I am intrigued to know their thoughts on the post-Christmas low carb eating fad currently gripping the nation. Dreda who will be dancing as a geisha in Madame Butterfly, begins her day with a hearty bowl of porridge, sweetened with golden syrup and topped with yogurt.

“I don’t know any dancers that go on fad diets like cutting out carbs,” says Dreda. “We need carbohydrate to keep our energy levels up. If we don’t eat well we can’t concentrate and can get injured. We want to dance for as long as possible. Our jobs depend on eating well.”

Matthew Broadbent, 21 and Anglo-Dutch agrees. “Men need carbs. If our bodies run out of energy, muscle is broken down and we lose strength. There would be no act three if I didn’t eat carbs. I would run out of energy.” Breakfast for Matthew is Weetabix sprinkled with Coco Pops. “I also drink a lot of milk which is a very Dutch thing,” he adds.

“I start the day with a typical Chinese-style rice porridge made in a steamer with adzuki beans and quinoa,” says Ayana Kanda, 27, from Tokyo. She is dancing a lead role as the character Suzuki. Ayana loves cooking and prepares meals for herself and her Chinese fiancé, Yi Song, also a dancer. “We do snack in between meals, mainly on fruit. We eat a lot of bananas,” says Dreda.

“What about supper?” I ask all three. Ayana gets out her iPhone to show me pictures of the dishes she cooks and eats. I am reassured. The food looks really good and there is lots of it; noodles, gorgeous stir fried meat and vegetable dishes. “I never eat a meal without vegetables. My body just does not feel right without them’ says Ayana. Matthew, who plays a sailor, also shows me photographs of what he eats including his tasty chicken pasta, made almost entirely from store cupboard ingredients.

All three confess to eating McDonald’s and other fast food. “We like some fast food but it does not form our main diet,” Ayana adds.

Dreda’s chicken souvlaki with feta, mint and avocado salad

This is a fantastic example of a meal that will give you lots of energy and all the nutrients to help keep your body in shape.

Serves 2

• 2 chicken breasts cut into chunks

For the marinade:

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• pinch of sea salt

For the dressing:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 small clove garlic, crushed
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:

• 2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves
• 1 ripe avocado, cut into chunks
• 2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
• 50g feta cheese, crumbled
• 50g black olive

Mix the chicken with the marinade ingredients and set aside for at least 30 minutes. Thread the chicken on to skewers and grill for 10 minutes. Turn frequently until just beginning to brown. Whisk together the ingredients for the salad dressing and combine with the salad ingredients in a bowl. Serve the chicken and salad with warm pita bread.

Sweet potato and ginger soup

Serves 4

• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil, 500g sweet potato, cut into chunks
• 50g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 litre of stock, either chicken or vegetable
• ½ tsp garam masala
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sweat onion in olive oil until soft. Add sweet potato, fresh ginger, garlic and continue to cook for about 15 minutes or until the onion begins to caramelise and the sweet potatoes become soft. Add the garam masala and stock and continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Allow to cool and liquidise. Add more stock if you like a thinner soup and season with salt, pepper and more garam masala if you like a spicier flavour.

Ayana’s pork flavoured with star anise, ginger and spring onions

This is a clever way of getting lots of flavour and texture from a cheaper cut of meat. Simmering and dry frying the pork first removes most of the fat. Cooked like this the meat falls apart and the sticky coating makes this a star recipe. Lovely served with egg noodles and stir fried green vegetables such as pak choi, broccoli, shredded cabbage or beans.

 Serves 4

• 250g belly of pork, rind removed
• 50g fresh ginger, shredded
• 100g spring onions, thinly sliced
• 150ml Chinese cooking wine
• 2 star anise
• 2 tsp light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce

Stage 1

Place the pork in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove pork from the pan and dry fry until crisp and golden brown. Discard any fat that has been rendered from the pork. Place shredded ginger, spring onions, Chinese cooking wine and pork in a large saucepan and add enough cold water to cover the pork. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for two hours. Remove the pork but keep the fragrant stock.

Stage 2

Cut pork into 5cm strips and add to a large frying pan with 4 ladles of the stock, star anise and sugar. Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce and cook until the liquid has become sticky and dark brown.

 Madame Butterfly is at the Grand Theatre Leeds; February 29 – March 10. For more information see www. northernballet.com.

