Lovely Food Ideas

Strawberry Sensation

Our strawberries are from Lymington in Hampshire and are at their very best in June, the natural season for strawberries. Try these two strawberry ideas for a scrumptious summer dessert.
 
Strawberry Shortbreads (serves 2)
Roughly chop half a 230g punnet of strawberries and mix with 2tbs of icing sugar. Leave for 20 minutes and then puree. Beat together 150 g of mascarpone and 150g of Coppid Hall double cream and fold in the strawberry puree. Place in serving dish or dishes and top with the rest of the strawberries, halved.  Serve with your favourite shortbread. 
 
Sweet Balsamic Strawberries with Island creamy ice cream (serves 2) 
1 punnet strawberries, 4 tbs good quality, aged Balsamic Vinegar, Minghella or Calbourne Classics Honeycomb/ Vanilla Ice Cream

Remove ice cream from freezer 5 mins before serving. Halve the strawberries and place in serving dishes. Drizzle the Balsamic Vinegar over the strawberries and top with a scoop (or two!) of ice cream.

 

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Real Island Summer Pasta with Tomatoes and Soft Cheese

Summer is fabulous with ripe Island tomatoes bursting with flavour, fresh herbs,  vegetables aplenty and late suppers on the patio. Make the most of it with this easy and satisfying pasta dish. It takes just 10 minutes so you won’t waste any of your evening!

300g/10oz Island Maid pasta (your favourite pasta will be fine)
500g/1lb 2oz Arreton Valley courgettes
3 tbsp Farringtons Mellow Yellow oil  (half the fat of olive oil)
2 garlic cloves from The Garlic Farm
juice and zest of 1 lemon
6 medium sized tomatoes, roughly chopped
½ pack (or more if you are a fan!) of Richard Hodgsons Isle of Wight Soft cheese
Hotbed Herbs fresh basil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Cook your pasta until tender.
2. Meanwhile slice the courgettes into long thin slices lengthwise and sauté with the sliced garlic cloves for 3 – 4 mins until softened. Add the lemon zest, tomatoes and 3 tbs water. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes until the tomatoes begin to soften.
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
4. Drain the pasta and combine with the tomato sauce mixture. Serve, topped with sprinkling of basil leaves.
5. Enjoy with a glass of chilled white wine from Rossiters vineyard in Wellow

 

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Asparagus: 3 recipes as it’s so good!

The best things come in small packages, or with food, short seasons. This is especially true with asparagus, which puts in a tantalisingly brief appearance in April and May. It's so good, especially when it comes freshly picked from the farm down the road, in our case The Garlic Farm at Newchurch, that we think it's worth 3 recipe ideas!  

Classic Asparagus with Hollondaise
Trim the asparagus (500 g is a good quantity for 4 as a starter) by snapping the spears towards the base of the stem. They will automatically break at the woody bit, leaving the most tender part to eat. Rinse and set to steam in a steamer, or a metal sieve over a pan, for 4 - 6 minutes. You can test by inserting the sharp tip of a small kitchen knife into the top of the spear, it should feel soft but not soggy.

Hollandaise sauce is a variation on mayonnaise, made with egg yolks and flavourings. It is sublime with asparagus and also makes a quick and easy starter. We’ve got a great version from The Bay Tree and also a recipe to make your own: 

2 large Brownrigg Poultry Free Range Eggs, separated (you need the yolks and the whites)
1 dessert spoon (dsp)  lemon juice
1 dsp white wine vinegar
4oz/110 g Coppid Hall Farmhouse Butter
salt and pepper (freshly milled)

In a food processor, or in a large bowl with a hand blender, blend the 2 egg yolks together until smooth and creamy.
Heat the lemon juice and wine vinegar together in a small pan until they simmer, then gradually add them to the egg yolks, blending as you go.
Gently melt the butter in the same pan, it needs to melt and bubble slightly, but not boil too hard or burn. Add the butter liquid to the yolks, still blending as you go. The sauce should thicken at this point.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. A spoonful at a time fold the yolk mixture into the whites (a large metal spoon works best) until fully blended in. The sauce is ready to eat. You can eat it straight away whilst it is warm, or refrigerate and eat later, cold. Either way it's fantastic drizzled over the asparagus.

