Chicken, Fennel & Apple Pasta Salad

Photo: © childsdesign

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Chicken goes so well with creamy textures and the aniseed flavour of tarragon and fennel.
Our salad uses tarragon mayonnaise to create an unctuous herbal sauce which combines with pieces of crunchy tangy apple.

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Turkey Steaks with Lemon & Mint Avocado

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Really, the star of the show in this dish is the avocado which is enhanced with a splash of lemon.
The flavours are fresh and bright and the meal is light, but also satisfying, as well as as being quick and easy to prepare.

You don't have to have it with turkey either. The avocado would go equally well with other meats; a beef steak or lamb, perhaps or even tuna.
It would even be perfect smeared on toast for lunch.

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AFT Introducing: Oakley Grange Farm

Photos: © Oakley Grange Farm

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Oakley Grange Farm, in the heart of Leicestershire, is over 200 years old, and has been run by the Mee family for the past two generations. Richard and Inger took over the farm in 2001 and farm organically, raising beef cattle, pigs, sheep and laying hens alongside wheat, fruit and salad vegetables.

Their café is part of a busy working farm and boasts views over the countryside as well as into rural life. Tractors and animals alike can be
seen from the café windows and visitors can also benefit from their local
and farming expertise.

As much food as possible is either grown or reared on Oakley Grange Farm, and if not, they try to source from local suppliers. Everything is freshly prepared and served by Inger and the team in a relaxed and welcoming environment.

In the café, breakfast, afternoon tea, coffee and cake, is served as well as a wide range of hot lunches and sandwiches. The breakfast includes their own sausages, bacon and eggs along with roast tomatoes, mushrooms and toast made from the farm's home baked bread.

Organic beef, pork, lamb, eggs produced on the farm can be bought in their shop plus other carefully sourced  groceries including biscuits, preserves, pickles and chocolates.

To find out more about Oakley Grange Farm visit their page on 
The Artisan Food Trail here

Spiced Mackerel with Fennel Slaw

Photo: © childsdesign

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We are certainly enjoying the abundance of fresh mackerel at the moment –
it is reasonably priced and readily available.
Our second mackerel recipe includes some interesting flavours for a light and healthy meal which is good any day of the week.

Fennel is one of our favourite vegetables with its fresh aniseed flavour and,
in our opinion, so much nicer than cabbage in a slaw.
Although we have little success in growing bulb fennel, we have no trouble
with herb fennel. As well as the leaves, the flowers are very edible and release an intense burst of aniseed flavour in the mouth – something to try, if you haven’t already.

If you want to make a more substantial meal, simply serve with some boiled new potatoes or some buttered crusty bread.

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Grilled Mackerel with Pepper Salad

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Mackerel is at its seasonal best and widely available at the moment, so make the most of it.
A rich oily fish packed with omega-3 goodness it is perfect cooked on the grill until its beautiful shiny skin turns crisp.
Lightly seasoned with a smoked paprika oil, we’ve paired the mackerel with a tangy and fruity pepper salad to bring a taste of the Mediterranean to the table.

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Halloumi Lentil Salad

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Like our Autumn Salad this is another hearty delicious meal that suits the colder months.
To be honest it was one of those dishes where we looked in the fridge and thought, ‘what would go together to make something tasty’, so the recipe that follows is as flexible as you want to make it.

Having a good chunk of Halloumi cheese to play with, we chose ingredients that complemented it. Something robust and flavoursome with hints of the Mediterranean seemed appropriate.

Halloumi cheese is a magical substance as it does not melt when you cook it, so is perfect for frying. This produces a lovely crispy exterior with soft, warm milky interior.

This is lovely dressed with some fruit vinegar which adds a little sparkle to everything.

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Autumn Salad

Photos: © childsdesign

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Autumn salad may sound like a contradiction, because who wants to eat salad when the weather is damp and chilly?
This ‘salad’ however, is served warm and has a hint of spice for a cosy satisfying element.
As the cheese melts slightly over the warm roasted squash it makes for a very comforting meal.

This is more of a set of assembly instructions rather than a recipe. There are no strict rules and you are free to improvise but we hope it will inspire you to use some of the great artisan produce on our food trail.

British-grown onion squash is becoming more 
available in the shops now and is a great 
alternative to butternut squash. It is best to 
use a squash or pumpkin that has a denser 
textured flesh and the onion squash is perfect, 
plus it is such a gorgeous deep orange colour.

So what will you need?
Onion squash or butternut squash
Cold pressed rapeseed oil*
Fresh rosemary
Walnuts
Butter
Brown sugar
Ancho powder*
Chipotle powder*
Salt
Ricotta cheese
Smoked goat’s cheese*
Salad leaves eg. baby spinach, ruby chard, rocket
Raspberry Vinegar*

*denotes suggested Artisan Food Trail producers’ products




Putting the salad together
Remove the seeds from your squash and peel it, then cut into chunks or slices. Toss in some rapeseed oil (we used Yare Valley Oils) and sprinkle with chopped rosemary. Put on a baking tray and roast in a hot oven until soft and browned at the edges.

Prepare the nuts. Place a pan on the hob over a low to medium heat add add a knob of butter. When the butter has melted add a tablespoon of brown sugar and stir to melt. Add about half a teaspoon each of ancho and chipotle powder (we used Capsicana Chilli Co), some finely chopped rosemary and some salt to taste. Tip in a handful or so of walnuts and stir until they are well coated.
Tip out on to a plate to cool.