Published in the Times Fri Novemeber 25th 2011

Since 2004 English primary schools have been providing pupils with a free piece of fruit every school day for the first three years of school. This intervention has been shown to have an impact on children’s intake of fruit and vegetables but it is not sustained when pupils no longer receive the free fruit. To maintain and improve children’s intakes of fruit and vegetables beyond the intervention it seems important for schools to extend initiatives to promote fruit and vegetables beyond the age of eight years when free fruit ceases to be provided.

Improvement F&V knowledge and practices in schools

Many English primary schools have embraced this idea and found opportunities for children to learn more about fruit and vegetables through lessons in the formal curriculum and extracurricular activities. For example, the school curriculum enables children to learn about fruit and vegetables in Science, Design and Technology, and Personal, Social, Health Education and Citizenship. Geography, English and Art also provide some educational opportunities for children to learn about fruit and vegetables. Outside the formal curriculum children can learn about fruit and vegetables through growing and cooking activities. The United Kingdom Royal Horticultural Society, for example, has spearheaded a national campaign called ‘Grow It, Cook It, Eat It’. This campaign encourages schools to set up growing activities in school which lead to cooking and eating opportunities for participating children.

Research has shown that practical activities such as cooking and gardening facilitate a liking for fruit and vegetables. Activities such as gardening and cooking undertaken with peers and teachers in school may help young children to overcome some of their natural fear of new food, known as food neophobia. This may occur through modelling of appropriate eating behaviour, repeated exposure to foods, providing encouraging and supportive environments for eating, and practical activities which help children become more familiar with foods.

New school food standards have been introduced to improve the nutritional quality of food served at school. Provision has been made to increase the amount of fruit and vegetables in school lunches and place restrictions on the provision of foods with low nutritional value, such as chips, confectionery and soft drinks. These standards are compulsory; however, children are still at liberty to bring a packed lunch which does not conform to the new standards. A recent intervention to improve the food and nutritional value of children’s lunch boxes found that only 19% of children met the food-based guidelines for vegetables and 54% for fruit. The content and nutritional value of what children eat outside school is the responsibility of parents and other adult carers. There is some evidence that when children eat more fruit at school they eat less at home.

We know many schools are doing excellent work helping children to eat a nutritious diet by initiating projects, policies and good practice relating to food across the curriculum. But do these initiatives have an effect on children’s diet?

Do school initiatives have an effect on children’s F&V intake?

To investigate this we recruited a random sample of children attending 129 English primary schools. A dietary survey of 2,530 children from these schools, aged 6-7 years was conducted using The Child and Diet Evaluation Tool (CADET) to estimate the children’s mean intake of foods and nutrients. In addition schools were asked to complete a questionnaire which captured information and scored five types of initiatives which may affect children’s intake of fruit and vegetables:

• Gardening
• Cooking
• Catering
• Number of lessons
• Parental involvement

The findings showed that children attending schools with a gardening club and an overall high score across the five categories, ate significantly more vegetables than schools without a gardening club and a low overall score. In addition schools where parents were actively involved in initiatives to

promote fruit and vegetables, children, ate more of these foods. This effect was not seen with fruit consumption. Did the results differ in more deprived schools? The findings showed that efforts to promote fruit and vegetables to children have an effect regardless of the deprivation status of the area and the ethnic mix of the school. This is, we believe, the first time attempt has to explore the relationship between initiatives schools themselves are taking to promote fruit and vegetables to children and their association with diet. Our findings show some encouraging results for schools that involve parents and promote fruit and vegetables through extracurricular activities such as gardening, but further works is needed to confirm these findings.IFAVA News letter Jan 2012

Joan Ransley Honorary Lecturer in Nutrition, University of Leeds, UK. The article is based on the following paper:  Ransley JK, Taylor EF, Radwan Y, Kitchen MS, Greenwood DC and Cade JE. Does nutrition education in primary schools make a difference to children’s fruit and vegetable consumption? Public Health Nutrition 2010:13(11), 1898–1904

National seafood chef of the year Rob Green, of Green’s restaurant Whitby says ‘this is undoubtedly one of the best smoked salmon available. It slightly salted, gently smoked and has a great texture.’

Oak smoked salmon with capers, parsley and horseradish sauce

No shortcuts are taken when it comes to preparing our smoked salmon’ says Matthew. ‘The salmon is dry cured with a little salt for 18 hours, rinsed and then smoked over oak wood shavings at a low temperature. We also produce an oak roasted salmon, which is smoked at a higher temperature to produce salmon with succulent flakes and a deep brown, roasted surface.’ Smoked salmon has been ‘cooked’ by the smoking process and any further cooking has to be done carefully. It can be stirred through a creamy pasta sauce, added to softly scrambled eggs or gently baked in the custard filling of a quiche but it must not be over cooked as it becomes dry and tasteless.

