Gastroanthropology

British Spring

Yup. The picture above pretty much sums it up. Cold, wet and gloomy. But spring in Britain is more than just crap weather.

Spring in Britain means the baby lambs are in need of shepherding after a day of grazing...

Some need a little special attention...

When you live in a country where you can't expect the sun, you've just got to do what you gotta do and move on. Protect your plants with little mini-greenhouses...

And reap the rewards of the British Spring - asparagus, peas, rhubarb...

And ramsons (a.k.a. wild garlic shoots)...

Ramsons are absolutely delicious and like the sun in Britain, go as quickly as they come. They have a smooth, mellow garlic flavor and pair nicely with all the British spring populars - like asparagus and peas. Perfect for this year's Springtime Frittata.

RAMSONS, ASPARAGUS, SPRING PEA + MASCARPONE FRITTATA

• 1 Tbs butter
• 6 c loosely packed, chopped ramsons (could substitute ramps)
• 1 c fresh shelled peas
• 12 -15 tender asparagus stalks, cut into 1-inch pieces
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 6 whole eggs
• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 c mascarpone cheese

METHOD

Preheat broiler in oven to medium. Whisk eggs and egg whites together with salt and pepper, set aside. Melt butter in a large non-stick, oven-safe pan. Add ramsons and saute over medium-high heat. Once wilted, drain any excess liquid. Add peas and asparagus pieces. Cook for 1 minute and reduce heat. Make sure that everything is spread evenly about the pan. Pour egg mixture over top. Leave on low heat till the bottom and sides set. As this is happening, add small dollops of mascarpone to the eggs. Once the sides are set, place in the oven under the broiler till the top sets and browns gently. Remove from oven. Let sit for a few minutes and then remove from pan and serve. Can be refrigerated and served cold, but I prefer it warm. 

With a great, non-stick pan (my eight-year-old All Clad non-stick, which has traveled thousands of miles and lived in many countries still does the trick). You can loosen the frittata with a flexible rubber spatula and slip it out of the pan. Or you could flip it out, but I like to see the bits of mascarpone. You could also use a mild cheddar, but I wouldn't use a stronger cheese as it will over power the delicate flavors of the springtime greens. 

And, on those cold rainy spring days, sometimes you need a treat with a little zest that puts a zing in your step. Like lemon poppy seed cake...

LEMON POPPY SEED CAKE

• 6 oz unsalted butter, room temp
• 2/3 c sugar, divided equally into two parts
• 4 eggs separated
• 2/3 c yogurt (full-fat) plain or lemon flavored 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbs lemon juice
• 1 c AP flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 c poppy seeds
• zest of 3 lemons

METHOD

Zest three lemons and juice one to get 2 Tbs lemon juice. Sift together drys and add poppy seeds and lemon zest - set aside. Separate eggs and leave whites aside. Combine the yolks in a different bowl with the yogurt, vanilla extract, and lemon juice - set aside. Beat or paddle the butter with half (1/3 c) of the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat on low and alternate adding the yolk mixture and the drys mixture. Once combined, do not over beat - set aside. Clean your beaters or change to a whisk attachment on your KitchenAid (this is when having an extra bowl makes life so much easier!). Beat egg whites to medium peaks, sprinkling in the remaining sugar once the eggs get really frothy. Sacrifice some of the whipped whites into the yolk/drys mixture to lighten it. Then fold in the rest. Bake at 350F till cooked through and dark golden brown. I made 2 small rounds in paper molds (25-30min), but this will make one 9-inch cake (40-45min).

This cake must sit for a day. Once its cooled wrap it up in plastic and set aside in the fridge. Don't look at it or attempt to eat it for 24 hours. Not sure what it is but a good cake out of the oven turns into something amazing if you wait. You can have it plain or with a little bit of vanilla buttercream. I just beat room temp butter till its pale and then sprinkle powdered sugar (to taste) and a bit of vanilla bean and splash of vanilla extract. To frost - trim any dome off the top. Cut the top half off the cake. Frost the middle, put the top half back on, and frost the top and sides. 

England Preserves + A Give Away!

This contest is now closed. The randomly chosen winner is #4 - Tangled Noodle.

My favorite jams are chunky, fruity, and never sickly sweet. Jam should taste like the sun-ripened fruit, not sugar with fruit. One of my first weekends in London last summer was spent exploring Borough Market. It was there that I discovered England Preserves at Neal's Yard Dairy. I bought a jar of Blackcurrant Blighty (sounded so English!), Strawberry Days, and London Marmalade. At any given time I've got 8 or 9 jams in the fridge. These three were in and out of the rotation so quick I knew I had found something so special. 

Fast forward a few months to January of this year. In one of my food policy classes this semester there was a woman who humbly introduced herself as Sky - a small food producer. A few weeks later I noticed through an exchange of class emails that she was co-owner, and co-founder, of England Preserves. Small food producer, my foot!   

Sky and her husband, Kai, began the business over eight years ago in their home kitchen. Both came from families that made jams and chutneys at home. What Sky says started as an experiment has now turned into a successful family business. Sky finds that her jams seem to resonate with her customers as people seem to have an emotional connection to jam - especially here in England. 