Put some salad leaves into bowls and lightly drizzle with rapeseed oil and some raspberry vinegar (we used Alan Coxon’s).
Put some roasted squash chunks on top and then crumble over the ricotta and smoked goat's cheese (we used some from
The Artisan Smokehouse).
Scatter over the spicy nuts and finish with a drizzle of more raspberry vinegar.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper if you like.

Turkish Style Brown Rice Salad and Labneh

Photo: © childsdesign

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This mildly spiced rice dish takes its flavour cues from Turkish cuisine. It is nutty in taste and texture, infused with the earthy warmth of cumin and allspice and a pleasing sweetness from currants and cinnamon.
Freshness is delivered by parsley and mint which add a brightness to the finished dish. It really is totally delicious proving that brown rice need not be boring.
Labneh is a type of curd cheese which can be easily made at home. Just plan ahead as it needs to prepared the day before in readiness for its overnight draining.

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Grouse earns fame for The Blackface Meat Company

Photo: © childsdesign

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Eating game may no longer just be the privilege of the aristocracy, but as it is such a seasonal meat, it certainly feels like a privilege to enjoy it and with grouse, especially so. The grouse season is short, starting in August and finishing just 16 weeks later (read our article about The Glorious Twelfth).

Read full review

We are pleased to award The Blackface Meat Company our ‘Artisan Food Trail Approved’ status for their Grouse.

To take advantage of the grouse season and to experience a gastronomic delight, we suggest you get you order in now!
You can find links to the Blackface Meat Company website on 
The Artisan Food Trail here.

Tasty, versatile and healthy – we love watercress

Photo: © childsdesign

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May sees watercress being celebrated with its very own ‘week’, the perfect time to explore this humble leafy plant. Experiment with it and don’t just leave it to languish as an undervalued salad garnish on the side of the plate.

Historically watercress is known to be a blood cleanser and more recently there have been suggestions that it could help to suppress certain cancers. Watercress does indeed contain lots of vitamins and minerals as well as antioxidant properties which are all good for our health. That said, it tastes so good and is versatile enough to be used in so many ways that it shouldn’t need to be bolstered by a healthy eating campaign to urge us eat it.

Watercress used to be a very important part of our culinary heritage, when during Victorian times it was sold on the streets of London and eaten by the bunch. Known then as the 'poor man's bread', as impoverished labourers could not lay their hands on bread but could get watercress. People would clutch posies, much like we'd hold an ice cream cone, biting off chunks of leaves.

The county of Hampshire has long been the main producer of Britain's watercress, the chalk landscape giving rise to mineral-rich water that feeds the watercress beds. There is a festival dedicated to watercress and this year it is being held on 20th May in Alresford.
In times gone by, the popularity of the leafy vegetable was so high that a railway line was specially built to carry the watercress to London ensuring it reached its destination as fresh as possible.
Probably less known are the Hertfordshire watercress beds. In fact there are some located near to The Artisan Food Trail's HQ at, Whitwell, near Hitchin.

It may be an acquired taste for some people, the peppery flavour can be quite strong and might be a shock to younger palates, but if used as an ingredient, the flavour can be tempered. If you love it just as it is, then freely stuff it into a sandwich and enjoy it raw and fresh.

Having such a robust almost mustard-like taste, it can be used very much as an ingredient, giving flavour as well as the crunchy juicy texture coming from the stalks.
Try it roughly chopped and stirred through mashed potatoes or it makes an interesting filling for an omlette along with some mushrooms and Stilton cheese.

We have rustled up two simple recipes in The AFT Kitchen which celebrate the boldness of British watercress:
Watercress Soup
'A Very British' Watercress Pesto

Octopus & Chorizo Salad

Photo: © childsdesign

Chorizo and seafood is a match made in heaven, so being inspired by the ‘surf and turf’ theme we took a Mediterranean approach to create this salad.

Our original intention was to use squid, but our fishmonger didn’t have any and suggested using octopus instead. Octopus and squid are both cephalopods but require different methods of cooking to get the best from them.

Squid is best quick cooked but octopus being such a muscular creature requires some long pre-cooking to tenderise it. Providing you haven’t procured a beast of gigantic proportions like something from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, it really doesn’t take much to cook it.
Smaller octopus are generally softer and don’t need to bashed before putting them in the pot – the Greeks whack them on a rock!

If you do decide to use squid instead just skip all the pre-cooking part and score and cut your squid into pieces and then marinade and griddle.

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Smoked Duck Salad

Photo: © childsdesign

With the recent spell of unseasonably hot autumn weather, we have been feeling the need for salad. On our recent visit to the Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival we picked up some hot smoked duck breast from
The Artisan Smokehouse. It is made from local (Suffolk) free range duck which is then cured in juniper, sugar and salt before being hot smoked over maple wood. The flavour is subtle and the thinly sliced meat is very tender.

Our salad was very simple, just some soft lettuce leaves, watercress, cooked beetroot (don't use the pickled stuff) and rustic croutons. This was all simply dressed with a drizzle of cold pressed rapeseed oil and a liberal dousing of damson vinegar from Agnes Rose. A few snipped chives and a grind of black pepper completed the dish.

To make the rustic croutons, take a French baguette and cut a few thin slices. Brush both sides of the bread with a little cold pressed rapeseed oil, place on a baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with sea salt flakes. Put into a hot oven until they turn crisp. Watch that they do not burn. When ready allow to cool before breaking into rough pieces for your salad.

Autumn was definitely the inspiration for our salad and using the damson vinegar seemed very appropriate and seasonal. It is also the perfect partner to duck.
The beautiful rose-coloured juice is hand made in the Lake District using locally grown fruit which is then steeped in red wine vinegar to give a gorgeous sweet and sour tang with a plummy fragrance.