Stirchley Community Market is Born!

Stirchley Community Market LogoLoaf, Stirchley Happenings, South Birmingham Food Co-op and Birmingham Town Centre Partnerships are proud to bring you Stirchley’s first ever community market in the summer of 2010.

Stirchley Community Market, which launches on Tuesday the 27th July with it’s first market outside Stirchley United Working Mens Club on the Pershore Road from 4-8pm, will feature stalls selling wholefoods, bread, hot curry, wood-fired pizza, artisan preserves, cupcakes, local fruit and vegetables, and local arts and crafts. The market will give the local community, as well as commuters on their way home from work, an opportunity to find out what Stirchley has to offer, meet some excellent food producers and craft makers from within Birmingham, and pick up some tasty groceries for their weekly shop.

Loaf will be there selling wood-fired pizza’s straight out of our mobile pizza oven, and artisan bread.

The market has a dedicated wordpress blog, which will be updated with stall holder info and other details as the first market approaches – check it out at stirchleycommunitymarket.wordpress.com

Soul Food Project – review

sfpI tend to avoid going to pubs for a Sunday roast these days – years of overcooked meat, soggy vegetables, overly salty gravy, and flabby potatoes have left me wishing I’d gone to my mums instead! I suppose not many people actually make a Sunday roast these days, so despite the crap food, I guess these pubs are providing a historo-cultural service at least!

So I must admit that on arriving for my much awaited first meal at the Soul Food Project in Kings Heath’s Hare and Hounds pub, there was a tinge of disappointment to learn that the normal menu had been set aside in favour of Sunday roasts. The disappointment didn’t last long though, as I met Alex from the Soul Food crew at the bar, who recommended the cajun beef roast and gave me a nod and wink concerning desserts!

So the beef was what I had, and I was mightily pleased with my choice. The cajun rub on the joint, which was served deliciously pink as promised, really came through on the outer edges of the beef, and permeated the gravy – it wasn’t overly spicy, but just enough to let you know it wasn’t a run-of-the-mill joint. Accompanying the beef were cooked-to-a-crunch broccoli and carrots, sweeter-than-sweet slow-roasted sweet potatoes, and a generous portion of home cooked yorkshires enveloping a spicy pork stuffing. I said at the time it was one of the best roasts I’ve had in Birmingham, and I still remember it fondly a week later. photoThe guys behind Soul Food Project Carl, Alex and Matt, kindly brought us down a sharing plate of their fine desserts, showing off an unctuous carrot cake with thick cream cheese frosting, and my favourite, their tray bake chocolate brownie with vanilla bean ice cream. All round a great sunday roast, a gentle introduction to the Soul Food Project’s southern flavours, and a desire to return mid-week to sample their daily menu – nice one fella’s!

CoCoMAD Preview – 3rd July 2010

cocomadThis Saturday, one of Birmingham’s best community events is taking place right on our doorstep in the small but perfectly formed Cotteridge Park, about 200 yds from Loaf HQ! It’s a fun, family friendly, free festival of music and arts, that attracts around 5000 people annually, and is now in its 13th year! You can find a full programme on the Friends of Cotteridge Park website, but highlights include Misty’s Big Adventure on the main stage, green wood working and bushcraft in the Community Orchard, and a 6m climbing wall.

pizza ovenFestival food is also a highlight this year with local deli and cafe Leverton and Halls bringing lovely organic burgers and other delights, friend-of-Loaf Sajida providing gorgeous authentic curries, and us debuting our brand new mobile wood-fired pizza oven, and selling Cotteridge Park elderflower cordial too. We’re keeping it simple for the debut with two pizza’s on the menu, both made with a sourdough pizza base and our secret tomato sauce – organic Gloucestershire ham and mushroom with West Country mature cheddar, or red onion, black olive and basil. Come and watch your pizza being made and cooked in front of your eyes, hopefully all in 2 minutes flat.

Elderflower Cordial – Recipe

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Well we’re only just over a week into the elderflower season here in the midlands and I have already made two batches of elderflower cordial. We drink it like water here at Loaf HQ, so I’m hoping to make up for the disappointment of last season when I’d bought all the required ingredients, only to go out for a walk  after a blisteringly hot weekend in July, and find all the flowers had turned over the weekend and begun their berry-growing stage.

