Lunch at the Farm Kitchen

We have just wrapped up our first Farm Kitchen lunch for 2013, and it was a really great day. The menu was simple and seasonal, including a pear, pumpkin and sage soup with goat’s cheese (which I didn’t get a chance to photograph as was a touch busy cooking the main!). Then a great little salad of toasted walnuts, beetroot and thinly sliced Somerset Pride apples with a dressing of extra virgin oil and apple cider vinegar sweetened with honey (recipe below). The main course, was of course, our beautiful venison.

Beetroot, apple and walnut salad

Serves 8
5 beetroot (cooked, cooled, peeled and cubed)
2 cups (toasted)
4 tart new season apples (we used Somerset Pride picked on Friday at the Nashdale Fruit Co)

For the dressing: 5 tbspns extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 2 tsp honey.
Combine all ingredients on a bed of peppery rocket. Then whisk dressing ingredients together and toss to combine.

Note: Crumble over some aged goat’s cheese or fetta to bump this salad up into ‘light’ meal status.
 

We served the rack, coated with crushed pink peppercorns before roasting, accompanied by creamy mashed Dutch Cream potatoes with warm cherry chutney. And because it’s all about figs for me at the moment, the meal ended with fig and almond tart sitting next to a scoop of honey and ginger ice cream.

Venison rack with pink peppercorns

Serves 8

1 x Mandagery Creek Venison rack (find us here)
3 tbsp pink peppercorns
2 tbsp sea salt
Olive oil

Remove the rack from its packaging and let sit for a little while to come up to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 200C. Crush the peppercorns lightly in a mortar and pestle and massage into the rack, with the salt. Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan and seal the rack on both sides; it should need about a minute on each to really caramelise each side well. Pop into the oven for 15-20 minutes (our rule of thumb is to cook venison for 20 minutes per kilogram at 200C so please weigh your piece and work on that). Let rest under a tent of foil for 10 minutes then serve with creamy mashed potatoes and a nice, sweet chutney (warm).

If you’d like to join us for lunch at the Farm Kitchen please do get in touch. We host lunches on the second Saturday of every month with a few extra events in April for F.O.O.D Week. We can also host private functions for groups of 10 or more.

Fig and almond tart with honey and ginger ice cream

I’m a big fan of this sort of tart and have made it many times, the last time not too long ago but with apricots. Please follow this recipe and just swap quartered figs for the apricots.

500ml thickened cream
500ml whole milk
4 tbsp honey
3 tbsp caster sugar
8 egg yolks
3 tbsp freshly grated ginger

Place the cream, milk and honey in a saucepan and gently bring just to simmering point. Set aside for about five minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the  egg yolks with the sugar until pale and thick. Whisk a little of the warm milk/cream into the yolks and then combine the lot together. Return to the stovetop, at a low heat and cook very gently, stirring often. After about five minutes the custard should be lovely and thick, remove from the heat, pour into a jug and place in the fridge for 12 hours.

Churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions, adding the ginger at the very end of the churning time. Makes about one litre.