Creamy Asparagus Tart

You will need:

A ready-made savoury pastry case (6 - 8 ") or enough pastry to fill your flan dish (6" - 8 ")
500 g Newchurch asparagus
2 Island laid, Brownrigg Poultry free range eggs
3 oz grated Lyburn lightly smoked cheese
150 ml Coppid Hall double cream

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C

Roll out and line your flan dish with the pastry. Prick the base of the pastry case and bake blind for 10 mins . Meanwhile cut the tender tips of the asparagus to a length of approximately 2 inches, rinse and set aside. (if you have the inclination the rest of the stems can be used to make asparagus soup) In a bowl lightly whisk the eggs and add the cheese, cream and season a pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper. Place the asparagus tips in the pastry case and pour the egg mixture over the top. Place in the oven and cook for approx 15 - 20 mins until golden brown and set. Serve warm or cold, on it's own or with some fresh salad leaves or slices of Island grown beefsteak tomato. Enjoy.

Roast Asparagus with Garlic

500 g Newchurch asparagus
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large The Garlic Farm garlic clove, sliced thinly
Juice of half an orange

Preheat the oven to 200C (fan 180C). Prepare the asparagus by discarding the very woody ends of the spears. Blanch for 2 minutes in boiling water, drain, refresh under cold running water and pat dry with kitchen roll. Drizzle the olive oil onto the base of a roasting tin and coat the asparagus in the oil. Top with the slivers of garlic, freshly milled salt and pepper and roast for 10 minutes, or until nicely coloured and tender enough to eat! Enjoy on their own, as a starter or accompaniment to a plain grilled chicken breast, or white fish.

Variations on a theme:  add capers, or Paul Murphy Dry Cure Bacon Co. bacon lardons, parmesan shavings.

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6, or fan 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add the asparagus and boil for 2 minutes until crisp, but beginning to go tender.
3. Drain and refresh under cold water. Dry on kitchen paper.
4. Pour the oil into a shallow roasting tin and roll the asparagus in it to coat.
5. Scatter over the garlic slivers and capers and roast for 8-10 minutes until the asparagus is tinged, browned and cooked through - test by inserting a knife into a few spears. Sprinkle with orange juice, season and serve warm.

 

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Real Island Rhubarb Crumble

It's rhubarb season and what better way to celebrate than with a true British favourite; rhubarb crumble. Make it an Island version with rhubarb grown in Appley, flour from The Stoneground Flour Company, Havenstreet and farmhouse butter from Coppid Hall Farm, Havenstreet.

You will need:

2lb/900g of fresh, Isle of Wight, rhubarb  (ours is grown with love and care by the nuns at St Cecilias in Ryde and freshly cut for our deliveries)
5 oz/125 g flour (The Stoneground Flour Company Organic Wight, Wholemeal, or a mix of the two is ideal),
1 oz ground almonds
4 oz /100g caster sugar 
3 oz/75g Coppid Hall Farmhouse Butter cut into small cubes
demerara sugar (optional)

1. Prepare rhubarb by trimming off the leaves and cut into 1"/2.5 cm  chunks.  Discard any very hard pieces that are just too difficult to cut.  Place the rhubarb in your pudding bowl with 100g/4oz of caster sugar. If you have a sweet tooth you can also add a couple of dessertspoons of jam at this stage, strawberry, or plum  is best. It makes the rhubarb mixture gorgeously sweet and gooey. Our rhubarb is grown with love and care by the nuns at St Cecilias in Ryde and is freshly picked for

2. Make your crumble: Mix the sugar, almonds and flour together in a bowl.  Add the butter and rub into the flour mixture with your fingertips, until there are no large lumps left and it looks like breadcrumbs.  Pour it over the top of the rhubarb and for a finishing touch sprinkle with a little demerara sugar.  Cook in the oven for approx approx 35 minutes at 160 C. 

For a truly scrumptious Isle of Wight pudding serve with Minghella or Calbourne Classics vanilla ice cream or real custard, made with Buttercup milk from Briddlesford farm, Wootton.

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Dinner party delight - marinated syrupy figs with vanilla ice cream

Simply open our stunnning jar of The Bay Tree Figs in Syrup. Warm them gently in a heavy based pan. Do not allow to boil. Serve Minghella or Calbourne Classics vanilla ice cream into individual bowls and top with the warmed, syrupy figs. mmm

The Bay Tree Figs in Syrup
Calbourne Classics Clotted Cream Vanilla Ice Cream
Minghella Vanilla Ice Cream

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Oriental warm chicken salad

Another very tasty, easy to put together dish that makes a great starter, lunch or main meal. Simply increase or decrease the amount of chicken to suit your meal.

