All Things Considered

Wiveton Hall Cafe
Posted by Kate Sullivan

I was very excited to receive a text message from Ali Yetman last
week, declaring that the new eatery she is involved with, will finally be
opening on July 23rd. That was Monday, so I headed north.

I have mentioned before in a previous post about the husband and
wife
team Ali and Peter Yetman - Peter, now brewer of delicious beer and
Ali, still
fabulous chef. Ali had just started her restauranteur retirement after
18 years of running 'Yetmans' in Holt, North Norfolk, when their
eccentric friend and local land owner of Wiveton Hall, Desmond MacCarthy
asked if she would cook in his new Cafe venture.

Wiveton Hall Fruit & Farm Cafe  is located between Cley and
Blakeney and is situated over-looking one of the most beautiful stretches of
coastline in Norfolk. The cafe building is a converted 1950s barn, with
views of ripening artichokes, red currants, raspberries,
strawberries, broad beans and the beautiful marshes.

The
idea behind the Cafe is for Ali to use Desmond's high quality, home
grown produce and create delicious, seasonal lunches for both the
hungry PYO fruit pickers coming to the farm or for anyone who is
desperate to eat Ali's fabulous food again (me).

Everything about the Cafe works. The decor is Mexican bright, kitsch and clashing with enough chairs to seat approximately 30 inside and many more outside shaded by pine trees. The counter inside is ladened with cakes, meringues, biscuits and scones to accompany various different types of tea and coffee.

I ate pea, broad bean and parmesan tart followed by gooseberry fool. It was so delicious that I am willing to drive an hour to eat it again and again. You have to go if you are passing or visiting the area, not just to pick quality produce but also to taste what delights Ali can create with Desmond's seasonal supplies.

Wiveton Hall Cafe is open 7 days a week until September.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on July 25th, 2007

Marsh Samphire
Posted by Kate Sullivan

The tasty and obviously salty sea vegetable, samphire (pronounced ‘sam-fur’) is growing in abundance now and until early September. Along regional salt marshes, there will be patches of luminous green upright stalks, some bushy some spikey, depending on when and where you find it.

Samphire or glasswort as it’s also known was used in the past for making glassware. It was the high quantity of sodium carbonate from the ashes of the dried then burnt succulent that went into the glass making processes.

Every year, there will be new discussions about how it should be harvested; do you snip it or pull it by the roots? Invariably, when it is sold in fishmongers, the roots are in tact. I understand that to continue the growth of this wild coastal delicacy you should harvest it with some scissors, leaving the root for re-growth.

I've been picking and eating samphire for years. The annual trip to our
favourite North Norfolk coastal campsite makes harvesting it a ritual
and it's a perfect starter for our evening meals. Simply wash it, bring it back to the boil then drench with unsalted butter, a squeeze of lemon juice and
cover with freshly ground black pepper. Delicious, especially eaten
in the open air.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on June 13th, 2007

Chocolate
Posted by Kate Sullivan

As I type this, I’m tentatively munching on a small piece of  Montezuma’s chilli fired dark chocolate and I have to say, it's making me feel a little un-easy.

Now, I like chocolate and I like chillies and I know that the Mexican’s love the two together but for me, I’d rather keep them separate. I want chocolate to be comforting and to be able to savour the indulgence rather than being puzzled by the fiery combination I have just experienced.

Montezuma’s is a British award winning chocolatier (so please don’t let my uncertainty of the chilli bar put you off) and it is just one of the many excellent chocolatiers in Britain who know a thing about mixing textures and extracts with chocolate covertures. It seems that us Brit’s are becoming quite refined with our bittersweet cocoa preferences and we are buying more and more artisan bars, sourced and produced through ethical means.

Another award winner based in Norfolk is Booja Booja who makes organic, vegan, vegetarian or wheat-free handmade truffles. The hand painted packaging in the luxury range also won an award from the Soil Association and is sourced directly from artists in Kashmir, helping support families in the strife torn region.

But one of my favourite chocolate shops is London based Rococo, which for the past 23 years has been producing an intriguing array of flavour combinations. But being a sucker for tradition, I can’t resist the wonderfully quintessential fondant flavours; rose, lavender and geranium – so much more refined than chilli, wouldn't you say?

Posted by Kate Sullivan on May 26th, 2007

Asparagus
Posted by Kate Sullivan

We’re now a week or so into the short, two month run of fresh asparagus and I’ve still not manage to eat any - which is ridiculous seeing as I have been counting the days till the season began for the past two months.

For me, asparagus signifies the start of the summer. I enjoy trying out different combinations of the lean green super-food but always find that simply simmered, buttered and seasoned is hard to beat.