The delicate coral flesh of the oak smoked salmon looks wonderful on a plate with just a few simple additions such as chopped boiled egg, a few capers and a little horseradish sauce. Any rye bread tastes good with smoked salmon such as the famous Russian Borodinsky bread, now produced by the Village Bakery, Cumbria and sold in good supermarkets in Yorkshire.

The flavours in Matthew’s oak smoked salmon are deep and complex. I can detect the aromatic notes of clove, leather, caramel and vanilla as I chew. It is these flavours, together with its colour and texture which sets this smoked salmon apart from others.

Interestingly scientists have found the same smoked flavours in barrel-aged wines which make such a classic pairing with smoked fish.

Matthew also smokes haddock which is wonderful in kedgeree or Cullen skink (below), and kippers which make great pâté.

None of Matthew’s smoked products are dyed. The do not need to be. ‘If the smoking process is long enough, colours develops naturally as the smoke and heat react with the protein in the fish and cause a colour change’. Dyes and artificial smoke flavours are a short cut and used to colour and flavour fish when the smoking time is reduced’ explained Matthew.

For more information about Whitby Seafish Ltd and the online shop visit www.whitbyseafish.co.uk

Oak smoked salmon with capers, parsley and horseradish sauce

If you have very good quality smoked salmon it is exquisite as it is. Do not mess around too much with it. Keep it in the fridge until you are ready to serve and then take two to three slithers per person. Large portions of smoked salmon can be over facing so focus on quality rather than quantity. This makes an ideal lunch dish or a starter.

Serves 4

• 150g oak smoked salmon
• 4 tsp capers
• Small bunch of parsley, rinsed and finely chopped
• 2 hardboiled egg (simmered for 10 minutes), cooled and chopped
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 4 slices of rye bread

For the horseradish sauce

• 4 tbsp of crème fraîche
• 1 tsp cream of horseradish
• Rye bread to serve

Prepare the above ingredients apart from the horseradish sauce. Lay each ingredient carefully on individual plates. Mix the crème fraîche with the creamed horseradish and serve the smoked salmon with lightly buttered rye bread.

Oak roasted salmon with beetroot salad

Oak roast salmon with beetroot salad

 

The smoky flavours of this salmon work very well with the sweet earthiness of beetroot. Lemon is also a very good ingredient to use with salmon. Its sharp, citrus juice cuts through the oiliness of the fish. This can be served as a starter or lunch dish.

Serves 4

• 4 small beetroot; red, golden or combination of both
• Mixed leaves
• 200g oak roast salmon, sliced
• Small bunch of dill, finely chopped

For the dressing

• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 3 tbsp walnut oil
• Pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Cook the beetroot in boiling water until tender – about 20 minutes, depending on their size. Allow to cool, slip the skin off and slice. Combine the ingredients for the dressing, mix well and dress the salad leaves. Lay the salad leaves and beetroot on a plate followed by the oak roasted salmon. Scatter generously with chopped dill and a little more dressing. Serve with crusty bread or new potatoes.

Kipper pâté

Smoked fish has great affinity with cream cheese and black pepper. This pâté is lovely with melba toast. It’s a retro dish which deserves a comeback especially as we can get such fantastic quality kippers in Yorkshire. Matthew makes his kippers by wet curing herrings caught in the North Sea and then smoking them over oak shavings on racks.

Serves 4

• 1 kipper fillet – about 150g
• 30g softened slightly salted butter left at at room temperature for half an hour
• 50g crème fraîche or cream cheese
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Grated nutmeg
• Lemon juice
• Chopped parsley

For the melba toast

• 4 slices of medium sliced bread

Preheat the grill to medium. Place kippers skin-side up in an ovenproof dish and put a small knob (5g) of butter on each one. Put the kippers under the grill for 5 minutes, basting them occasionally with the butter. Take out, peel off the skin and mince in a food processor. Beat the butter until creamy. Stir butter and crème fraîche (or cream cheese) into the minced kippers and mix well. Season the pâté with black pepper, grated nutmeg and a little lemon juice. Do not add any salt until you have tasted the pâté at this stage.

To make melba toast – toast the bread, remove crusts, slice through the centre of the toast and cut into rectangles. Toast the untoasted sides of the cut toast and serve with the kipper pâté.

