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Don't miss this four week celebration of food, farming, landscape and the arts at White House Farm, Great Glemham, near the Suffolk coast.  Intermingling arts with food, farming and heritage crafts, farm suppers, festival talks and a pop up shop and a tea room. Festival talks include 'Unearthed' this Friday 12th May by local food writer in residence Tessa Allingham. Tessa, who co-authored Unearthed, is going to use the book and the stories in it to explore some of the things that are important to her, and that she loves writing about - food provenance, and the people who grow, rear, fish, farm, bake, cook and sell the wonderful food we have in Suffolk, as well as some of the wider issues about traceability and honesty in food that this subject invokes. The talk includes a delicious soup, bread and cheese supper afterwards.

Monday, 08 May 2017 15:30

#nationaldoughnutweek

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Go eat doughnuts! It's #NationalDoughnutWeek raising money for The Children's Trust. Here we have (starting at the back) a traditional jam, a lemon meringue, a dulce de leche and a sprinkle covered cherry doughnut, all from The Ice Cook School at Rougham. £1 each. They're mine, so go and get your own; they are available everyday this week. PS...they have gluten free ring doughnuts too!

Saturday, 22 April 2017 12:25

Giggling kids

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Grace

It's lovely to see a children's menu with mini portions from the main menu and not a breadcrumb, nugget or chip in sight. The Giggling Squid asked me to review their new children's menu which includes a selection of mild curries, finger food, noodles and rice dishes designed especially with "little people" in mind. I found a couple of little people (thank you Grace and Logan) and took them out for supper at the Bury St Edmunds branch. For £5.95 children get to choose two dishes each which come with free plain or sticky rice.  Logan, who declared fussy eater status on arrival went for the Grilled Pork Skewers and Chicken Fried Rice, having first tucked into a bowl of the spicy prawn crackers. Grace with a more adventurous and self assured palate chose Spring Rolls and a Pad Thai with Prawns, which she declared as yummy. Sadly the roti pancakes were not available for pudding (an extra £2.00) but the icecream was, and arrived with some colourful slices of fresh fruit on the side. Portions are very generous, in fact possibly too large for smaller children, but parents can always help out!

Thursday, 20 April 2017 17:14

Thinking about summer...my guide to good jam making

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It will soon be time to think about jam making with summer fruit. My tips are from my 'Food for Keeps' course and will help you make perfect jam every time. Try making this delicious Fresh Apricot Jam.

Tuesday, 18 April 2017 11:49

Cradle in Sudbury

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Cradle has got a real Hoxton/Shoreditch look about it and also the kind of place you could imagine finding Gwyneth or Madonna. The tiny cafe/bakery was buzzing with activity when we went for lunch last week and it's obviously quite the meeting place for the yummy mummies and the cool vegans of Sudbury. Simple and stylish, it's completely plant based with everything made from scratch on site, including nut butters and an excellent rooibos based fermented kombucha (so hipster, so refreshing).  Bread is baked on site, with house milled rye, wheat and spelt flour used in the proper crusty loaves. There's also some very tempting patisserie on display. A small blackboard menu offers an interesting and surprisingly fancy range of dishes with thankfully no fakin' bacon but just prime, fresh ingredients superbly cooked.

