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Travel

Sunday at Castle Farm and the Vegetarian Cookery School

August 6, 2011 · By Monica Shaw

VegCS at Castle Farm

No, that’s not me – that’s one of the students from the Vegetarian Cookery School, hanging out with a basket of goodies at Castle Farm last Sunday. I like the picture because to me it sums up what makes the Southwest of England one of the ultimate foodie destinations in the UK. Like her basket, the Southwest is bursting with high quality produce, grown with care and love in beautiful surrounds, resulting in food and experiences that make everybody smile.

The day was billed “Seasonal Sumptuous Sunday“, but to me it’d be better called “Flavours of Bath” or something similar (ideas?) because the ultimate appeal of this course is that it offers an insider’s view of the Bath area food scene, a rich, vibrant oasis teaming with top notch produce and magnetic personalities.

VegCS at Castle Farm

Take Castle Farm, for instance. We started here in the morning where Jo, the enthusiastic owner and grower, gave us a tour before letting us loose to explore and, more importantly, fill our baskets with yummy vegetables.

The organic farm is a bit of a jumble, and Jo unabashedly pointed out the duds as well as the thrivers. Lovage, horseradish, spinach, chard, raspberries, parsley, and edible flowers thrived, while the runner beans looked sad and the rocket was barren. But the plums were superb and the pumpkin patch was a thriving jungle: the strikes and gutters of organic farming. I loved it.

Jo shows off her pumpkin patch

Jo’s farm isn’t open to the public – her main clientele seems to be chefs and restaurants – so I felt very lucky to get a peak inside. Of course, the best part was picking a bunch of our own produce, such as this epic pumpkin…

Pumpkin picking Workout in the pumpkin patch Workout in the pumpkin patch

…loads of salad leaves…

Picking lettuce

…the mother load of raspberries and edible flowers…

VegCS at Castle Farm

…the result was, well, a cornucopia of food.

Castle Farm Raspberries Cornucopia of delicious produce Tomatoes for salsa cruda Laying out the goods Castle Farm Plums Edible flowers and herbs

We took our haul back to the cookery school and spent the afternoon in cooking mode. Helen Lawrence, chef at the cookery school, artistically laid out all of our goods, while Rachel told us about the food we’d be cooking:

  • Fruit smoothies
  • Spinach Malfatti with Herb, Lemon and Pinenut Sauce
  • Roasted Pumkin, Walnut and Pickled Ewes Cheese Salad (recipe)
  • Stuffed Field Mushrooms with Parsley Pistou
  • Roasted Pink Fir Potatoes with Harissa
  • Courgette Fritters with Salda Cruda
  • Ginger Rhubarb Cheesecake with THyme Honeycombe

That’s a long list, maybe even daunting. But herein lies what I love about the cookery school: it’s all about participation and collaboration. And when you’ve got seven eager eaters around to chop, mash, mince, peel, dice, boil, toast, steam and puree, along with excellent tutelage from the cookery school’s Helen Lawrence, you can get a lot done.

Making berry smoothies

People take cookery classes for different reasons. Some go to learn about their favourite cuisines; some go to learn a specific skill like pasta making or bread baking; some go to conquer their fear of the kitchen; and some go simply to meet and cook with other people who love food and cooking. I go to learn about new ingredients and techniques that add a bit of pizzazz to my own cooking (jazz hands, anyone?).

Enter harissa and salsa cruda, two add-ons to already wonderful dishes that opened my eyes to the shear pleasure of sauces and salsas.

First, the harissa, a North African chilli paste that many shops sell in jars or tubes as a red paste. I’ve always enjoyed harissa, but never saw its potential until I had it last Sunday at the cookery school. Rather than a uniform, homogenous paste, our harissa was bursting with fresh herbs and the aroma of freshly toasted cumin and coriander seeds. Ground with a mortar and pestle, it had a wonderful texture, and added a fresh, spicy kick to our roasted pink fir potatoes.

Making harissa Making harissa Making harissa Pink fir spuds, ready for roasting Roasted pink fir spuds Roasted Pink Fir Potatoes with Harissa

The other highlight was the salsa cruda, which I was too busy eating to take a photo of – I think this may have been the winning recipe for me, perhaps due to the inclusion of tomatillos, one of my favourite foods that I thought I’d left behind in Austin.

The salsa cruda was ingenious: tomatillos, tomatoes, hot chillies, spring onions, coriander, lemon juice, and a bit of apple juice concentrate to sweeten the deal – not the kind of “salsa” you’d get in Austin, but something just as fresh, spicy and delicious. It was perfect with, well, everything, including the courgette fritters that they were paired with, but also the fresh herb and wild flower salad. The fresh, spicy-sweet salsa was the perfect thing for a hot summer’s day and helped round out our seemingly epic feast.

Lunch is served

What else did I learn? You can never have too many fresh herbs. Walnuts are delicious when toasted with smoked paprika. Homewood Cheeses‘ pickled ewes cheese is a thing of beauty, as are mushrooms stuffed with mushrooms, sloe vodka with tonic and freshly grated horseradish. Pink fir potatoes might be my favourite potato variety ever. Even professional veg growers struggle with garden pests and poor yields. And Bath – and the greater Southwest – is a foodie’s wet dream.

I love where I live.

Roasted pumpkin salad with walnuts and Homewood Cheeses' pickled ewes cheese

Sneaky

Rhubarb and Ginger Cheesecake with Honeycomb and Raspberries

 

Related links:

  • Photoset on Flickr
  • Roast pumpkin, walnut and ewe’s cheese salad recipe
  • Castle Farm Organic Produce
  • Vegetarian Cookery School

About Monica Shaw

Veg lover, dog owner, hill walker, wild camper, avocado addict, nerd. I write about how to be awesome through a "smarter fitter" approach to eating, drinking, living and working.
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Recipe Rating




  1. Jacqueline says

    August 7, 2011 at 9:07 am

    That sounds so wonderful. I am green with envy. I thought the breadmaking course I was on was the perfect day, but now you have trumped that. Wow.

    Reply
  2. DMinTransition says

    August 7, 2011 at 10:00 am

    The plot looks idyllic and the food sensational. I do love those Middle Eastern flavours!

    Reply
  3. Jes says

    August 7, 2011 at 10:01 am

    Beautiful pictures! I really wish I were going to be in the region during the summer, not in December when I will be. BUT I hope to make it to England during a summer sometime soon. The gardens are just gorgeous and that list of food is amazing–walnuts & paprika, who knew?

    Reply
  4. Cara says

    October 19, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Please come back to your blog! I miss reading about the interesting thoughts inside your head, your interesting problems, and all your adventures! (But no pressure if you are busy–just wanted you to know what pleasure your writing brought to a stranger). <3

    Reply
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