For the first two batches, I’ve used Richard Maybe’s recipe from the classic wild food book Food for Free. I’ve expanded on the recipe a little and altered the quantities so it makes around 2 litres. I doubled this recipe with some school children this week and it made just under 4 litres.

Ingredients (for 2 litres of cordial):

1.15 litres of water
1.5kg granulated sugar
2 unwaxed organic lemons
15-20 elderflower heads (picked on a sunny day)
35g citric acid

Method:

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Boil the water in a pan, remove from the heat, and then stir in the sugar  until dissolved. Set aside to cool to blood temperature. Meanwhile pick any bugs from the eldeflower heads and discard any that are badly infested. place them into a deep bowl, bucket or pan. Zest the lemons and add to the elderflowers, along with the remaining lemons, sliced, and the citric acid. Pour the sugar syrup over the elderflowers, lemon and citric acid, cover it, and leave to steep for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

After 24 hours steeping, strain the liquid through a jelly bag or muslin cloth into a large clean bowl, and from here, through a funnel into sterlised bottles.

Some thoughts

Allowing the syrup to cool to blood temperature before adding it to the elderflowers should lead to a more delicate flavour and colour than adding it when it’s just boiled. However the low temperature won’t kill the natural yeasts on the eldeflowers, so the keeping quality is lessened – the yeast may start fermenting the liquid leading to an alcoholic and fizzy liquor, and possibly exploding bottles! So if you want to store it for more than a month or two, add the liquid when it’s just boiled, or freeze the above recipe when it’s in bottles (leaving an air gap for expansion when freezing).

Next weekend – elderflower champagne!

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Wellesbourne White Loaf

Wellesbourne Mill white flourEarlier this week a historic exchange took place, as a miller handed over a sack of white flour to a baker on a normal street in South Birmingham. Nothing extraordinary about that you might think, it’s a transaction that echoes centuries of intertwined relations between these two ancient professions. There was something special about this exchange though – the flour being handed over was the first batch of commercial flour from Wellesbourne watermill since the 1950’s, and the baker (me), runs Birmingham’s first and only community supported bakery. I felt honoured to receive the 25kg sack of white flour from talented traditional millwright Adam Marriot, who together with his wife Vicky have taken on the tenancy of the mill and lovingly restored it back into production. During the exchange, Adam told me of his future plans to restore a threshing machine too, and to rent 40 acres of land so that they can start growing, threshing and milling their wheat all on the same site.

IMG_6006The flour will be put to work over the next two weeks for Loaf’s community bakery, making our white sourdough loaf and being part of the flour in our granary sourdough (the other flour comes from Charlecote Mill a few miles down the road). I couldn’t wait quite that long though to have a play with the flour, so on Tuesday I made a couple of white tin loaves using a basic yeasted bread recipe. I had to go out before they were due in the oven, so the slashing and baking was entrusted to Jane – she did a great job:

Wellesbourne White Tin Loaf
The Wellesbourne White Tin Loaf

Soul Food Project has arrived!

A few weeks ago I met up with 3 enthusiastic local foodies, and clearly good mates, at their ‘office’, the corner table in the Hare and Hounds Kings Heath. They told me of the plan they were hatching to launch an exciting new food venture in Kings Heath, bringing more great local food to this burgeoning foodie suburb of South Birmingham. Although I sadly haven’t got the capacity to supply them with bread for their new venture, and haven’t yet eaten there, I wanted to share with you this excerpt from their Facebook Page:

Soul Food Project has arrived to spice up and inject some fun into the Birmingham food scene. The kitchen is based in one of Birmingham’s busiest and most important independent pubs…the Hare and Hounds.

The Project is the brainchild of 3 Birmingham friends, Carl Finn, Matt Beck and Alex Morrall, who have between them over 10 years experience in the catering, service and promotion industry. The idea was formed over several bottles of Brooklyn Lager and a consensus that the standard of food served in pubs was in need of an overhaul of soul.

What makes Soul Food Project different to other pub food?

Well SFP takes influence from the diverse food landscape of America so…..
– Think smoked paprika and chilli infused Southern Fried Chicken,
– Think Sunburst salads,
– Think crayfish, chicken and chorizo Jambalaya from New Orleans,
– Think the best burgers in Brum
– Think Waffles and Rocky Road for the weekend.
and so much more..

Food is sourced locally where possible and each ingredient is treated with care and passion. The kitchen is open to ideas, suggestions and feedback and also plans to host live music, gastro evenings and much more….Watch this space.

