The Bull at Broughton, Skipton

Posted on 17/06/2009 by cwildman

The Bull at Broughton reopens on Saturday the 20th June 2009 after refurbishment by Ribble Valley Inns and the expert eye of Nigel Haworth (BBC Great British Menu).   The Bull will become the fourth pub in the Ribble Valley fold, the others being Northcote, The Three Fishes at Mitton, The Highwayman near Kirkby Lonsdale and the Clog & Billycock at Pleasington.

“It’s been months in the planning but, at last, Nigel Haworth is set to achieve an ambition of working with Yorkshire’s
amazing farmers, growers and fine food suppliers.”  Nigel has been busy visiting and testing lots of local Yorkshire producers with cheese, veg, meat, beef and lamb all coming from very local suppliers.  Featured local producers include Yellison Farm Cheese, Hellifield Highland Beef, Kilnsey Farm Trout, Bolton Abbey Lamb,  and Limestone Country Beef.

The Bull is on the Broughton Hall Estate just outside Skipton, North Yorkshire.

Lunch review of the Bull @ Broughton, ribeye steak, rabbit faggots, chicken liver pate & Whitby scampi.

The Bull website

Buy some of the local produce served at the Bull to serve at home in your own recipes from Paganum Produce the Yorkshire Dales Online Farmers Market.

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Black and Blue Stuffed Pork Loin

Posted on 16/06/2009 by cwildman

After the Take 3 chefs event at Settle thought I had to try the recipe demonstrated by Richard Wallbank from Ravenous, I’m not sure my attempt looked as professional as his but it was very very tasty all the same!

Trimmed pork loin stuffed with black pudding and wrapped in bacon, cling film and roll and refrigerate for a couple of hours before roasting.  Cut the pork on an angle to give larger slices.

I served with fried potatoes, griddled asparagus and leeks in a white sauce.

Richards original recipe was :-

Black N Blue Pig (serves 2)

  • 1 lge pork tenderloin
  • 2 rashers of streaky bacon or shoulder bacon
  • 1 slice black pudding

Richard used all of the above from the Blue Pig Company

  1. Trim the tenderloin of any fat and push a long blade knife into the fat end of the meat making a caviyt along the fillet
  2. Break the black pud up into small pieces and push into the fillet until it is full
  3. Wrap the tenderloin with the bacon and place on a baking tray.
  4. cook at gas mark 7 for about 20 mins
  5. slice diagonally into 1/2 inch slices
  6. serve with mustard sauce or a red wine gravy or apple sauce or anything you like really
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Take 3 Chefs – Settle

Posted on 16/05/2009 by cwildman

Take 3 Chefs made a return visit to Settle Victoria Hall on Wednesday the 13th of May, organised by Settle Festival a full house were treated to a variety of menus from 3 local chefs –

  • Richard Wallbank from Ravenous, Market Square, Settle – Black ‘n’ Blue Pig & Mushroom risotto
  • John Pratt from The Traddock, Austwick – Yorkshire Pikelets with creamy Smoked Haddock, leeks & soft poached egg and stuffed breast of Swillington Duck with a warm salad of pear, walnut and perry dressing garnished with capers, balsamic syrup, croutons and a whole poached pear
  • Ben Atkinson from The Falcon Manor, Settle – Sea Bream with vine cherry tomatoes and Lamb with Summer Salad

All three chefs were brilliant performers in front of the crowd and produced some fantastic dishes.

On display in the interval were local suppliers Growing with Grace, Paganum Produce, Booths and NYCC reduce waste display.

I could not resist giving this one a go myself so have recreated Richard Wallbank’s Black ‘n’ Blue Pig dish see Black N Blue blog post.  Link to all the recipes and more photos here LoveSettle

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Skipton Beer Festival

Posted on 16/05/2009 by cwildman

Visited the 3rd Annual Skipton Beer Festival on Friday 24th April 2009 and it was big and very busy.

