Happy As Pigs in Muck

It's very difficult to find genuinely ethical pork: a lot of 'outdoor reared' or 'outdoor bred' meat in supermarkets has only spent a few weeks or so outside before being grown on in large sheds. Better than a life in an intensive pig farm, but not quite the free range existence you might imagine.

This week Rob and Em Lawrie showed us round their small holding, where hens roam free, Spike the farm cat purrs round your legs and 30 or so happy pigs are reared in wide open pens.  Brought inside when necessary, a local butcher slaughters and prepares the meat which you can buy at the farm gate.  Their weekends are currently taken up with running full service hot roasts so they aren't doing farmer's markets yet but if you're headed towards Nantwich, phone ahead and they'll let you know what they have available for collection.  We picked up 48 delicious sausages and a 10 person joint of pork for less than £25, with piglet cuddles thrown in for free.

Rob and Em with two of the latest litter - five days old, these little squealers were beyond cute.

 

 

Next week's sausages.  Two fine looking 8 month old Berkshire pigs.

Olly, age 7, gets friendly with Mummy pig.

We found them by chance online while looking for some new chickens to add to our back yard flock.  You don't get more 'local food' than eggs from the garden.  Rob and Em have a wide range of rare and heritage breed chickens - they also sell eggs for hatching, hens of various ages and feed if you fancy having a few feathered friends yourself.

Check out their website at www.harlequinfarm.co.uk

Jen Murphy

This one's for you, Meg!

I have a spring in my step this week.  A kind blog reader emailed in to show appreciation of our last post about using internet search engines:
"Great blog.  I always have a look on Riverford's website for inspiration as you can put in an ingredient and it will come up with applicable recipes...Am hoping to make February soup month, so here goes!", Meg.  Thanks so much for taking the time to email us, not least so we know we know that our witterings are relevant!

Meg's idea to dedicate February 'soup month' is a good one.  It could be a way to further develop a basic skill, is a cost effective way to feed lots of people, and soup can come in many guises.  What's that you are saying?  'Boring?'  No way...and I will prove it by telling you my top tips for keeping everyone soup savvy...

1. there are loads of different kinds of soups: lumpy ones (leek and potato), smooth (cream of carrot), international (thai chicken noodle), hybrid (lentil and bacon/broths/chowder), and we haven't even mentioned my killer minestrone yet.
2.  you can tart it up at the table (ooer!).  Putting a variety of foods on the table for eaters means they can customise their bowl, and is a good conversation starter.  Try grated cheese, posh oils, chopped celery leaves, fresh herbs, pesto loosened with olive oil, chopped mild chilli, toasted nuts, roasted vegetables, bread croutons, a big cheesey crouton.
3.  serving soup with homemade bread is always a crowd pleaser.  I haven't got time for a bread diversion here, but hope to get a guest blogger to share her tips soon.
4.  buy a new vegetable you haven't used before and do an internet search, such as 'Jerusalem artichoke soup'.
5.  buy a new spice mix.  My crowd pleaser here is 'ras al hanout'.  Someone once told me this is a 'bad housewives' spice in Morocco since it can make a success of any dish.  It has lovely warm spices and rose petals.  Use in a creamed soup of root vegetables.

If you are still in need of inspiration, take a leaf from Meg, and get a couple of foody websites on your 'favourites' bar, such as:
www.riverford.co.uk/recipes
www.rivercottage.net/recipes
www.bbc.co.uk/food
www.bbcgoodfood.com  (the GoodFood magazine has good ideas too)

Get in touch if you have any ways that you make a success of soup in your household.

Lisa Reid

Lost Mojo

Boy, am I glad to see February: January is a long month after the expense and over indulgence of Christmas.  Given that I've gone cold turkey on supermarket shopping and pay day is a long wait, I've been seeing how many meals I can make from what is lying around in the cupboards.

Before Christmas I had lost my cooking mojo, too frazzled with festivities to think most evenings, but now it's "Ready, Steady, Cook" every night as I attempt to rustle up something edible from that which is lurking in the darkest corners of my kitchen.

We're all hoarders when it comes to food.  Out of date spices at the back of a drawer; bargain joints of meat lost in the bowels of the freezer.  Most of us are sitting on a fortune of unused ingredients.  I've been checking out the Love Food Hate Waste campaign for advice as I try to avoid chucking perfectly good food for lack of inspiration.  (www.lovefoodhatewaste.com - they have a great newsletter available via email too)  Dig out forgotten bits and pieces, add in a few locally bought fresh ingredients and it's amazing how many different cheap tasty dinners you can produce.

One family I know goes online to maximise their food supplies - they have discovered a few family favourites by typing a list of what is left in the fridge into an internet search engine and seeing what it suggests.  Last night's squash, sweet potato and chestnut risotto was a hit.  Today's lunch of carrot, parsnip, swede and lentil soup finished off the rest of the soggy veg lurking in the fridge.  There is a recipe for the risotto listed at the bottom.  Roasting root vegetables gives them colour and added depth of flavour which stops them being too bland in something like a risotto. We'd love to hear about your successes with leftovers.  Why not tell us about them in the comments section?

Lisa Reid

Squash, sweet potato and chestnut risotto
serves 4

320g Arborio rice
1 small squash
1 large sweet potato
1 medium onion
Packet of ready to eat chestnuts/chestnuts leftover from Christmas defrosted
Vegetable stock

Chop and peel both the squash and potato, toss in oil, sprinkle with salt and roast in an oven for 40 mins until tender and crispy.
Meanwhile lightly fry the onions in some oil, add the rice and fry until translucent then gradually add the stock - stirring after each addition until the rice is cooked through. 
Add the chestnuts to heat through.
Add the cooked potato and squash then serve with plenty of black pepper and grated cheese.

Are You a Reward Card Slave?

It's hard work being a local food lover. At the end of a long day of work, with two hungry teenagers running on empty, there's nothing more tempting than a quick trip to Tesco to pick up an easy meal.

When I meet producers through the local food project or read about supermarkets delaying payments to farmers, it makes me more determined to cut back on the supermarket deals, but they can be soooo tempting.

Take the Tesco Clubcard for example, over the years we've had a family crossing on the Eurotunnel, a trip to Legoland and dinner out at Pizza Express. All handy when you are budgeting for a family of four. But what is the price of those points? The reality is that the pricing is cleverly pushing me into buying items I don't need, and the loyalty card tracks my habits in order to provide Tesco with information to more accurately brainwash me next time!

The average family with two teenagers in the UK fills their trolley to the tune of over £150 per week. The promise of BOGOFs and bonus points draws us back until we develop habits that are difficult to break. We are not always getting the best value and the hard pushed producers at the end of the food chain are being more aggressively squeezed than ever. Over time we fall out of the habit of shopping around, eating seasonally and picking up real bargains locally. 

So, what to do? Well I've made a brave decision: I've cut up my loyalty cards. I'm kicking that habit and going supermarket cold turkey. For branded items I will use the village co-op, but for 2015 I'll be a reward card slave no more!