It’s time to put some soul in your bowl!!!

Sould Food Project is serving at the Hare Hounds from 12-8 on Tuesdays-Saturdays, and 12-5 on Sundays. I’ve just noticed on their facebook page too that they now do waffle Wednesdays – 2 waffles for a fiver – bargain!

See you down there soon, T.

Food Inc Film Screening Roundup

Thursday night saw a good turnout of twenty or so people at the Northfield Eco Centre for a screening of Food Inc. The documentary rampages through the American food industry like a bull in a china shop, systematically exposing big-business dodgy dealings in beef production, meat packing, chicken rearing, corn growing, and GMO soya beans. It wasn’t a simple 90 minute activists’ rant through, in particular the film took a sympathetic approach to the farmers and producers who often appeared distressed, frustrated, depressed, broken, and ultimately under the total control of the major agro-corporations, whom the film vehemently attacked. One such chicken farmer willing to speak to the documentarists revealed that his hi-spec chicken sheds cost $280,000 each, which food firm Tyson insist on him regularly upgrading (at his own expense), yet he only earns $18,000 a year from his businesses. A fellow chicken farmer who refused to upgrade her sheds at the request of Purdue, subsequently lost her contract and livelihood, but revealed that farmers are persuaded to take on massive loans to fund their first shed, and once they’re in the grip of the company, they enter a spiral of expansion, upgrades, and ultimately crippling debt. The film revealed the American industrial food system is chronically sick, and it’s making us sick too as cases of fatal E-coli outbreaks soar, and cheap excess American corn gets dumped on developing countries, putting native farmers out of business as local prices plummet.

food incThere were some glimmers of hope in the film (though not enough in my opinion) such as the story of Joel Salatin, farmer at Polyface farm, who is a straight talking old-fashioned farmer with a sharp mind and great awareness of the impact of what he’s doing and the challenges that face him  the future. Joel farms old-style with all the animals out in the fields, plenty of natural habitats, frequent movement of animals around the farm (he moves his cows and chickens every day!) to help make the farm self-sustainable, and with an old colonial farmhouse to boot! Joel has no intentions of expanding though, instead he stands out in the film as a model of how things could be done differently – Interestingly though, during a scene featuring Salatin’s open-air slaughterhouse where chickens were being traditionally slaughtered (put upside down into a metal cone and their throats cut by hand) the audience at the eco centre winced more than when seeing the shocking scenes from industrial slaughterhouses where live cattle are swept around the killing floor by giant machinery, and hacked apart with little care for health and hygiene. Perhaps we prefer not to see the truth behind eating meat, perhaps that’s precisely why these mass slaughterhouses have arisen, because we don’t want to witness death, we’d rather it went underground?

For me the film was a good exposition of the industrial food chain that we all rely on to some extent to feed us, and explained the issues clearly and powerfully, but failed to really demonstrate how changes can be made, especially with regards to those on low incomes – It would have been a great conclusion to have seen a regular family managing to find an alternative way of feeding themselves on a low income, but perhaps even that is not possible any more?

Check out the trailer below:

Food Inc. Film Screening

food inc

Hungry for Change?

Northfield Ecocentre in Birmingham are putting on a film screening of Food Inc. on Thursday 3rd June at 6.30pm. Entry is FREE.

The new film reveals the shocking truths about the food industry. You’ll never look at dinner in the same way. For more information about the film visit: www.foodincmovie.com

Northfield Ecocentre have asked Loaf to facilitate a short discussion afterwards on the issues raised by the film and local action around food, so I hope to see you there.

To book a place at the film screening call 0121 448 0119 or email enquiries@northfieldecocentre.org.

Northfield Ecocentre’s address is 53 Church Road, Northfield, Birmingham, B30 2JB (behind Oulsnam’s estate agent).

www.northfieldecocentre.org

Get down to THE SoURCE Spring Fair

THE SoURCE Spring Fair is a gathering of 20 eco and creative stalls at the Moseley Exchange on farmer’s market day Saturday May 22nd. The pick of the area’s local producers of fine foods, cupcakes, jewellery, arts, crafts, vintage and much more will be there, encouraging people to buy local, buy ethical, and buy original. Entry is free and there will be food and refreshments. We’re teaching a sourdough baking class that day, so sadly haven’t got a stall, however we’re hoping to pop up at the end of the afternoon to check out what’s happening.