60 cask ales were stacked in the beer hall including several mild’s and a full selection of hand pulled Timothy Taylor’s and Copper Dragon ale’s accompanied by bottled continental lagers and a big selection of cider & perry.

My favourites on the night included :-

  • “Dave” 3.8%abv Bitter, a dark, smooth velvety bitter from the Great Heck Brewing Co
  • Yorkshire Penny 4.5%abv, classic dry stout from Yorkshire Dales Brewing, Askrigg
  • and as these were all gravity pulled a couple of creamy beer engine pulled Copper Dragons and Timmie Taylors.

A very well organised event by Craven branch of Camra and the local breweries, well worth a visit next year.

Posted in Beer Blogs, Events | 2 Comments

Asparagus Tips!

Posted on 05/05/2009 by cwildman

I love asparagus but the all too short asparagus season in the UK only runs from Mid April to Mid June so make the most of it!

English Asparagus

English Asparagus

Asparagus Tips!

  1. Buy & eat as fresh as possible for the best taste
  2. You only need to cut off the woody end (many recipes state cut of the ends of the asparagus and I have known people discard the tips! which is the best bit). The best way to know where to cut or break the asparagus is to hold the asparagus with 2 fingers in the middle of the spear and 2 fingers on the woody end and bend, the woody end should just break off perfectly
  3. Save these woody ends in a plastic bag in the freezer and by the end of the season you should have a decent pile to make soup from (recipe to follow on this blog)
  4. Asparagus is a perennial plant and is not too difficult to grow in your garden or allotment, why not start your own Asparagus bed.   Best to plant your Asparagus crowns in a prepared trench in March/April and only lightly harvest in the first year, then for many years (up to 20) you should have a good crop of homegrown fresh asparagus
  5. Don’t overcook, boiled for 10 minutes should be more than enough, either in a frying pan of water with the spears laid flat or tie them into a bundle with garden or butchers string and boil standing upright in a pan then the thicker stems boil whilst the tips just steam!
  6. Asparagus is best served warm rather than hot, wrap in a tea towel when removed from the pan and it will dry and keep warm for 20 minutes.
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Dinner at The Angel Inn, Hetton

Posted on 29/04/2009 by cwildman

Surprise dinner for the birthday girl last night at The Angel Inn, Hetton, Nr Skipton, Yorkshire Dales.

The last few times we have been to the Angel have been for bar meals and the service has been disappointing but we tried the restaurant and A LA CARTE menu last night and all was forgiven, back to the usual quality service and excellent food.

We arrived on time (unusually for us!) and we were immediately shown to our table, 2 glasses of the Wine Cave Rose Champagne Cuvee Brut Bernard Remy ordered and arrived quickly while we perused the menu.

The Food:-

Selection of fresh warm bread rolls including walnut and Parmesan in brown or white.

To start I went for the WHITBY CRAB RAVIOLI with fennel and ginger cream and the better half had the old Angel favourite of ANGELS BLACKPUDDING with seared foie gras, artichoke veloute, grape and walnut salad both dishes were fantastic and my crab ravioli was particularly good!

An amuse-bouche of Cheese with an onion marmalade was served between courses, I didn’t quite catch exactly what the waiter said it was but I know it was tasty!

The main courses, CORNFED CHICKEN BREAST with spring asparagus, peas and beans, truffled pomme puree served with Albufera sauce.  SEARED LOCH FYNE KING SCALLOPS WITH CRISPY YORKSHIRE SUCKLING PIG with apple and cauliflower, pomme puree and a red wine reduction.  Both very well put together dishes with excellent taste combination’s and they looked fantastic.

The Beer:-

did you really think I wasn’t going to try the beer! Dark Horse Brewery, Hetton Ale was on hand pull and as it’s brewed all of 500 yds down the road from the Angel thought it rude not to try it!  The sprinkler had been taken off to wash but the friendly bar staff were more than happy to oblige, replace and pour a pint, again an excellent creamy and very local pint!