Every year I notice more and more small farms selling the freshly cut spears around Norfolk. There is one asparagus field that I love watching as I pass every week. I’m always amazed that this field is pretty much unattended until early April, when suddenly it is tidied in readiness for the pending crop. At the beginning of May and seemingly overnight the crowns poke through and ascend rapidly.

Being a fan of this delicious and short seasoned vegetable, I winced with horror when I heard this week about a farm contractor who mistakenly ploughed the wrong field of rising asparagus instead of turning the soil of the adjacent field in preparation for strawberries, losing the grower about £10,000 in sales. Ouch.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on May 7th, 2007

Smokehouses
Posted by Kate Sullivan

Food smoking has been around for many years, and it is thought that like most techniques, it was discovered by accident. Leaving meat or fish to hang over a fire not only preserved the food, but also gave it a desirable flavour and helped maintain a food supply when there was a shortage.

I know of three excellent and fairly local Smokehouses; Richardsons Smokehouse  and Butley Orford Oysterage in Orford, Suffolk and Cley Smokehouse in Norfolk and as you may guess, they are all situated by the sea, making the most of the local fishermen’s catch. I recently went to the smokehouse in Cley (pronounced k-l-i) and bought not a piece of mackerel as you may think, but instead bought a tub of smoked olives. I had this delicious and slightly odd nibble at a local wedding. The olives were not only smoked but also infused with cumin and coriander seeds - delicious.

Both Orford smokeries are on my list of places to visit in a few weeks time when we’re holidaying nearby in Thorpeness.  I remember from a previous visit that the connected Butley Orford Oysterage Restaurant is fabulous and as you would expect, the menu is full of fresh and smoked fish. The tables are the original Formica from 40 years ago and the service old fashioned and faultless.

Back on the North Norfolk Coast at Salthouse, is another simple and uncomplicated eatery, Cookie’s Crab Shop. Here you can bring your own wine, sit in their garden shed, and look out to sea whilst eating fresh crab and peeling prawns. Do book in advance; the popularity of this fish haven is astonishing.

If you fancy attempting to smoke some food yourself, I believe it is quite simple. Nick Sandler and Johnny Acton’s book Preserved make it sound easy enough to build hot and colds smokers, but if you’re not keen on DIY, visit Smokey’s Place for further information and equipment sales.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on May 2nd, 2007

Borough Market
Posted by Kate Sullivan

It will come as no surprise to the readers of this blog, that I LOVE FOOD. People who don’t ‘get’ food, baffle me. How can people not care what they eat? When I shop, I gaze at the contents of people’s trolleys, and often wonder how interesting it would be to be a till girl. I was told recently by a checkout assistant that I had the healthiest shopping she had seen all day. I was pleased, but then I was in Asda…

At the other end of the food shopping experience to Asda is Borough Market, and boy, is this a shopping experience to savour. This culinary emporium is situated next to London Bridge in the borough of Southwark, which for the past 250 years (actually 2,000 years read more here) has been home to wholesale fruit and vegetable traders. More famously now, it is a foody haven, especially at the weekends.

The market became more well known in 1998, when writer and campaigner of Food Lovers Britain Henrietta Green, invited 50 British food producers to sell their wares at a 3 day event held at Borough Market. The success of this market was instant and it soon became a weekly fixture, selling top quality foods from around the British Isles along with some International destinations too.

I often dream about escaping Norfolk and the place I often wish to be, is Borough Market. I would start the day (early) at The Monmouth Coffee Company on the edge of the market, drinking the tastiest coffee made with the creamiest Jersey milk. I would sit, sip and gaze at the produce and plan by route and my meals for the next few days. I then head in, eyes on stalks, nose twitching confused about whether to turn left or right…what if some one buys the last sourdough loaf, or the queue at the Brindisa hot chorizo stand is too long to stand still for?

The handmade chocolates, pastries, fresh seafood, organic meat, fruit, vegetables, beers, puddings, preserves, cheeses is overwhelming, almost too much for me to cope with. At this point I’m relieved I have left the children behind but have had the sense to bring a huge rucksack; you definitely either need one of them or a granny trolley, as one thing you don’t want to have to deal with, is not having enough hands to carry your exquisite produce home.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on April 26th, 2007

Cittaslow
Posted by Kate Sullivan

In 2004 Aylsham was accepted as a ‘Slow Town’ – a phrase that conjures up visions of a sleepy backwater living in the past. As life becomes increasingly hectic, the fabric that affects our very existence is taken for granted, from environmental planning to pollution or food to architecture, all of which influence our well being.

We should all make time for the environment in which we live so that communities can thrive. In essence, this is what ‘Cittaslow’ (Italian for ‘Slow City’) it all about.