The fair runs 10am-4pm and for more details or stallholder enquires call Louise on 07808 829390. Click on the flyer below to download the pdf, and spread the word around to support this great event.

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Rhubarb and Ginger Cake – recipe

It’s gone a bit rhubarb crazy at Loaf HQ recently. We’ve been harvesting the rhubarb at the allotment, some friends gave us some from their allotment rhubarb as a dinner/borrowing our spare room gift, and I did my first food-barter of the year with local allotment-holder Rob Macpherson, swapping a loaf of Kamut sourdough bread for a load of gorgeous forced rhubarb (see pic below). I softened the bartered rhubarb with brown sugar, orange zest, cinnamon, bay, nutmeg, mace, and star anise, and served it with duck breast and rosemary potatoes (sorry no pic) – very, very nice! Incidentally see the pic below showing the difference in colour between normal and forced rhubarb, amazing!

forced rhubarb2
Rob's forced rhubarb
forced rhubarb
Forced rhubarb left, normal right

Anyway, we still have lots of rhubarb knocking around and today Jane was demanding cake, so I decided to attempt a rhubarb and ginger cake, and here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 chunky sticks rhubarb (I used normal, be forced would be ideal)
50g brown sugar
Splash of orange juice
Grated zest of 1 orange
1 tsp ginger powder
150g unsalted butter at room temp
150g caster sugar
3 medium eggs at room temp
200g self raising flour
60g wholemeal flour
1tsp baking powder

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 4. Chop the rhubarb into one inch chunks and put into a non-stick pan, sprinkle over the ginger powder, orange zest and brown sugar and add a spalsh of orange juice. Cook over a medium heat for 7-10 minutes until the chunks just soften, but don’t totally fall apart.
Whilst it’s cooking beat together the butter and sugar in a bowl with an electric whisk until thoroughly creamed. Add the eggs and beat on full power for three minutes. Now add the flours, baking powder and 200g of the cooked rhubarb (save the rest as a sauce), and gently fold together with a spatula. Pour into a greased 20cm round cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 mins. Allow to cool on a wire rack and then serve with vanilla ice cream and some of the softened rhubarb – delish!!

rhubarb and ginger cake

Loaf featured in Hotline Magazine

I’m fortunate enough to be featured in this months Hotline Magazine, which can be found onboard Virgin Trains during the month of May. Check us out on p.23 next time you catch the train, or click to enlarge the image below. Thanks to the delightful Rosie Birkett for the nice write-up! T.

hotline may 23

Want to be an organic farm apprentice?

The Soil Association is currently recruiting apprentices for the 2010-12 organic apprenticeship scheme with a number of exciting organic farm/growing vacancies on offer including:

· Abbey Home Farm, Cirencester, Gloucestershire

· Hankam Organics, East Sussex

cow and calf

Working as an SA apprentice, you will be paid at least the national minimum wage, working full time at the farm, whilst also attending 16 seminars across the 2 years in the Autumn and Winter months which are run by expert growers and farmers. The course fee is £1,600 per year though there is now of a number of funding opportunities to help support apprentices fund this.

Have a look on the SA website for more info or on the SA’s Organic Market Place where all the current vacancies are advertised, or get in touch with Lisa Nunn for more (email: LNunn@soilassociation.org, tel: 0117 914 2453).

Home Grown Health

If you’re in Birmingham City Centre on Tuesday evening you should go and check out the Home Grown Health exhibition at The Studio, being put on some post grad students from BCU. Katie Moran from the team say’s “The exhibition is all about living life in a more ‘organic’ way, be this in terms of food, exercise or medication.” Find out more by getting in touch with Katie (katie.moran@hotmail.com or 07883338750) or checking out this pdf: Home Grown Health Invitation-1

Ragley Pork and Pure UBU Sausages – the verdict

IMG_5452Running a food website has it’s perks, as I found out this week after a call from a PR company representing Purity Brewing Co and Ragley Estate Meats, inviting me to sample a brand new sausage made by Ragley Estate Meats, using Purity’s Pure UBU ale. Now, I’m not one to refuse free food so I was excited to try this exclusive Warwickshire collaboration. I’m also though, not one to have my food messed around with too much – I don’t like sun dried tomatoes in my bread, herbs in my tinned tomatoes, or chilli in my cheese (and definitely not my chocolate), so would I approve of beer in my sausages? Maybe more importantly, how the heck do they get beer into sausages? I was informed that the beer is heated, and the steam from the beer infuses the meat. Phew, that’s that question sorted then.