Cullen skink

Cullen is a town on the east coast of Scotland. Skink is a soup made originally from a shin of beef, but here smoked haddock replaces the meat. This recipe illustrates another great marriage between smoked fish, mashed potato and creamy milk. It is simple and delicious.

• 50g butter
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 pints of full cream milk
• 750g old potatoes such as King Edward, peeled and diced
• 450g undyed smoked haddock fillet
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• Salt and black pepper

Melt the butter in a pan, and cook the onion until soft but not browned. Add the milk to the pan and bring to the boil. Add the diced potatoes and simmer for 15 minutes, until they are very soft. Add the smoked haddock and simmer for 4 minutes. Lift the fish from the pan and place on a plate and allow to cool slightly. Meanwhile crush some of the potatoes against the side of the pan to thicken the soup a little. When the smoked haddock is cool enough to handle flake the fish, return it to the pan and stir in the parsley. Season to taste and serve in soup bowls with some deliciously crusty bread and a bowl of peas – another great pairing with fish. 

Kipper pate with melba toast

 

York based business partners Elaine Wilson and Pat Richardson have come up with one solution. A range of porridge mixes called ‘More than Oats’ which contains oats, oat bran, flaxseeds, quinoa and a delicate blend of spices perfectly formulated to jump start the body’s metabolism after its overnight fast. ‘It is easy to make and ready in just five minutes’ says Elaine, a nutritional therapist.

Award winning chef Tim Bilton, proprietor of The Butchers Arms in Hepworth, near Holmfirth and a fellow judge at this year’s Deliciously Yorkshire Awards was bowled over by the porridge mix which has made it through to the finals of the awards. Tim says ‘it tastes creamy and smooth yet has texture. It is a simple idea and a great addition to the breakfast menu. My son Henry and I love porridge drizzled with local honey. It’s a great warmer on a cold morning.’

According to a report published this August by Mintel, porridge eating has experienced a renaissance. Since 2007, British winters have become progressively colder and 2010 closed with the coldest December since 1910. These harsh winters have driven up sales of porridge and other hot cereals which increased by 12% last year. People have got used to eating porridge and it is now regarded as a healthy all the year round dish, claimed the report.

‘Porridge has impeccable health credential’s’ says Elaine ‘There is a very good fit between the nutrients contained in porridge and the needs of the body. Our porridge mix is also high in soft, soluble fibre which helps to keep the digestive system moving.’

Other flavours and textures can be added to porridge. Once you have got the hang of making a standard porridge recipe try adding a grated apple, a few sultanas and a sprinkle of cinnamon. The apple adds sweetness and contains pectin, a type of carbohydrate, which makes you feel full up for longer and has been shown to reduce the number of calories you need to eat at your next meal.

You can also use fruit juice as the cooking liquid: orange for example, if adding berries or, apple juice if mixing in dried fruit.

Although porridge is intrinsically associated with breakfast some chefs have celebrated it in other meals. Heston Blumenthal makes snail porridge, a recipe containing over twenty ingredients at his restaurant The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire. At the World Porridge Making Championships last year, Barry Gauld from the Kinlochewe Hotel near Achnasheen received a special mention with his West Coast Seafood Porridge containing scallops, langoustine and parsley Porridge fills and comforts an empty stomach. It’s good for the heart, the guts and is easy on the wallet. Today porridge has celebrity fans with Madonna, Gordon Ramsay and Blur bassist and farmer, Alex James stirring the pan for porridge. Even Prime Minister David Cameron announced recently that he regularly starts his day with a bowl of porridge. Perhaps this bodes well for the economy. There seems nothing this superfood can’t do.

For more information on More than Oats visit www.wilsonandrichardson.co.uk<http://www.wilsonandrichardson.co.uk/>

Tips on making porridge

• As with rice it is easier to use volume measures. One small mug hold 100g of rolled oats, enough for two generous portions
• For one cup of rolled oats use two to three cups of water or milk
• A pinch of salt brings out the flavour of the oats without making taste salty
• Porridge should have a smooth creamy consistency. This can be achieved by using a spurtle – a carved stick, originally from Scotland, that reaches into the crook of the pan and prevents porridge congealing.
  

  Everyday porridge

Every day porridge

There are many ways of making porridge but this is the simplest and quickest.

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2-3 cups of water or semi skimmed milk, depending on how thick you like it
• 1 pinch salt

Place oats and salt in a saucepan and add two cups of milk or water. Stir well over a gentle heat until the porridge reaches a simmer. Cook gently for five minutes stirring continuously with a spurtle if you have one, otherwise a wooden spoon will do. Add more liquid if you like your porridge a little more runny.

