The Foraging Season
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The weather on Tuesday was fantastic, sunny and warm, for our first Edible Seashore of the year.
John Wright, our resident foraging guru, took us back to our old hunting ground, around Weymouth (Cogden Beach, Bowleaze Cove and Ferry Bridge). We have tried in vain to find better foraging along the Devon coast near our HQ, but John, ever cautious about our guests having lots to look at and pick from, then Weymouth it was.
If you know of any really good foraging grounds in Devon, then we would be really happy to hear about them. That's unless you want to keep it a secret, which any true forager would understand.
Armed with all sorts of wild food goodies, back at HQ, John donned his pinny to make Vanilla Pannacotta with Irish Moss. The moss acts as a natural gelatin and is a much better alternative to that nasty animal based stuff.
Our foragers also brought back a ton of Dulce (pictured here) which looks like wide, flat, brown pasta. Our chefs deep-fried it to make real crispy seaweed. If you haven't had it, you must try it. Even if you have had 'crispy seaweed', in a really good Chinese restaurant, as everyone knows, it is never seaweed, but crispy cabbage!
Our shipment also included Razor clams and Sea Beet. With the Sea Beet, Dan made a River Cottage favourite, Smoked Haddock and Spinach tart, substituting the spinach with the Sea Beet. Sea Beet is really easy to cook. Just remove any hard stalks, give it a good wash and it's good to go, just like spinach. Gill has added the recipe below for you, if you fancy having a go yourself.
We were also pretty successful with the old Razor clams, drawing them out of the beach with a handy bit of salt. Gill, delighted to see them, simply grilled them with fresh brill, parsley and lemon. Absolutely delicious with a cold glass of white wine, English of course, if you can get it.
If you fancy a taste of life on the wild side, join John for a Wild Food Feast on Friday 16th May - a handful of tickets remain. Our Edible Seashore days are now sold out for this year, but you can click here to register your interest in next year's events.
The next Foraging update will be Monday, when Eleanor Gallia takes us along the hedgerows of HQ on our Walk on the Wild Side: Herbal Hedgerows day.
Smoked pollack and spinach tart
(Gill’s own)
This recipe is Gill’s own, and a firm River Cottage favourite. It ranks up there with fish pie for comfort food but, as it’s a bit more stylish and doesn’t have any potato in it, we serve it as a starter course. Be careful not to overcook the fish, it really only takes about 5 minutes.
Serves 4-6
Shortcrust pastry
250g plain flour
125g cold organic butter, cut into small cubes
Pinch of salt
1 egg yolk, plus beaten egg for glazing
About 100ml cold milk
Filling
1 smoked pollack fillet, about 200g
Up to 1 litre whole milk
Knob of butter
2 English onions, finely sliced
A large handful of young spinach
100g mature cheddar, grated
250ml double cream
2 medium eggs, plus 2 medium yolks, lightly beaten
Salt and pepper
To make the pastry, put the flour, butter and salt in a food processor and pulse until the mixture has the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk, start the processor again and start adding the milk in a thin stream. Watch carefully and stop adding the milk as soon as the dough comes together. Tip out of the processor, knead a couple of times to create a smooth ball of dough, then wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas 3. Roll out the pastry thinly and use to line a 25cm-diameter tart tin with a removable base. Leave the excess pastry hanging over the edge. Prick the base in several places with a fork. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry looks dry and cooked. Remove from the oven, brush the pastry with beaten egg, then return to the oven and bake until golden (about 5 minutes). This helps to seal the pastry and prevent any of the tart filling leaking out. Trim off the excess pastry with a small, very sharp knife. Leave the oven at 170ºC/gas 3.
Put the pollack in a pan and pour over enough milk to just cover it. Bring the milk to a simmer. Taking care not to let the milk boil, cook the fish just until it will come apart in flakes – about 5 minutes. Remove the fish from the milk and leave to cool. Don’t discard the milk – strain it and set aside.
While the pollack is cooling, heat the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the onions. Fry gently, without letting them brown, until soft. Drop the spinach into a pan of boiling water and cook until wilted. Drain and, once cool enough to handle, squeeze dry and chop.
Flake the pollack into a bowl and add the grated cheddar, onions and spinach. Mix well, then put the mixture into the tart case. Mix 250ml of the strained fish poaching milk with the cream and eggs. Season with salt and pepper and pour over the pollack mixture. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until set and browned. Serve warm or cold.