I’m just back from a fabulous weekend at Ludlow Food Festival. I’ve been there each year for the last few years, and it’s a real highlight of the year. This is a wonderful food festival with a really special atmosphere in a truly beautiful town.
I started off a crazy schedule of events on the stage, demonstrating some of my favourite recipes to cook right now. I decided on my recipes on the morning, based on the best ingredients I could lay my hands on, and a little hedgerow foraging.
So, as promised, here are the recipes I made during my demo. I do hope you enjoy them.
- 6 pears, peeled
- 225g caster sugar
- 600ml water
- Zest of one lemon, peeled into large strips using a potato peeler
- Around 10 fully ripe Elderberry heads (the berries should be black, plump and juicy
- 12 juniper berries
- Bring the sugar and water to the boil Turn it down to a simmer. Add the pears, whole, followed by the lemon zest, elderberry heads and juniper berries and cover with a paper lid and saucepan lid. Simmer until just soft.
- Remove the pears from the liquid and set aside. Reduce the liquid a little more so that it’s sticky and sweet. Serve the pears with the sauce drizzled over and maybe even with some cream, too. Delicious warm or cold.
- 500g diced shoulder of pork
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 butternut squash, cut into half, deseeded, and cut into thick slices
- Sea salt and black pepper
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- Around 300ml quality cider
- 4 seasonal eating apples, cut into quarters and core removed
- 25g butter
- A good handful parsley, chopped roughly
- Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6.
- Start by gently frying the pork in the oil over a moderate heat. A cast iron pan is ideal here.
- Separately, place the squash onto a baking tray, season well and drizzle over some oil. Roast for around 30 minutes.
- Now, add the garlic to the pork and fry for just a minute, followed by the cider. Reduce the oven temperature to 180C/ Gas Mark 4. Place the pan into the oven with a lid on and bake for 30 minutes.
- Put the squash into the pan with the pork, along with the apples and butter. Season again. Bake for another 20-30 minutes, lid off, until the pork, squash and apples are all tender.
- Spoon onto a warmed serving dish or onto individual plates. Serve topped with parley.
- 450g damsons, fresh or frozen
- 25ml water
- 200g caster sugar
- 600ml softly whipped double cream
- Plus shortbread biscuits to serve
- Place the damsons, whole, into a pan with the water and sugar. Cook gently for around 20 minutes until the fruit is cooked through. They will start to break up. Set aside and leave until cold. Now, remove the stones from the cooled fruit and discard. It’s much easier to do this at this stage than before they are cooked. Taste and add more sugar if needed.
- Gently fold the cold damsons into the whipped cream. The fool is now ready to be served or can be chilled for serving later. I like not to mix it too evenly, so there is a distinct swirl in the fool, and serve a little extra fruit on top. Serve with shortbread biscuits.