To serve

Add a grated apple or chopped banana to sweeten your porridge. Try adding a pinch of ground cinnamon or nutmeg to add a spicy flavour.

Bircher muesli

The original concept for muesli was devised by Dr Bircher-Benner in Zurich in the late 1880′s for patients in his diet clinic. It is like a blank canvas to which you can add any nut, fruit or seed you can think of – fresh or cooked. I think of it as a kind of cold porridge.

• 150g rolled oats
• 2tbsp runny honey
• 30g dried cranberries
• 25g sultanas
• 25g dates, chopped
• 25g dried apricots, chopped
• 25g ground hazlenuts
• 1 English apple, grated
• 1 English pear grated

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and preferably over night. Oats absorb a lot of moisture and so you may need to add more milk to serve. This muesli will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days. More milk or yogurt may need to be added as the oats are very absorbent.

Dried fruit compote

Winter fruit compote

Compotes are dishes of fresh or dried fruit that have been briefly cooked or steeped in light syrup. They make a lovely accompaniment to a bowl of plain porridge or simply served with thick creamy yogurt. Dried pears, apples and dates can be substituted for any of the fruit listed below.

8 servings

• 100g dried apricots, preferably the dark orange organic ones
• 100g dried mango
• 100g dried figs
• 100g dried prunes
• Juice of 1 large orange
• Zest of 1 lemon, pared with vegetable peeler
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise

Pour 500ml warm water into a large bowl, tip in the dried fruit and leave to soak for an hour. Place the dried fruit together with the soaking liquor into a saucepan together with a further 300ml of cold water, orange juice, lemon zest, cinnamon and star anise. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes until the fruit has softened and the liquid has thickened slightly. Serve warm or cold.

Pineapple, banana and orange smoothie

This smoothie is the closest thing to sunshine in the cold winter months. Pineapples are great value for money throughout the year. One pineapple can yield up to 8 portions of fruit. To prepare the pineapple – peel the thick skin with a sharp knife. Gouge any remaining ‘eyes’ from the pineapple but don’t worry too much if you miss any. Cut the pineapple lengthways into four and remove the fibrous core. Extra pineapple can be cut into chunks and stored in the fridge for up to a week or frozen.

Serves 2

• 200g pineapple, roughly cut into chunks
• 1 medium sized ripe banana
• Juice of 1 large orange
• 100-200ml cool water, carbonated or flat

Place the ingredients in the goblet of a liquidizer and process for 30 seconds until smooth. Pour into two glasses and enjoy this nutritious smoothie.

Bircher meusli

As well as cook books Elisabeth is renowned for her candid autobiographies. Family Life described her move to Andalucía with her four children, the devastating loss of her daughter Francesca to Aids in 1994 and, My Life as a Wife, charts her forty year marriage to the charming but errant Nicholas Luard, founder of Private Eye, who died of cancer six years ago.

Elisabeth, a former debutante, is slim and fit for her 70 years. She loves being outside clambering up hills and working up an appetite for lunch.

So what have I prepared a doyen of food writers for lunch? The truth is I was short of time and had to raid my freezer. I managed to find homemade roasted red pepper and fennel soup, crisp Puglian focaccia and a spicy Dutch apple cake, made from windfalls.

Delighted, Elisabeth quizzes me about the recipe for Pulian focaccia made from liquid dough. I ask her how food became such a passion for her.

‘I was a war baby and the step daughter of a diplomat living in Uruguay. I felt I was from the wrong marriage and I was more at home behind the green baize door with the kitchen staff. My small hands could be put to good use stuffing things. When I married and had a family being in the kitchen and cooking I felt in control. Aall the other parts of my life were out of control.’

Before becoming a writer Elisabeth was an acclaimed artist painting beautiful bird and botanical paintings. Her latest book is decorated with stunning water colours of birds, flowers and food.

Elisabeth now lives in an ancient Welsh Farmhouse near Coredigion, in the foothills of the Cambrian mountains, 20 miles from Cardigan Bay, a rugged, wild landscape.

She uses her vast knowledge of Mediterranean cookery to add colour, flavour and style to transform the produce she brings into the kitchen from her garden markets and local food producers into imaginative, distinctive and tasty recipes.

‘My book links this landscape to the food grown and produced in it to what people can cook in their pots’. One recipe catches my eye Garden snails with cheese and apple brandy.

‘Having spent so much time living abroad in countries that love to eat snails I always include one recipe for snails in my book. I love the effect serving them has on people’ she confides.