Brownrigg Poultry Chicken Thighs
The Bay Tree Chinese 5 Spice Marinade
Watercress bunch
Mini plum tomatoes
Fresh chillies
1 lime

Trim any excess skin from the chicken thighs and score the flesh lightly. Place in a non-metallic bowl and cover with the marinade. Leave for 2 - 3 hours or overnight if possible. Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Remove the chicken from the marinade (reserving the marinade)  and cook for approx 30 minutes, until golden. Add the remaining marinade for the last 5 minutes of cooking. Remove from the oven and allow to rest.

Prepare your salad garnish, with the watercress and halved baby plum tomatoes.  Place chicken on top of the salad and garnish with a sprinkling of sliced chillies and a little grated lemon zest.

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Midweek Supper - Tender BBQ Belly Pork Strips

(serves 4)

Belly pork is a very flavoursome, some say old fashioned cut of meat. It can be a little fatty but that’s where all the flavour comes from!  For this easy to prepare, tasty recipe take 1 – 1.5 kg of belly pork and dry the surface of the meat until dry. Pretend you are Jamie Oliver and actually enjoy rubbiing the pork with olive oil, then season with freshly ground pepper.

Place the meat in a roasting tray, mixed roughly with 1 small diced onion. Sprinkle with olive oil and bake at 200 degrees c for 30 mins. Make sure the oven is up to temperature before you put the meat in.

For the bbq sauce mix together 150 ml Godshill cider, 3 tbs soy sauce, 1 generous tbs tom puree, 1 generous tsp ground ginger, 1 crushed garlic clove from The Garlic Farm, and 1 tbs soft brown sugar.  After the first 30 minutes of roasting take the meat out of the oven. Discard any excess oil and pour over the bbq sauce. Bake for a further 25 minutes until the meat is meltingly tender and saucy. Tasty served with baked potatoes or home made chips.

Belly Pork | Garlic Farm Garlic Bulb | Godshill Cider Company Cider

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Perfect Winter Lunch - Rachel's Real Island Rarebit

Makes 4 slices

This is a very yummy, quick winter lunch which just makes you feel better about life.  Preheat the grill. Mix two IOW Free Range egg yolks with 3 tbs crème fraiche and approx 4 tbs grated IOW Cheese Company Galleybagger. Toast 4 slices of Market Bakery sliced white tin loaf on both sides.  Spread each with The Village Nursery chilli jelly and then add your cheesy topping. 

Place the slices under a hot grill and grill until cooked. The topping should rise a little and become a lovely golden colour.  Enjoy with a sliced Cox’s apple or go French and make your own Croque Monsieur by putting a slice of ham on the toast instead or as well as the chilli jelly.

Brownrigg Poultry Free Range Eggs | IOW Cheese Company Galleybagger | Market Bakery Sliced White Tin Loaf | The Village Nursery Chilli Jelly | Cox's Apples | Hamiltons Fine Foods Sliced Ham

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Warming Winter Soup - Parsnip and Apple

Makes 2 generous portions

This is surprisingly tasty and you can use up old parsnips from the back of the fridge and old eating apples from the back of the shed!

Take 2 large or 3 small parsnips, two medium sized cooking apples and 1 small onion or leek. Peel, chop and sauté together in approx 1 oz of butter. Add 1 pint of vegetable stock, from a cube is fine and let it simmer slowly for ½ hour with the lid tightly on.

Allow to cool slightly and blend until smooth. Add milk until you have your desired consistency and a light grind of salt and pepper.  Serve with crusty bread, such as a chunk of Market Bakery French stick, or Super 8 seeded loaf.

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Real Island Roast Partridge with Paul Murphy’s streaky bacon and smoked garlic

‘simple and tasty’

For 2 people you will need two partridge (known as a brace) - Brownrigg Poultry brace of partridge, The Garlic Farm smoked garlic bulb, Paul Murphy dry cure streaky bacon, Coppid Hall butter

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7 and season the birds inside and out with freshly ground salt and pepper.

Cut the smoked garlic bulb in half and place half in the cavity of each bird, along with 2 sprigs of fresh thyme (if you don’t have fresh use a generous pinch of dried thyme).

Wrap each bird in streaky bacon and hold in place with string.

Melt the oil and and 20grams/ 1 oz of the butter in an ovenproof pan. When the butter is very hot (be careful not to burn the butter), fry the partridge briefly all over.

Put the pan in the oven and roast for 20 - 25 minutes, turning the birds halfway through.

