Shrewsbury Farmers Market

David and Shirley were off home on Friday so we took the Park and Ride bus into Shrewsbury and went to see what the local producers had to offer before they left. The weather has changed for the worse and we had to dodge the odd shower but nothing too bad.  There was a reasonable turn out of customers which gives me hope that the English are beginning to see reason.  I’ve never been able to understand how people rave about the markets on the continent but turn up their noses at the ones here.

Tasting damson gin before lunch is not something we would usually indulge in but how can you refuse?  It looks so churlish.  I can’t give a link to Chilton Damson Gin because my Vodaphone mobile connection won’t let me link to an alcohol related site.  I keep meaning to phone them and tell them I’m old enough to choose for myself but . . .   Bizarrely, it will let me link to this site which features the demon drink!

The Damson Gin is absolutely wonderful – rich, fruity, smooth and has an afterkick like a mule, understandably as it is 26% proof.  More than the one thimbleful we had to taste might have had us singing round the market.

  

Chirk Trout Farm and Smokery had a lovely display. As with MacKenzies, the smoking is natural and not overpowering.  There are no nasty dyes used to give a bright colour and the food looks plump and moist.  We bought smoked trout pasties for supper and the ladies from Chirk put them in their cool box for us till we were ready to go home.

Having had a sample of these ‘gourmet’ sausage rolls, we couldn’t resist buying a couple with pork, chillies and garlic. 

These are not sausage rolls as we know them, Jim!  For a start, the pastry is not the thick, dry flaky mess with a minimum of sausage inside that made me swear off sausage rolls years ago.  It is thin and melts in the mouth.  The sausage inside is thick and dense. Yes, I can taste the chilli and garlic but it is not overpowering.  We really enjoyed them as a late afternoon snack.

Wenlock Edge Farm – A Food Hero from Rick Stein’s List

Rick Stein (one of my personal cooking heroes) did a couple of TV series on Food Heroes.  He visited small producers who were standing out against mass produced food and the pre-packaged uniformity of the supermarket shelves. There was a second series and two books. Rick Stein's Food Heroes and Rick Stein's Food Heroes: Another Helping'.

Among these was Wenlock Edge Farm between Much Wenlock and Church Stretton and lying just below Wenlock Edge itself.  This is typical Welsh Marches country, that land which was Welsh or English, depending on which army was stronger.  Small family farms, interspersed with stands of trees and a feeling of being in a land apart with people who stand on their own two feet and make their own fortunes.

We were attracted to the farm by the tagline that they made ‘proper sausages’.

We love ‘proper’ sausages – fried and served with mash, cooked in the oven with roast veg, in a batter as Toad in a Hole, in a casserole, in a sandwich . . . shall I go on?

It is fun, and a cheap hobby to try different sausages everywhere we go. So far the gold medal goes to Bobotie sausages from a Farmers Market at Horsemonden in Kent. So spicy.

So we bought some Pork, Plum and Ginger sausages which were delicious, cooked in the oven with carrots, onions and potatoes and accompanied by home made fruit chutney and broccoli.

The shop and working space are being rebuilt and they are working in a temporary building at the moment, so hats off to them for making us welcome and allowing us to watch as one of the butchers boned out a piece of pork and tied it ready for roasting. His hands flew and became a blur but I didn’t dare ask him to slow down as he was using one VERY sharp knife.  In the end, two photos were worth sharing.

We asked one of the butchers where the pork came from and he pointed to Wenlock Edge.

“Just over that hill there.”  That’s local enough for me.

Smoked in the Dales

 

We do most of our fruit and vegetable shopping at Keelham Farm Shop, which is just up the road from us and, increasingly, our meat and fish is being sourced there as well.

We took a decision a while back that, as prices were going up and our income wasn’t, we would rather have less meat and fish but keep buying good quality – which is how we found produce from Mackenzies Yorkshire Smokehouse in Keelham Farm’s cooler.

The smokehouse is not far from us, right up in the dales at a small village called Blubberhouses.  So we loaded the car with a cool box, some money and our appetites and set off to sample the delights of it’s restaurant and shop.  After some delays and detours caused by road repairs because of a landslide, we arrived just in time for our reservation.

I haven’t quite got up the nerve to take photos in a restaurant  yet so I can’t show you the delicious meal we had but there are pictures of the restaurant and a menu on the website.

Then to the shop to fill the cool box with smoked mackerel, smoked tuna, smoked salmon, smoked meat, smoked sausages, smoked paprika – well, it is a smoke house!  All the produce is fresh and so I was shopping for the freezer.

The picture above is, believe it or not, a kipper.  Forget the bright yellow, dry fish sold as kipper in most places.  This is pale, delicate, moist, delicious. It is half a pack and plenty for the two of us with a poached egg to boost the protein.

Such a simple meal, quickly cooked and served with new potatoes and peas. 

And I’ve still got the other half of the pack in the freezer.  I’m off to browse in my cookery books.

Pat's New Toy

A Handheld Blender
During the winter, I make soup most days for lunch and we have it with crusty bread or a sandwich. Homemade soups tick all the boxes -  quick, easy, healthy and yummy. I often put part of the soup in my liquidiser that fits on top of the Kenwood Chef to thicken it, but it’s a pain to get out for such a small job and an equal pain to clean and put away again.

I had a handheld blender years ago which died young of overwork and I wondered if they had improved since then. After some research I bought a 600W Philips with a lot more muscle.  It certainly sounds serious because it doesn’t have a cute name – just an alpha-numeric identifier.

So far, it has coped with Cassoulet, Corn Chowder, Vegetable soup and a sort of tomato, beans and vegetable soup (made from the last of the veg sitting in the fridge). If it stands up to the test of time, I’ll recommend the gadget – if not, I’ll probably rant about it!

One of the joys of retirement is the fun of cooking without the time constraints – and I do love my kitchen gadgets.