Cittaslow, also known as The Slow Movement, started in Italy in 1999 and has since assigned 70 Italian cities with the label, as well as many further towns around the world. The concept behind Cittaslow is to celebrate a town, which its community cares about its environment. Communities work together to improve certain issues and value existing qualities.

In the UK we currently have 4 towns under the Cittaslow network and for us lucky Norfolk folk, 2 of those towns are in this county, Diss and Aylsham (home to our gallery St Jude's). The other towns accepted into the Cittaslow movement are Mold in Wales and Ludlow in Shropshire, which for many years has been famous for its food markets, including the acclaimed annual Food Festival, and the excellent range of independently run shops.

I have been visiting Aylsham for over 30 years and I can honestly say it’s not changed in many ways at all. The same choice of greengrocers and traditional butchers are still there, the no-fuss Deli, the old fashioned sweet shop and barbers still serve the local community as well as the weekly auctions, markets and the excellent monthly Farmers Market held on the first Saturday of each month.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on April 22nd, 2007

Artisan Bakeries
Posted by Kate Sullivan

Did you know that in the UK, 98% of bread is made by supermarkets and highly mechanised bakeries and the remaining 2% by artisan bakeries? It’s crazy isn’t it?

After World War Two, mechanised baking equipment was developed to produce high-speed loaves, this was known as the Chorleywood Process. At the time and for subsequent years, it was a good thing as it helped create a constant supply of fresh bread for families who relied heavily on the cheap and vaguely nutritious loaf.

Thankfully, our tastes and knowledge of food are changing for the better. As we become more food aware, we discover that the always available, plastic wrapped, industrial loaves which make us feel bloated and sluggish are incomparable to the superior artisan produced bakes which are becoming increasingly more available (but then, they don’t contain ascorbic acid, liquid gluten or doughs made and risen in less than 4 minutes).

Skilled, artisan bakers create breads that are hand crafted and are made using leavens (natural yeasts). Batches of different dough are slowly fermented over several days using just natural ingredients.  They prepare beautiful, rustic loaves with unprocessed flours like spelt, rye and stone-ground which typically are sourced from mills using traditional processes, often using organic or untreated grains like my local mill at Letheringsett and my not so local Shipton Mill in Gloustershire.

Farmers markets are a great place to buy hand-crafted and unprocessed breads. Here in Norfolk, we are lucky enough to be supplied wholesome loaves by Metfield Bakery who bake delicious breads created from a wide range of flours, seeds and nuts as well as excellent cakes and pies.

If you fancy a go at creating your own natural loaves, I highly recommend reading Baker by Dean Brettschneider. This book gives both basic and comprehensive techniques on bread and cake baking.

Dan Lepard is also a well sung baking guru, his website lists some excellent UK bakeries defiantly worth looking at which may even tempt you to find your local wholesome bakery or order your daily bread on-line.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on April 12th, 2007

Yetman’s Beer
Posted by Kate Sullivan

Those of you familiar with the North Norfolk town Holt may also be familiar with the name Yetman's. For nearly two decades husband and wife team Ali and Peter (Yetman) have cooked and served outstanding food in their restaurant. It was the place to go for highly flavoured and unpretentious quality food, and a laid back service (I should know, I waitressed there for nearly 15 years). But as with everything, all good things come to and end and the restaurant closed in January of this year.

When Peter worked in the City twenty years ago, he developed a skill and taste for brewing in his spare time in an attempt to relax and unwind from the stresses of his job. Years later, and not totally put off with being the person always mixing and pouring drinks in the restaurant, Peter decided to reignite a dormant passion for brewing and started his own microbrewery.

When they moved to Norfolk to start the restaurant, the brewing kit was stored and almost forgotten until a few years ago, Peter decided to start brewing in the garden shed where he was able to try out his pints on his customers in the restaurant.

With the punters loving his pints, Peter took the plunge and decided to up-scale his operation and set up a microbrewery. No longer able to brew in the tiny shed with Ali's vegetables, he moved into and helped restore some old cattle barns in an idyllic location on the Bayfield Estate outside Holt. With the mash tuns in place along with a sofa and a loud sound system, Peter has all he needs to create a smooth pint.

With hops sourced form Worcestershire, Germany and America, there are currently five brews varying in flavour and alcohol content. The types range from his Red label (Abv 3.8) to the more stoic Green (Abv 4.8). There is also Stout (not sure of it's colour tag) and a new one Amber (Abv 4.0) appropriately labelled with the colours orange and green.

If you would like to try Peter's draught beers, you can buy them in hearty pints in a number of pubs in around Norfolk; The George Hotel, Blakeney White Horse, Wiveton Bell,and the Buckinghamshire Arms.

To purchase bottles visit Byfords, Samphire, Humpty Dumpty Brewey Shop, Fishes Restaurant and Picnic Fayre.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on April 5th, 2007