‘A Cook’s Year in a Welsh Farmhouse by Elisabeth Luard is published by Bloomsbury, £25′

Hedgerow jelly

Hedgerow Jelly

You can make your own liquid pectin, the basis of any flavoured jelly, by simmering unpeeled, uncored, chopped apples in water then straining them. The resulting liquid will be cloudy and can be stored in the fridge in a sealed Kilner jar for about a fortnight, till you’re ready to make jelly.

For a plain apple jelly, measure the juice into a heavy preserving-pan, stir in the same volume of granulated sugar and cook to setting point. You can now add any flavouring you please.

For a herb jelly, stir in chopped fresh herbs – mint, thyme, sage – and reboil briefly to pasturise the herbs and allow the jelly to absorb the flavour. For a chilli jelly, stir in dried chilli flakes and a maybe a fresh red chilli or two for good measure, return to the boil and simmer for about a minute to blend the flavours.

For a balsamic jelly, stir in a little Modena balsamic vinegar as soon as setting point is reached.For a Christmas port jelly to serve with turkey or ham, stir in a tablespoon of port for every 200 g liquid jelly (a curl of orange zest and a couple of cloves won’t go amiss) and reheat gently, stirring to blend the two liquids. Pot up all the above in small sterilised jars, seal and store for up to 3 months in the fridge.

Warm courgette salad with mushrooms

Warm courgette salad with mushrooms and marjoram

Courgette flowers are tender and delicate in flavour and can be included raw in a summer salad. The flowers are either male or female and both are good to eat: the males blossom on the end of a slender stalk with no sign of swelling; females convert their stalks into the fruiting body, swelling just behind the blossom. If you grow your own, crop the males as soon as they come into bloom to give the females a better chance to mature.

Serves 4

• 12 courgette flowers or a generous handful of salad leaves
• 500 g baby courgettes
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 marjoram sprigs
• 250 g mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Pick over the flowers or salad leaves, rinse and pat dry. Larger flowers can be sliced or quartered lengthways.Trim the courgettes, then quarter them lengthways.Heat the oil in a small frying pan. As soon as it’s hot

enough, drop in the marjoram sprigs, wait for a few seconds till they sizzle and crisp, then transfer to kitchen paper to drain. Add the mushrooms to the pan, wait until they begin to fry, then salt lightly, turn up the heat and remove as soon as they yield up their water and begin to sizzle again. Fry the courgettes lightly, 2-3 minutes (you might need a little more oil).Transfer the courgettes and mushrooms to a salad bowl along with the oily juices from the pan. Dress with the vinegar, salt and pepper. Just before you’re ready to serve, toss with the courgette flowers – or salad leaves if using – and finish with the crisp marjoram leaves.

Wild rice with mushrooms and thyme

Wild rice with mushrooms and thyme

Wild rice is not rice at all, but a grass seed native to the Americas. It has a nutty taste with a touch of liquorice, which underlines the aniseed flavour of some of the wild fungi in this recipe. If your haul is not sufficient and you make up the shortfall with cultivated mushrooms, include a pinch of aniseed and a handful of pine nuts for the resiny flavour.

Serves 4

• Large nugget of unsalted butter
• or 2 tbsp olive oil
• About 200 g wild mushrooms
• 2 shallots or small onions,
• finely chopped
• 1 tbsp finely chopped lovage
• or celery tops
• 100 g wild rice
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Melt the butter in a heavy casserole and add the mushrooms, shallots and lovage. Fry gently till the mushrooms yield their water and begin to fry again, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the rice in enough water to cover generously – about 750 ml. Bubble up, then lid tightly and simmer gently for 50-60 minutes, till the kernels have burst open, all the water has been absorbed and the grains are perfectly tender. Toss the rice with the mushrooms and their buttery herby juices and reheat for a few minutes to blend the flavours. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

When she speaks, there is no doubt she is the right person to champion a cause. Indeed as a trained barrister she has the skills to do so. ‘Garlic’ she tells viewers as she rolls her vowels, projects her voice and bellows ‘has been grown in the England since Roman times.’ Her exposition of the history, growing techniques and difference in taste between the varieties was excellent as were her first two recipes – a medieval recipe for chicken cooked with whole garlic bulbs and a prawn and elephant garlic stuffed and baked tomato.