So, what to cook to allow me to properly test these sausages? It had to be simple to allow the sausages to be the main event – bangers and mash seemed the obvious choice. However when you’ve got posh sausages, I think it’s worth poshing it up a bit, so I put an Italian twist on bangers and mash and went for potato gnocchi with sausages and a Pure UBU gravy. Here’s the recipe (serves 2):

For the gnocchi

400g cooked and thoroughly mashed or riced potatoes (waxy varieties are good, I used Balfour and added a bay leaf and salt to the cooking water)
100g ’00’ pasta flour (plain flour will do)
1 egg – whisked

IMG_5462Ensuring the potatoes have cooled from cooking, combine all the ingredients and knead lightly for a minute. Divide into three and roll each out with your hands on a heavily floured work surface into a long sausage that is about 12mm thick. Then, using a knife divide into half inch chunks, and put aside on a floured plate until you need them.

For the sausages

I used 3 sausages for 2 people, but feel free to have more or less. Fry them in a little oil on a low heat for 15-20 minutes until just cooked through.

For the gravy and assembly

30g unsalted butter
60g Pure UBU ale
1 small handful of good grated parmesan (I used 22-month aged)
Salt and Pepper
Ground elder – 1 tablespoon, finely chopped (replace for chives or parsley if you like)
Edible wildflowers to garnish (I used dandelion and lesser celandine)

When the sausages are cooked, remove to a board to rest for a couple of minutes, then slice diagonally into nice chunks. Heat a large pan of water to a rolling boil for the gnocchi. Warm up the beer to just below boiling point in a pan. Prepare to get a bit manic, the next few things need to all happen within about 3 minutes flat! Scrape the frying pan used for the sausages clean and add to it the unsalted butter on a medium heat until it’s foaming. Add to this the warmed beer, and allow the bubbling to emulsify it. Quickly add the gnocchi to the boiling water. Return to the sauce and add the parmesan and stir to distribute throughout the gravy, and season with salt, pepper, and chopped ground elder. Turn down to a low heat. After the gnocchi has had about 2 minutes, it will float to the surface – it is done, drain the water off through a sieve. Now divide the gnocchi and the sausage chunks between two plates, spoon over the sauce and garnish with wildflowers or more chopped herbs, and freshly ground black pepper. Bon Appetit!

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The Verdict

The dish was fabulous, the gnocchi was perfectly tender and tasty and the gravy was malty with a hint of bitterness, offset by the freshness of the ground elder. As for the sausages, they were very good – clearly a high pork content (66% according to the packet), very well seasoned, and a deep, rich character from the malt and hops of the beer. Had I not known there was ale in there, I’m not sure I would have been able to detect it, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. Overall, it’s a good product, and if you can buy it locally, it’s a good choice for a rich, tasty pork sausage to put centre stage in a posh sausage dish. If you’d like to try for yourself, they’re being formerly launched tomorrow, Saturday 24th April, at Alcester Food Festival. Sadly I can’t be there, although I was asked to do a stall, but if you’re in the neighbourhood, check it out, it should be a great day.

Exclusive Wine Tasting Evening

wine tastingI had a nice chat with local food-enthusiast and wine importer Carl Finn yesterday, who runs this new food blog. I’m happy to pass on the news of an exciting wine tasting evening coming up on the 17th May. Sounds like a fun evening, hope to see you there!

If you have a passion for fine wines or are new to the wine world, this evening is sure to inspire. Wine experts Diego Facchino and Mathew Beck will take you on a wine tasting journey where you will learn about the classic Italian wine region Piemonte, as well as the History and Passion of Facchino’s wine production.
During this experience you will taste a variety of quality wines being introduced for the first time in the UK. They will be accompanied by a selection of authentic canapés and live music played in a relaxed atmosphere.
Hosted at Hudsons coffee house, 122-124 Colmore Row Birmingham B3 2BU (Click here for directions). The evening will start at 7pm on the 17th of May and will last approximately 2 hours, tickets are £10.

To book your place and for more information contact Together4flavour@yahoo.com or call Carl Finn on 07886027301 / Brizy 07951200549