Spring is in the air!

The daffodils stand tall amongst the woods alongside carpets of delicate indigo bluebells and, covering every unadorned square foot of woodland floor, wild garlic spills its starry white flowers. There's nothing quite like crushing the leaves underfoot and capturing a whiff of that heady garlic aroma. After a recent walk I picked a basket of wild garlic leaves and followed forager Rupert Burdock's recipe for wild garlic pesto....there's nothing quite like it, so simple and simply delish!

RUPERT’S WILD GARLIC AND GOOSEGRASS PESTO

100g fresh wild garlic leaves, 

50g fresh goosegrass, 

100g pinenuts, lightly toasted

50g grated parmesan cheese

100ml olive oil (plus extra to top up)

Juice of half a lemon

salt and ground black pepper

Wash and chop the leaves. Place all the ingredients in a blender and blitz. To keep, place in sterilised kilner jars. Press down firmly with the back of a spoon to ensure there’s no air left in the mixture. Top up with olive oil to cover and seal the surface.

Shop Local!

The last few days have brought it home to me - just how lucky we are to have a 'village store'. I've been so busy I just didn't have time to go to town, park and shop. So it was a real pleasure to be able to get my whole week-end's provisions at the Amberley stores literally a five minute walk away. For a while we thought we were going to lose this little gem when Jean retired, but Kevin stepped up and lo, we're back in business. Now the store stocks organic bread from Sunshine, fresh fruit and veg from World Foods, local meat from Taylors in Minchinhampton, plus gorgeous speciality breads like focaccia and fougasse (made locally in Minch). Kevin also has a range of small independent producer's goods such as delicious honeycomb, glorious gooey cheeses from Woefuldane and Kitchen Garden and Selsley preserves. The focaccias disappear almost as soon as they're delivered, so, if you're keen to try something different, it's a good idea to order these. Taking into account the cost of driving to Stroud or Nailsworth, never mind the impulse shopping involved with going to a supermarket, I reckon I came out squids ahead.

New Year, new leaf

Determined to start the New Year as I meant to go on I joined a like-minded group of fellow locals on a forage yesterday with Rupert Burdock. It was a magical day - a three hour walk, followed by an amazing meal. I honestly didn't think we'd find very much given the season, but Rupert is a fount of knowledge and we found a basketful of a variety of delicious mushrooms along with a glorious array of herbs and 'greens'. A highly recommended activity for all the family which I'll be doing again in the not too distant future!

Top: Oyster mushrooms   Below: A blewit

Here comes Christmas!

Have just heard from Rachel John (our extreme knitter in the Autumn Issue p34) that Stella McCartney commissioned this amazing knitted Christmas tree from her for Les Sapins de Noel des Createurs in Paris. See these links:
http://www.ipreferparis.net/2011/12/christmas-in-paris-2011-les-sapins-de-noel-des-cr%C3%A9ateurs.html

http://dianepernet.typepad.com/diane/2011/12/les-sapins-de-no%C3%ABl-des-cr%C3%A9ateurs.html

Grape expectations

Phew....finally I’ve managed to get out into the garden and plant the vine layerings I did this Spring. Layering means making a portion of the plant produce roots while still attached to the mother plant. I managed to get another eight plants from my two ‘grown-up’ vines this year. 

Back in April I chose several shoots/branches that were about the thickness of a pencil and ‘wounded’ the part of the stems that were going to be covered with compost. Use a knife or pruning shears to scrape down through the bark to expose the cambium layer which is where the new roots will start. Then I pushed the stems (wound side down) onto a pot full of compost, covered with more compost and placed some heavy rocks and stones on top to hold the stems in place. I left these undisturbed for 6 months just making sure the compost was damp at all times. By about October I noticed some rootlets poking out from the underside of the pots and cut the layerings off the ‘mother plant’.

Last year’s layerings are now well established and looking very fit and healthy - I’m working on ultimately getting a mini vineyard out of them all, so here’s to Chateau Cinq Vallées!

Al fresco dining

Well I guess yesterday saw the end of our ’Indian’ summer. Autumn’s chill is in the air and we had what was probably the last al fresco meal of the year. A friend had just dropped off a Mont d’or Napiot (an exquisite washed-rind cow’s milk cheese from the Jura Mountains in France) from William’s Kitchen. Now is the peak time to consume this soft, rich and creamy cheese. With a delicious loaf from Hobbs House, some honeycomb and the last of our tomatoes we had a banquet fit for a king!

TO COOK THE CHEESE: 

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.

Remove the lid from the cheese box. Make several slits in the top of the cheese with a sharp knife and push rosemary leaves and slivers of garlic deep into its oozing creamy body.

Drizzle with olive oil and season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Place on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until melted. Mmmmmm delish!

Autumn 2011 Issue out now !

Going to extremes

Rachel John goes large with her knitting

All that glistens

Gorgeous jewellery with green credentials

Very Sloe Gin

Delicious sloe gin recipe from foraged fruit

A mellow fruit for autumn.

Apples - make mouthwatering jellies
Up in Andy's attic
How one man is braving the recession to follow his dream

Read it all here