Where I think Clarissa let the programme down was when she flaunted her love of butter, cream, cheese and sugar in the recipe for nectarine garlic tart. Yes there is controversy about the role of saturated fat and its relationship to death from heart and circulatory disease but there is no controversy about the role of energy dense food and its effect on the waistlines of the great British public. Indeed Clarissa is living proof of this.

I know Clarissa is a hard person to take on but her truculent attitude to diet and health should be checked. Clarissa conquered her alcoholism which she writes about movingly in her autobiography ‘Spilling the Beans’ but clearly tackling her morbid obesity is a step too far.   A pity she talks down the role of food in health so publicly.

Today we are eating lunch from the Bistro menu but first we are ushered to the large courtyard. It is one of the warmest September days on record and the temperature is soaring towards 28C. Grant Lowe, the Manager, had arranged a cool, refreshing glass of Pimm’s to welcome us.

Lunch was served in one of the stylish function rooms around a large wooden table. Rabbit pâté, and vegetables à la Grecque was offered as part of the set two course lunch menu. Not the best choice on such a hot day and so I picked an alternative first course of scallop ceviche.

A spritz of fresh lime and flecks of fresh red chilli gave this dish a hot, sour South East Asian flavour. Not entirely out of place in a French themed restaurant since the French occupation of South East Asia had a heavy influence on the cuisine of that region. The scallops were fresh, clean, finely sliced and sweet. Portion size is hard to get right with raw dishes and chef, Kevin Whitehead was spot on here. Four delicate mouthfuls was ideal

The food is good at Hotel du Vin but it is the wine that really sings a tune here. Mark Perlaki, Hotel du Vin’s sommelier stole the show by choosing Chateaux Baudec, Bordeaux Blanc 2009,  a mix of 60% Sauvignon Blanc and 40% Semillon is clean, crisp and gently acidic. It has complex grassy flavours with a hint of smokiness. Served very cool it was a perfect choice for such a warm day.

Bread was served in baskets. It was a good quality, long fermented bread but it could have been fresher. For discerning customers the quality of bread is a shibboleth. Get it right and customers begin to relax and feel confident that  food to follow is going to be good. Get it wrong and the meal is off to a bad start. I liked the pats of butter neatly wrapped in waxed paper.

Our second course was swordfish, samphire, tomato and caper beurre noisette. The dish was French in style but definitely not local. I wondered what had happened to the Bistro du Vin’s policy of selecting “the finest produce that Yorkshire has to offer from a hand-picked selection of local family producers?”

Sword fish is harpooned from the Pacific Ocean and stocks are managed in a sustainable way but Harrogate is close to Whitby which holds a vibrant daily market stocked with fish caught in the cool clear waters of the North Sea. Perhaps mackerel might have been a better choice? Regardless I loved the samphire and the buttery, capers which worked well with the meaty swordfish.

The vegetables were good but again Kevin Whitehead missed the local, seasonal zeitgeist by serving new potatoes and beans without a declaration of their providence. Mark Perlaki, choose a sophisticated Wild South, Pinot Noir from Marlborough served from a spectacular Riedel decanter. It was gorgeous – light, fruity with a delicate smoke note.

Clearly Hotel du Vin is much more about the quality and provenance of the wine served than food. However the menu is excellent for a bistro style eating experience. In particular the set menu for two, including a bottle of house wine, at £35 is hard to beat.

Hotel du Vin & Bistro

Prospect Place

Harrogate

Yorkshire HG1 1LB

Telephone: 01423 856 800

Email reception.harrogate@hotelduvin.com

I find the pub’s gardener Dave Williams picking as many as he can, his arms dripping with juice. “The berries are delicate and rupture easily when picked” he tells me.  I try one and the taste explodes in my mouth. It has a beautiful balance of sweet and sharp flavours with a delicate flowery perfume and would be my berry of choice but they are seldom seen on sale.  They are too fragile to transport.

I am intrigued to know what Dave is going to make with his stash. “A Belgium style fruit beer.  I ferment barley and add the mulberries at the same time as the hops. I have a micro brewery at home” he replies. 

Dave kindly gives me some of his pickings and a suggestion. “It might be nice to make some mulberry schnapps”. I do and the result is marvellous (see recipe below).

Steven Allison, owner of the Faversham for the past eight years loves the mulberry trees. “They are part of the history of the pub and go back a long way. They are protected by law and we look after them carefully but I don’t mind if people pick them.” 

Traditionally mulberries were harvested by nets slung beneath the branches of the trees. As mulberries ripened they fell into the nets and could be collected and used in jellies, mousses, ices and jam or eaten as Elizabeth David suggests with thick cream. I think they might be nice with cheese and a beautifully cured York ham.