No room for pudding so just had the coffee and sweet things which included a mini doughnut and soft vanilla fudge, a very enjoyable evening and I would heartily recommend The Angel, great service and top food.

Dinner is served Monday to Friday 6pm to 9pm and to 9.30pm on Saturday, The Angel Inn Website

The Angel Inn, Hetton, Restaurant

The Angel Inn, Hetton, Restaurant

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Queens Arms, Litton

Posted on 28/04/2009 by cwildman

Went up to The Queens Arms in Littondale on the request of the eldest son for tea.  He did want to try the George at Hubberholme but on telephoning for opening hours we established that it was fully booked.  The Queens is a super little pub in one of Yorkshire’s hidden dales, lovely ride out over some of the best, scenic Dales roads, especially if you go via Malham and Arncliffe.

The Food:- Well the gammon was good! but the rest of the meal and the beer was rather disappointing.  Thing’s don’t appear to be quite the same at the Queens Arms, prices were very expensive and the quality of the food disappointing, fish cakes & roast beef dinner poor, vegetables & salad like something out of an 1980’s tv show but with 2010 prices.  At least my gammon was OK!

The Beer:- Litton Ale: Pale brown in colour with a classic malt flavour.  3.8% abv. brewed on the premises, shall we say was having a rather off day! from what I have tasted it’s better in a bottle!

Now under New Ownership see The Queens Arms, Litton Jubilee here

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8 Elite Yorkshire Sausages

Posted on 26/04/2009 by cwildman

The taste test of 8 elite sausages.  A selection of fantastic sausages from Gordon Atkinson at Elite Meats in Starbeck, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.  The family gathered around to conduct a sausage taste test of the following flavours:-

  • Prime Yorkshire Pork Sausage
  • Pork Leek & Chive Sausage
  • Pork Peach & White Stilton Sausage
  • Pork & Sweet Chilli Sausage
  • Pork & Caramelised Onion Sausage
  • Pork Tomato & Basil Sausage
  • Pork Sage & Apple Sausage
  • Starbeck Sausage

These are all very good sausages and were enjoyed by all members of the tasting panel!

Favourites were Pork Sage & Apple and the Pork Peach & White Stilton. You can buy Elite Sausages from Paganum.

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The Dales Festival of Food & Drink

Posted on 24/04/2009 by cwildman
Paganum will be at the Dales Festival of Food held at Leyburn in the Heart of Wensleydale

2009 Festival Dates: 2nd, 3rd & 4th May 10:00am to 5:00pm daily please call in and say hello and mention you read the Yorkshire Dales Food Blog.

The food hall is the main venue for food and drink stands, with over eighty exhibitors, sited in a 14,000 sq ft marquee.

Free cookery demonstrations by leading local chefs throughout the day, held in our Theatre Marquee.

More info on the Dales Festival of Food website.

The Dales Festival of food & drink

The Dales Festival of food & drink

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The Poached Egg Experiment

Posted on 23/04/2009 by cwildman

Having read a few articles recently about “how to cook the perfect poached egg” one in particular stood out, it suggested  using cling film, I thought I should try it out!

Take a cup or ramekin and let the cling film drape in to form a receptical for the raw egg, crack the egg into the hole and then twist the cling film to seal and drop into boiling water.  I cracked another directly into the water to see the difference. I didn’t add any vinegar or use any other trick just 2 identical fresh eggs (from our Rhode Island Red & Black Rock hens).

Results as in the photos, below, the cling film method is messy & doesn’t give a nice finish, the vinegar option I dislike due to the sometimes overpowering taste of vinegar.  In conclusion I still prefer the direct immersion method into gently boiling water, with a spoon add a swirl (vortex) to the water just before you drop the egg in as close to the water as possible, the secret factor for poached egg success is VERY FRESH EGGS they will stay together naturally.

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