Monday, 03 April 2017 14:32

The Turks Head - Hasketon

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Why are all the decent pubs I've been to recently near Woodbridge? Last week I took Mr SuffolkFoodie to The Turks Head for a late Sunday lunch, as I'd been invited by Jemima the owner. Jemima was actually away on holiday, so I was sorry not to meet her. Still, I admire an owner who offers a review meal and shows such enormous confidence in the staff ... and the staff were brilliant, all quite clearly trained in their roles, and friendly, without hovering or being stifling.   The Turks Head is a family and dog friendly gastropub with the Hasketon countryside providing some great local walks. (Handy PDF downloads for 11 guided walks are provided on the website). Even at 5pm, on an early April evening, the terrace was busy with families who looked as though they were stopping for mid walk refreshments. There's also a proper pentanque pitch, which has been added to my list of 'must investigate further, it could be fun' activities. The Sunday lunch is a set menu of 2 courses for £19 or 3 courses £24. I was hoping to try the Gressingham duck steamed dumplings which apparantly are a favourite of the regulars, but they had eaten them all, and so the replacement dish was an oriental duck salad with hoisin, which came garnished with wafer thin hot and piquant pickled ginger.  A Caesar style, wild turbot salad had crunchy homemade croutons, whole anchovy fritters and with a very generous amount of wild turbot soldiers, a novel and very good take on the classic version. Spotted also on the menu was a foraged nettle soup which sounded tempting. The head chef, Mauri is a classically French trained chef who was born in India and has worked in many high profile establishments, the menu reflecting his eclectic range of cooking styles from around the globe. The highlight dish of our lunch undoubtedly being a local venison bhuna masala with rice, papad and raita. It is probably the best curry I've had between Southall and Leicester with powerful spicing providing the punch required of a great curry. Tender, pink roast sirloin of beef was topped by an impressive and very large Yorkshire pudding and was served with side dishes of tomatoey ratatouille, roasted carrots, celeriac and a cauliflower cheese. We finished with a banoffee pie (Birdy our delightful waitress telling us that the customers had petitioned when the pudding had been removed from the menu, so now reinstated) and Hamish Johnston selected British cheeses, which included a Perl Las, a Godminster organic Cheddar and Ellingham goats cheese. Behind the bar is a great range of local cask ales and my favourite Aspalls cyder and notably an excellent range of interesting soft drinks for the driver. There are three sittings for Sunday lunch starting at 12 midday with the last sitting at 5pm.

Sunday, 26 March 2017 11:54

Sisters in Cheese

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We were thrilled to receive this parcel in the post; a selection of cheeses from The Fine Cheese Co. Delighted also that we were sent a selection to review called Sisters in Cheese, a one off selection created especially with Mothers Day in mind - the three cheeses recognising women's roles as cheese-makers down the ages, and a tribute to today's 'dairymaids'. A very appropriate range in time for our own Mothers Day lunch where my three daughters thought that it meant a cheese each! We're all cheese lovers in my house and considering that all three daughters worked for me at some point waitressing in my restaurant where only English cheeses were served they've had to learn their stuff, so I didn't mind sharing.        sisters in cheese

The selection included a Sharpham Brie which is a raw, Jersey cow's milk cheese made in Devon on the Sharpham Estate. Rich, delicate and creamy with an unctuous texture. The cheesemaker is Debbie Mundford. 

A baby Curworthy, a pasteurised cow's milk cheese dating back to the 17th century, and thought to be even older than Cheddar. Smooth, firm and mellow with a creamy flavour and made by Rachel Stevens.

Wigmore, a raw, Ewe's milk cheese with a gentle, delicate flavour and made in Berkshire by Anne Wigmore. 

The Fine Cheese Co is based in Bath, with a branch also in London just around the corner from Harvey Nicks. If you are unable to visit then the online selections and cheese gifts are very tempting with a frequently changing cornucopia of cheeses to choose from. I even spotted our own Suffolk produced Baron Brigod. My parcel arrived in great shape, with ice pack keeping it cool and the cheese all in perfect shape. A handy caring for your cheese and cheese etiquette leaflet included too.

 

 

Sunday, 26 March 2017 11:51

Meet Mossy

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We met Amos Smith aka Mossy back in the middle of 2016 when he brought us some test jars of his deliciously moreish homemade yogurt. He wouldn't deliver until he was sure he had perfected the recipe, which had been handed down to him from his Auntie Jo.  So we waited patiently. When it finally arrived we loved the slighty sweetened, faintly caramel like natural bio yogurt. In fact we have been watching Mossy and waiting ... and waiting for the product to launch. At last Mossy has his production line up and running and his yogurt production perfected. Check out this map of stockists.

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Monday, 20 March 2017 12:05

Miami to Barbuda ... a Winter Trip

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Inspired by last years road trip, Mr SuffolkFoodie and I returned to the U.S in February to catch the Daytona 500 and take a quick look at Miami (nice Empanada and Cuban coffee at the airport kiosk) before heading over to Barbuda, one of my favourite places in the world, where they weigh you, and your luggage before boarding the six seater Islander plane. Travel light if you want to fit in! My sister, founder of SuffolkFoodie spends most of her time in Barbuda, running the ArtCafe and cooking food for the few tourists that discover the beautiful, unspoilt, tiny island. It's modest in amenties but makes up for it a hundred times with the best beaches and friendly Barbudans who embrace visitors, happily sharing their limited resources. The extreme of Miami, where everything is massive, high cholesterol and hyped, except for the dogs.

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