Wednesday 5 January 2011

A Lunch fit for Gulliver at Trevaskis Farm


Browsing the Trevaskis Farm Shop is like stepping back into the 1950’s only with extra virgin olive oil and chillies. Counters of glossy fish and serious looking meat jostle with a beautifully stocked cheese counter.
Fruits, fresh as you like vegetables, speciality home made bread, jam, eggs, chutneys, artisan chocolates and biscuits all wink at you suggestively as you pass, hoping you will take them home for an afternoon of unadulterated baking.
But for us, only long leeks, smoked cheddar and garlic make it into our basket.

Loading our produce into the car we notice the ‘pick your own’ signs and can’t resist an exploratory wander through the vegetable gardens and poly tunnels to find the fat, lazy pigs.
Walking up an appetite means only one thing, time to visit the restaurant.

We instantly feel as if we have been shrunk to the size of a small child as we enter the restaurant as a huge chiller cabinet full of gloriously creamy, sticky, fruity deserts greets us.
Pavlovas, gateau’s and cakes of all kinds that are impossibly enormous lick their lips as you pass, offering you a large slice of indulgent heaven.

We both order the Lamb and Rosemary pie, which is served with a rich, slightly sticky suet crust. The lamb itself falls apart as you look at it and melts in the mouth. Coupled with crunchy giant chips and sweet peas, the whole dish slides down effortlessly.
Feeling a little post pie sleepy, a large black coffee is quickly administered and we are once again wide-awake and heading home.



Thursday 23 December 2010

Is this the greatest cook book ever written?

mmm, now there's a thought?
I sway between my overly well used copy of Delia's Winter and Rick Steins Taste of the Sea, but I digress, for today with the snow softly falling outside of the kitchen window and a chill in the air there is only one book that will fit the bill...Allegra McEvedy's LEON.
LEON is a book that delights in every way, a book for all seasons, a book for all cooks.
Funkily designed with retro this n that and pull-out seasonal charts, this is genuinely a book of two halves; one half for ingredients and one for some of the most simple, gutsy and nutritious dishes you could ask for.
Is this the best cook book ever written?, well for today it is, and it's certainly the prettiest; and on a cold day the rich artwork and photography will warm you before you even gobble up a big bowl of LEON Moroccan meatballs.
Oh, and did I mention the Spicy Chicken Cous-Cous with pine nuts, mint, lemon, chilli flakes......mmmmm