Mulberries ripen on the tree in waves and the season lasts from early August to September. They are best eaten on the day of picking although I did have success freezing  a batch.

Mulberry trees are rare in the UK. There are thought to be about two hundred in the UK and most of them are in the south of England. I check with Glenn Gorner, Natural Environment Manager at Leeds City Council to see if there are others in Yorkshire.

“There are two at Temple Newsam House, one of which is an original planting dating back to their introduction in the 17th century. In addition there is a famous one in the exercise yard at Wakefield Prison and thought to be the origin of the nursery rhyme ‘Here we go round the mulberry bush’ a song chanted by prisoners as they danced round the tree. I also know of one in the grounds of the old Acomb Primary School in York” Glen tells me.

With so many mulberries falling from the tree in the Faversham I wonder if Steve could celebrate this beautiful, rare fruit each year with a Mulberry Day at the Faversham. “I like the idea of celebrating the mulberries if Dave’s beer turns out well may be I will consider it next year.”

Mulberry schnapps

This recipe can be made with other berries or fruit including, blackberries, raspberries, plums and damsons.

You will need 

• A large jam or Kilner style jar
• 500g berries
• Caster sugar
• Vodka

 Sterilise the jar by washing in soapy water and drying in the oven (180C/Gas mark 4) for 20 minutes. The amount of sugar, fruit and alcohol should be measured proportionally. Fill a fifth of the jar with sugar, then another fifth of fruit, and finally top up with spirit. Carefully roll the jar to mix ingredients and to help the sugar dissolve. When the jar is filled, seal it tightly and put into a dark place to infuse. The high alcohol content in the spirit will preserve the fruit. The fruit’s colour may fade slightly as the juice is transmitted to the schnapps. Taste it after a couple of months and add more sugar if you like. Strain the schnapps through a fine sieve into clean, sterilised bottles and label.

 Mulberry and lavender cheesecake

• 250g digestive biscuits, roughly broken
• 100g butter or soft margarine, melted
• 600g soft cheese
• 100g icing sugar
• 200ml double cream
• 5 drops of culinary lavender essence (or vanilla essence)
• 400g mulberries, blackberries or bilberries
• 25g icing sugar
• Lavender stems for decoration

 Line a 23cm loose bottomed cake tin with baking parchment.  Place the biscuits in a food processor, blend for a minute. Pour in melted butter and blend for a further minute. Transfer the crumbs to the prepared cake tin and press down firmly to create an even layer. Chill in the fridge. Place the soft cheese, icing sugar and lavender essence in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer. Pour in the cream and continue to beat until the mixture is smooth and thick. Spoon the cream mixture onto the biscuit base and smooth the top of the cheesecake with a spatula. Leave it in the fridge to set for at least five hours. To un-mould the cheesecake, remove from the fridge and place the tin on top of a can and gradually pull the sides of the tin down. Remove the parchment paper from the base and slip onto a plate. Purée half of the mulberries in a food processor with 25g icing sugar and add a teaspoon of water. Sieve the puree to remove seeds. Pile remaining mulberries on to the cake and pour over the purée. Decorate with a few lavender stems.

Frozen yogurt with mulberries and lemon verbena

Frozen yogurt is the food treat for the savvy eater who loves food and their waistline too.

400g plain yogurt

• 100ml semi skimmed milk
• 30g runny honey
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 200g mulberries, raspberries or blackberries
• A few lemon verbena leaves, rinsed and dried
• 1 tbsp caster sugar

Whisk together the yogurt, milk, honey and vanilla essence. Transfer to the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions until smooth and creamy. If you do not have an ice cream maker, pour the mixture into a rectangular plastic container, put on the lid and freeze. After an hour check the mixture. As it starts to freeze around the edges beat it vigorously with a fork. Repeat until the mixture is frozen, about 2-3 hours. Place the verbena leaves in a pestle and mortar with the sugar and grind to a paste. Scoop frozen yogurt into bowls, scatter with berries and lemon verbena sugar.

This event is being chaired by Sheila Dillon of Radio 4′s Food Programme

Speakers

• Alex Renton – Supermarkets and the supply chain: can anything be done to redress the balance of power?
• Andrew Opie – Can supermarkets benefit both consumers and producers?
• Tim Hayward. How supermarkets won the advertising war: are we really too busy to cook?
• Zoe  Williams. Have supermarkets liberated or enslaved women?
• Sophie Bambridge. Is it possible for supermarkets to help small producers thrive?