fruit and veg and so sell it cheap or even give it away free. Every year I know of three people within the village who give away masses of fruit and veg because they grow too much. Its a bonanza giveaway!

The remark I got the other from a fellow patron at a local pub when trying to decide what to chose on the menu. Before I could say a word the publican had launched in to a sermon on where he sourced each ingredient on his menu and the importance of supporting local producers and finding food he could trust. I was very impressed but could find no reference at all to local sourcing on the menu and black board.

I have always wanted to get a restaurant to change one item on it’s standard menu to mention a local source to see if sales go up and was pleased to hear from a chef recently that sales of roast pork tripled when they had stated on the menu the village and name of the local farmer from who the meat had been sourced.

This shows that we do perceive local to be best and should ask our local eateries where they get their ingredients. And if they do buy locally put it on the menu, I am sure they will have a pleasant surprise.

At BigBarn we are, of course, doing our bit by finding the best ways of supplying restaurants and pubs and even persuading the big caterers like compass, 3663 and sodexho (the suppliers of many of the large chains serving, everything … and chips) to look for local suppliers on BigBarn. They seem keen but as usual need a bit of a consumer push.

So next time you are eating out ask the waiter about the ingredients, and if they say they would like to source locally but don’t know how to find it, tell them where to go.

I thought it was imagination or ageing taste buds, but really they are not as good as they used to be. The reason? Yes, you guessed it. mass production and supermarket demand for shelf life.

Nearly 80% of the £116m worth of strawberries grown in this country are the variety Elsanta a Dutch variety that is crunchy but not well flavoured. Supermarkets demand farmers grow it as it travels well and has a long shelf life. English, tasty, varieties such as Cambridge Favourite and Hapil have nearly disappeared.

According to my ‘Week’ magazine we eat £300m worth of strawberries a year so our farmers are doing well to supply a large percentage of the home market. But. How typical, big business has forced farmers to grow varieties to suit their business rather than our palates. I think this is true in a great many of the foods we eat, and it is wrong. We miss out on good tasty food and the farmer loses the satisfaction of knowing he has produced good tasting food.

The answer. Easy. Shorten the supply chain and give farmers a higher percentage of the retail price. Local food section in supermarkets.

We are trying to persuade supermarkets to have a local food section in every shop managed by local farmers. We want the farmer group to bar code the produce so you can put it in your trolley and continue round the shop. When you pay at the till the supermarket will recognise the bar code and pay 80% of the retail price to the farming group. 80% is about 70% more than the average farmer receives when you buy food in the supermarket. Just imagine how that extra income could help your local economy and encourage farmers to grow a food that you want, tasty food.

To help this happen we need to persuade supermarkets that you, their customers will buy from the local food section as their 20% of the retail price has to still give the £ per sq foot income they require. They are customer led so should listen.

If you have not registered with us please do so here and get your friends to also join the campaign to get better food for all.

A local farmer told me a story the other day which summed up an apparently typical and crazy aspect of the food and farming industry.
Farmer David was approached by a very large sandwich maker (ten lorry loads of bread per day) to supply them with iceberg lettuce. As the contract would give David a very good margin and a high volume he jumped at the opportunity and began production. There was one problem however, if any green fly or insect were found on the lettuce the load of lettuce would be rejected.
David used the highest recommended rate of a slow release insecticide but still had problems keeping the fly away in the last two weeks of growth and tried to persuade the processor to wash or discard the outside leaves. The processor refused. As the contract was important David called in the experts who recommended he do as other farmers did in a similar predicament and vastly increase the rate of insecticide used. The fields planted and covered in insecticide pellets became very smelly and were avoided by staff wherever possible and the twice a day spraying as the lettuce matured seemed like a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

Soon after David heard about another farmer being sued for traces of insecticide found on vegetables and had a load rejected as thunder flies were found on the lettuce. As the flies had more likely got into the lettuce in transit David decided enough was enough and gave up the contract.

All very disappointing, how many other stories are there like this? How often are farmers asked to use excessive amounts of poisons just so the processor can keep his costs low or the retailer display a perfect product with a long shelf life? Once again we prove that local is best. Farmer Dave wants to grow lettuces using as little pesticide as possible, and explain to you the consumer that you may have to wash a few outside leaves just in case nature has encroached past the hedgerow in to the field.

If you know of a story like this or have any comment tell us at the forum