Besides the marmalade (if you've ever tasted a Seville orange you'll know why), England Preserves only uses only 40% sugar. Most commercial jams use upwards of 60% sugar. While Sky can't reveal all her secrets, her fruit never goes over 90 degrees Celsius. This means the fruit is not boiled so the sugar content does not rise throughout the cooking process. More importantly, the integrity of the fruit is not lost.

Brioche and Kentish Bramble for Breakfast

All of Sky's produce comes from England, with two exceptions. The first is the Seville oranges for the marmalade. You can't really run a successful English jam company without making marmalade, and it happens to be one of Sky's best-sellers. The second exception is apricots, as they don't grow in England. All of her soft fruits come from Essex where the fruit is flash frozen at the peak of ripeness and made into jam at two week intervals at Sky's jam operation in South London. The pears and apples are from Chegworth Valley, and the vegetables for chutneys from Lincolnshire.    

Sky and Kai supply hotels all over London - a city where jams and marmalade are serious business, especially for tea time. These larger jars are for them.

The smaller jars are available all over London. You can find them at Whole Foods in Kensington, Unpackaged in Islington, Borough Market, and at various farmers markets in London. 

A little over a year ago, Sky gave birth to the youngest jam-maker in England. This is Sky's daughter - Bloom!

If your interested in trying Sky's jams, post a comment and make sure to leave a valid email address in the email field. One winner will be chosen at random in a few weeks and will receive two of Sky's jams. I couldn't really decide which to send, because each new flavor I try becomes my favorite. Last week was Redcurrant+Rhubarb+Vanilla and there was real pieces of vanilla bean in the jam - since when did a jam have that? This week my favorite is Kentish Bramble. For the give away I've picked two classics and the first that I tried. Blackcurrant Blighty and Strawberry Days. 

Weekend in Wales

This past Monday was a bank holiday in the United Kingdom. I have not a clue as to what purpose they serve, but most people get the day off. To take advantage of the long weekend we jumped on a train from London Euston to North Wales. Our mission was to hike Mt. Snowdon (the UK's highest peak), visit a few castles (there are dozens in Wales), and fill our lungs with fresh air.

Our first night was spent in Llandudno, a coastal town, just a few miles from Conway. Conway is home to this amazing castle. Blessed with great weather we scrambled around the castle and climbed nearly every tower. The coast around Conway is quite shallow, so high and low tide are hard to miss. These boats will be floating when the tide comes back in just a few hours. Crab, lobster, and mussels are popular items to catch here in Conway.

The medieval walls around the town of Conway are still standing. Houses are built around and against the walls. You can walk on and around most of them. Pretty amazing that you get to park your car right under a medieval tower...

After walking around a bit, and visiting the smallest house in Britain (yes, its in Conway!), we headed to the Isle of Anglesey to visit another castle: Beaumaris. These guys live next door to the castle and have the best view - they must be happy cows!

We raced around the island to make it to our second B&B in Maentwrog in Snowdonia National Park. Hugely disappointing was the poor selection of food in Wales. I was looking forward to some rustic Welsh classics but everywhere we went was meat on a plate and a side of thick-cut fries. In Maentwrog, however, we were rewarded with a lovely fresh water wild trout and this beautiful view.

The trout was so great and its pink flesh perfectly cooked. It was sad to hear that all the large local fishing lakes the Welsh have fished for centuries have been bought up by large fisheries. Now the locals have to pay to fish on the lakes. We explored the gravestones after dinner - some were from the 1700s and mostly written in Welsh.

The next morning we got up and made our way to the base of Mt. Snowdon. We hiked the mountain and back in less than 4 hours. So much for the challenge of UK's largest mountain - but the Welsh seemed so proud of their own Mt. Everest I'll just leave it at that. With our speedy hike we had much of the day left to explore more ruins.

Behind a sheep farm, was Dolwyddelan Castle.

We were so surprised they let us climb all over it. 

On the way down I had to stop for the sheep and their lambs. In Wales they say there are four sheep for every person. We drove past sheep farm after sheep farm and every sheep had at least one lamb. These sheep were back in the barn as it had just started to rain.

On our last day in Wales we visited one last castle - Caernarfon Castle. This castle is special because it is where the Princes of England are crowned Princes of Wales. The crowning of the Prince of Wales began centuries ago as a peace offering to the Welsh by the English King Edward for taking over their land. When (probably not anytime soon) Prince Charles becomes King he may choose to crown his son, William, as the Prince of Wales. It will be done at Caernarfon on the stone slab you see just above the first set of stairs. 

I did pick up a local Welsh cookbook and hope to try some of the recipes soon. If I successfully execute any recipes I will share!

Real Food Market in Covent Garden

April 23rd is important for two reasons. First, its St. George's Day - England's patron saint (think George and the Dragon). For whatever reason he is a lot less popular, and not as celebrated as Ireland's patron saint - St. Patrick. So, please excuse me for not realizing it was St. George's Day. I should have known though - St. George's Day is also the official start of English asparagus season. 

