PROGRAMME 1 (TX 4 October)

Alan Brown – Hurdle Maker

You can find out more about Alan and his hurdles at www.brownshurdles.co.uk or call 01929 462761

Jason Hornbuckle – the new Country Lives chef is Chef Patron at Lewtrenchard Manor.

Lewtrenchard Manor
Lewdown, Okehampton,
Devon, EX20 4PN
Tel: +44 (0) 1566 783222
info@lewtrenchard.co.uk                 

www.lewtrenchard.co.uk

Alice Kettle

Her embroidery will be on display at The Discovery Centre in Winchester. It opens at the end of November.

www.alicekettle.com             www3.hants.gov.uk/wdc

Jason’s recipe:

Braised baby Gem Lettuce and smoked  bacon with herbs baby vegetables and  goat’s cheese

A lovely summer salad with a smoky flavour from the bacon and a fresh punch of flavours from the herbs dressed only in good quality olive oil, because the ingredients speak for themselves.

Ingredients                

4 rashers of smoked bacon                                                

2 x baby gem lettuces

6 x baby leeks

6 x baby carrots

½ bunch coriander                                                   

½ bunch chives                                                                     

½ bunch chervil                                                                     

6 x spring onions      

Pumpkin seeds                                            

A little chicken stock

Olive oil

1 x Sloe Tavy cheese or another washed rind goat’s cheese                                        

Method

Cut the baby gems into quarters and fry in a pan with a good glug of olive oil until they begin to caramelise and soften slightly. Add the smoked bacon in small strips and season. Take out the pieces of gem and put them in a large bowl, leaving the bacon to fry in the pan. Add young baby carrots with their roots still on and the halved baby leeks. Add a little stock to steam the vegetables and help make the dressing and let all the ingredients and stock reduce down.  Put the cheese in a hot oven for 4 or 5 minutes to warm through – meanwhile tip the contents of the pan over the lettuce. Add a handful of young coriander – don’t bother to chop it and some roughly chopped chives, chervil and spring onions. Finally the pumpkin seeds. Turn everything in the bowl with another glug of olive oil. Plate up and then lay over the top some slices of the warmed goats cheese which should just give a bit when you touch it. Then a final drizzle of olive oil.

PROGRAMME 2 (TX 11 October)

Exmoor Blue Cheese Company

exmoorbluecheese@btopenworld.com

01984 667328

Exmoor Blue is available from delicatessans and cheese shops

Fenecks

Plymouth Tailors

You can contact them on 01752 665763

Jason’s recipe:

EXMOOR BLUE CHEESE SALAD WITH PICKLED PEAR

Exmoor Blue has a lovely creamy flavour which goes well with pickles, so pickled pear, rocket or baby gem lettuce and toasted macadamia nuts take this dish to another level, but keep it so simple it works really well.

Ingredients                                                     

500g Exmoor Blue                                                     

200g rocket or a couple of baby gem lettuces          

4 hard pears               

500ml white wine vinegar                              

100ml white wine

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 orange

1 tsp white peppercorns

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

200g sugar

Homemade mayonnaise

6oz of toasted macadamia nuts

½ bunch of flat parsley

Method

First of all – peel the pears. Make sure they’re good and hard so they won’t fall apart when you cook them. You want them to give a bit on the outside but stay firm on the inside. Put them into a pan with the orange and lemon zest, coriander seeds and peppercorns. Add the caster sugar, white wine and white wine vinegar and simmer the pears for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile dice up the cheese into neatish cubes and scatter over the lettuce in a bowl. Keep all the trimmings of the cheese because you’ll use these to make the blue cheese dressing - put them into a blender and add a little warm water, 2 good tablespoons of mayonnaise, a little salt and some pepper. Whizz in the blender to get a creamy consistency.

Take the pears out of the liquid once they’re soft and then reduce the liquid by about half until it begins to turn into a syrup. Next chop the macadamia nuts and toast them in a frying pan – keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t burn. Scatter them over the cheese and then a handful of flat leaf parsley – don’t bother to chop it. Then pour over the dressing and turn the ingredients so they’re all coated evenly. Slice and chop the pears up and lay on top of the salad and finally drizzle over a little of the ‘syrup’ that the pears poached in.