Rest the birds for 5 minutes and remove from the pan.

Make gravy using the juices in the roasting pan and the chicken stock.

To serve ; chop and sauté the reserved bacon and garlic. Pour over the gravy and garnish with bacon and garlic.

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Warm IOW Soft Cheese and Cranberry Bite
Warm IOW Blue Cheese and Pear Bite

Winter and Christmas in particular is a wonderful time for meltingly warm cheesy bites. These are just perfect for a lunch-time nibble, tasty party canapé or dinner party starter.  What’s more they are very easy to assemble and cook!

You will need:
Pack of ready-made puff pasty vol au vent cases.  Allow 3 - 4 cases per person, depending on how hungry you think you or your guests will be! You can also use bruschetta or round toasts.
1 Isle of Wight Cheese Company IOW Soft (soft, creamy, camembert style cheese)
1 Isle of Wight Cheese Company Blue (soft, creamy, mild blue cheese)
1 Jar The Village Nursery Cranberry Sauce
2 English pears

Preheat oven to 180 °. 

On a baking tray layout your puff pasty cases. Fill half with a teaspoon of cranberry sauce in each and top with a slice of Isle of Wight Soft cheese.  That’s half done!
  
Peel and core the pears and chop into 1cm sq pieces (approximately as pears are not square shapes!). Put 3 - 4 chunks of pear into each remaining pastry case and top with a small slice of blue cheese.

Grind a little sea salt and fresh pepper over all the bites.

Bake in the oven for 10 - 12 minutes, until meltingly golden. If using bruschetta or toasts they will cook quicker so check them at 5 mins. For a starter lay out 2 - 3 cases on a small plate per person, with a selection of seasonal salad leaves.  Ideal as finger food at a party or buffet, simply serve on a platter and enjoy!

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Autumn Feast - Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

340 g/12oz pasta such as conchiglie (large shells) 1 Arreton Valley Pumpkin 2 sprigs rosemary 1 clove The Garlic Farm garlic 1 shallot ½ lemon, juice only

1 tsp Dijon mustard 140ml/5 fl oz Coppid Hall double cream 2 tsp chopped flatleaf parsley 1 - 2 oz Coppid Hall Farmhouse Butter 150 ml/1/4 pt Rossiters Vineyard/ Rosemary Vineyard (or other) Dry White Wine salt and ground black pepper grated parmesan, to serve

Preheat oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.

Peel and deseed pumpkin, dice in 2.5cm/1in and place on an ovenproof sheet. Chop rosemary and sprinkle over the pumpkin. Season and drizzle with olive oil. Place in the oven and cook for 45 mins.

Cook pasta as per instructions. Chop the garlic and shallot, gently pan-fry in the butter for about 1 minute. Add the mustard and wine, bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 - 3 mins.

Add the lemon juice, seasoning, cream and parsley.

Drain pasta and remove pumpkin from oven. Fold into the pasta in a bowl.

Pour over the sauce and mix together. Serve in a bowl with the parmesan over. This dish is also wonderful with the addition of some crispy bacon

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Fresh Mushrooms sauteed in IOW Garlic Butter

The fresh mushrooms from IOW Mushrooms at Downend are stunningly tasty as they are just so fresh. Halve or quarter a pile of white or brown mushrooms and saute gently with a generous wedge of The Garlic Farm garlic butter. Keep the temperature hot so that the mushrooms cook quickly and then they will stay firm instead of steaming in their own juices. Wonderful on their own as a starter, with a chunk of granary bread or as a main combined with bacon and/or blue cheese. I'm hungry now!

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Slow Roasted Spaghetti Squash with smoked garlic

Take one large-ish squash and split it in half, length ways. Scoop out the pulp and seeds and score the surface lightly with a diagonal pattern. Place a small amount of crushed smoked garlic in the hollow, followed by a large amount of butter; the diagonal scoring will ensure that the butter soaks all the way in. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Place the two halves in an oven on a low setting. Brush with the melted butter every half an hour or so, adding more butter as necessary. Leave in the oven for at least two hours, but preferably much longer.

To serve, scoop out the soft melted flesh and enjoy. Perfect as an accompaniement for lamb chops, roasted meats or fish, or as a vegetarian main meal.

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Quick and Tasty Lunch

Mature, flavoursome cheddar cheese on toast, topped with The Garlic Farm, Confit de Tomates Fumees.  (smoked tomatoes with garlic)  delicious ……