I will get to how I used my asparagus in a bit, but first I should share with you some great news. The weatherman reports that Britain is going to face a sunnier, warmer summer than usual. Best news I've heard all week! The approach of summer also means that the Real Food Market at Covent Garden is back. The market opens at noon every Thursday from now till the end of August. Covent Garden is about a ten minute walk from my apartment so I plan to go as often as possible. Think of the market as a mini-Borough Market.

Unlike many farmers markets in London that require the product sold to be sourced within a certain radius of the city, the Real Food Market, like Borough Market, aims to find the best of the best, where ever it may come from. Some of the best comes from Italy, like these baby artichokes...

and these fresh figs...

You can find the delicious breads of The Flour Station bakery at the market. They have a number of different types of focaccia...

We all know that Mr. Thomas brought his English Muffin recipe to America in the 1800s and we love to eat them as the butter melts into all the nooks and crannies. I'm just wondering if something happened to the recipe during the journey across the ocean. These English Muffins seem to be at least three times the height!

The problem with moving to a different country is you almost feel like you are on an extended vacation. This means vacation rules apply with regards to food. You don't count calories and you eat whatever you like. Great for my foodie brain, but not so much my foodie body. In an effort to get back to reality I decided to have a green lunch with all produce bought from the market. The pesto is from an Italian pasta stall at the market.

This is so simple, feeds one, and only dirties one pot. In a pot of boiling, salted water, boil enough pasta for one person. Chop 5 asparagus stalks and 4 sprouting broccoli stalks. A minute before the pasta is done, add the asparagus, broccoli, and 1/4 cup of fresh, shelled peas to the water. Drain everything. Return to the pot and off the heat, and stir in a giant, heaping spoon of pesto. Taste. Add more pesto if necessary. Eat. Preferably curled up on the couch with your favorite TV show on. 

Mudchute, A City Farm in London

Just 10 minutes from Canary Wharf (London's second financial district and home of the UK's three tallest buildings) on the Isle of Dogs, is a wonderful city farm - Mudchute Farm. On 32 acres of fertile land (nutrient-rich as it is just next to the Thames) lives 200 animals, mostly rare breeds. Mudchute Farm is also home to 70 community allotments, a farm kitchen and restaurant, horse stables, and smokehouse. Wood from the farm is used in the smokehouse where butter, geese, and cheese are often smoked.

The two most interesting animals I saw were of the avian kind. This is a beautiful, male Golden Pheasant. Originally from central China this guy was pretty happy in a large pen with multiple light brown, less-striking, female Golden Pheasants. 

As their name suggests, these are Transylvanian Naked Necks. They hail from Hungary and were introduced to the British as Churkeys because, like Turkeys, their exposed skin turns red when exposed to sunlight. Despite their appearance these birds are calm and love warm weather. They are quite popular in warmer Eastern European countries as they can withstand higher temperatures. What are they doing in London?!

Since it is a city farm these goats have to fight for their dinner with the local pigeons who have gotten tired of begging for sandwich scraps from the business-types in their blue shirts and black suits. 

This male (can you tell?) Tamworth was finishing the last of some lettuce scraps. The Tamworth is recognized as the purest British pig breed as it is a direct descendant of the European Wild Boar. 

The farm's kitchen uses as much product as possible that is produced on the farm. For meat, Mudchute practices nose to tail cooking, using the entire carcass. It's hard to ignore the importance of animal welfare when you see the animal and its habitat before you are about to eat it.

 

Mudchute Farm and Kitchen hosted an important event yesterday afternoon - London Food Link's bi-annual networking meeting. London Food Link is a group I have been working with since last October and is a group that aims to make London's food system more sustainable. The networking event is a chance for members to share and coordinate their projects. 

One of their newest projects is Capital Growth. Funded by the London Development Agency, Capital Growth aims to create 2,012 new community food growing spaces in London by 2012. Capital Growth provides grant money and food growing advice to people in the community who start new growing spaces.

Another project is Good Food Training, which I have been directly involved with. This project aims to encourage sustainable procurement and training for the public sector (schools, hospitals, prisons). The project hosts events all over London that show public sector chefs how to use less popular cuts of meat and sustainable fish sources. The project also trains service providers about sustainability, customer service, and nutrition. One of the latest projects includes teaching prisoners how to garden and cook - skills that they can use when reintroduced to society.

Another project that I have been involved with is the Good Food for Camden strategy. This strategy aims to help lower income and disadvantaged people living in Camden (a London borough). Specifically, the Camden strategy includes consultations and toolkits so the people of Camden can learn sustainable ways to buy, eat, and dispose of food that improves their health, well-being and the environment.

There are so many other great projects that are involved in London Food Link that I haven't mentioned. These include everything city beekeeping to reclaiming food. 

If you are in London I would recommend a visit to Mudchute and to have a meal at the farm kitchen. Last night I had a bit of lemon-gingerade, crudite, and hearty bread with nettle spread. Nearly all of the ingredients were grown on the farm or on one of the community allotments. The nettles were foraged from the farm. 

This sheep's wool will be used as insulation in some of the farm buildings...