PROGRAMME 3 (TX: 18 October)

Bison Farm

You can find out more about the bison by going to their website: www.bisonfarm.co.uk

Microbrewery

Find out more about Roger and Charlie’s beer at www.beachyhead.org.uk

Clevedon Cinema

Go to: www.curzon.org.uk

Jason’s recipe:

RIBEYE STEAK WITH HOLLANDAISE SAUCE,

BROAD BEAN & NEW POTATO SALAD

I feel that Bison is so low in fat it can take a beautiful Hollandaise sauce which is rich and buttery.  There’s a myth it can be hard to make but really it’s quite simple.

Ingredients

4 x 6oz rib eye bison steak                

6 x free range eggs                            

1 packet melted unsalted butter        

250ml white wine vinegar   

150ml white wine

2 shallots

10 white peppercorns

10 coriander seeds

½ bunch flat parsley, chopped

100g blanched and peeled broad beans

5 boiled new potatoes

Olive oil to dress

Method

First off, start the hollandaise by putting the chopped shallots, coriander seeds, peppercorns, white wine and white wine vinegar into the pan, bring to the boil and then simmer so that it reduces by half.

Put some oil in a hot pan and pan fry the rib-eye steaks for about 2 minutes on each side, adding a knob of butter to the pan to help the meat caramelise. Then remove them from the pan and rest the meat for about 15 minutes.

Now get a bowl and place on a pan of water over the heat. Tip in the yolks of six eggs and pour in the reduction. Begin to whisk so that the eggs start to cook and get light and fluffy. Once they’ve started peaking softly, pour in – bit by bit – the melted butter, like you’re making a warm mayonnaise. Chop the parsley and add into the sauce and keep it warm so that it doesn’t split while you get everything else ready.

For the salad – slice cooked new potatoes (keep the skins on) and blanch some young broad beans and then remove their skins. Mix together, add a glug of olive oil and some sea salt.

Slice the beef, spoon the salad beside it and pour over the Hollandaise sauce.

PROGRAMME 4 (TX: 25 October)

Liz Somerville

www.lizsomerville.co.uk

Liz is having an open studio on two weekends in November, the 3rd and 4th and then again on the 10th and 11th. Her studio will be open between 11am and 4pm and her address is 763 The Square, Cattistock, Dorset, DT2 0JD

Jason’s recipe :

ORGANIC BERKSHIRE PORK MARINADED AND COOKED slowly

A whole new way of cooking and eating pork without losing the characteristics of the meat.  The fennel, chilli and lime bring out the flavour of pork and cut through the fat.  This dish is also very good cooked, left and served cold for salads.

Ingredients                                                     

Pork leg joint                                                  

200g fennel seeds                                                     

3 red chillies                                                               

Zest of 2 limes                                                           

Juice of 2 limes                                                          

50g sea salt                                                   

500g new potatoes

Rosemary

Olive oil

4 cloves of garlic

Homemade mayonnaise

Chives

2 heads of fresh fennel

Method

Cut incisions into the pork joint. De-seed the chillies and then in a food processor blitz the fennel seeds, chillies, lime juice and salt until it reaches a rough paste-like consistency.  Smear it all over the pork and leave in the fridge overnight. Then wrap the pork in foil and place the whole thing in a baking tray and put a fair bit of water around the joint to stop it cooking quickly. You’ll need to check the water every now and then and top it up.

Place in the bottom of the Aga or in a low oven (100 degrees or gas mark 1) first thing in the morning or last thing at night and leave for up to 12 hours. 

Put the halved new potatoes in a baking tray about half an hour before you want to eat the pork. Scatter with rosemary and salt and pour over a good glug of olive oil.

Slice the fennel (carefully) on a mandolin or cut finely and mix with the mayonnaise, a good squeeze of lime and some pressed garlic. Serve the pork with the fennel salad and new potatoes roasted with rosemary and garlic.