Blog Forman and Field

The beady-eyed among you will have spotted our special offer on rose veal osso buco, perfect fodder for the Autumnal weather we’re having at the moment. Here’s our recipe for Osso buco alla Milanese; vibrant flavours to brighten a gloomy day with enough starch to comfort your soul. Make double what you need and freeze some for later. Be careful when you handle the osso buco as they cook; you don’t want to lose the delicious bone marrow within.

This recipe serves two, but is easily scaled up, and goes beautifully with Chapel Down’s Pinot Blanc 2009

2 Rose veal osso buco
Olive oil
S&P
1 white onion, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely diced
1/2 fennel bulb, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
2 fat garlic cloves
1 sprig thyme, whole
12 cherry tomatoes, skinned and diced or 1/2 tin of good quality tomatoes
250ml dry white wine
200ml chicken stock

Oil and generously season the osso buco before searing in a hot heavy-based pan an setting to one side. In a saucepan, gently cook the onion, celery, fennel, carrot and garlic until translucent, then add the tomatoes, wine, stock and thyme. Add the meat to the pan and push down to completely submerge – add a bit more wine or stock if you need to. Simmer, loosely covered (put the pan lid at an angle) on the lowest possible heat for around an hour and a half, or until the meat is totally tender. Remove the osso buco from the heat and leave to stand, covered, while you make the risotto – a little resting time makes all the difference in texture and taste.

To serve: place the meat atop risotto alla Milanese with a bit of the sauce and sprinkle with gremolata.

Risotto alla Milanese
1 white onion, diced
Celery, diced
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil
150g Arborio rice
Generous pinch saffron
750ml chicken stock
250ml white wine
Handful grated parmesan

In a heavy saucepan, gently cook the onion, celery, and garlic in a little olive oil until translucent. Add the rice, then stir and cook for a couple of minutes until the rice is coated in the oil. Combine the wine and chicken stock. Add the saffron with a little of the wine and stock, and stir until the rice as absorbed the liquid. Repeat until the rice is al dente, adding a little extra stock if you run out of liquid. Stir in the parmesan, and allow to stand for a couple of minutes before serving.

Gremolata
1/3 garlic clove
Salt
Zest of 1 lemon
Handful flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Make a paste out of the garlic with a little salt, and combine with the grated zest and finely chopped parsley.

There was an interesting piece on the Callendar McDowell (www.callandermcdowell.co.uk) website over the weekend. Their business is primarily in the marketing of farmed fish and salmon in particular.

It’s Fyne: Most newspaper restaurant reviews tend to be about new openings rather than well established restaurants.

Manchester Confidential, a local web based review site has just returned to Loch Fyne restaurant for a second visit and managed to create quite a storm amongst the armchair critics. Ruth Allen, Manchester Confidential’s restaurant reviewer enraged a number of readers by writing:

”Loch Fyne remains true to its ethical ethos, which is explained on a plaque by the door as you walk in. The Company is dedicated to the protection of our seas, our maritime communities and all forms of marine life, a mantra which is repeated by the staff, placemats, menu cards and comment cards. Lobster and sea bass are August and September’s best catches, they advise, drawing your attention over and over again to Loch Fyne’s thoughtful fishing methods and concern for the environment. ‘Oh for God’s sake shut up would you I thought’. Frankly, I’m not that bothered about where my food comes from, more about whether it tastes good.”

It was this last comment that prompted a few readers to respond declaring that how could any food critic not be concerned about where the food comes from but what was interesting was that a number of others responded suggesting that the time Loch Fyne spent on telling everyone about how green their food would have been better spent making the food more edible.

What began with a debate about the ethical concerns of food supply quickly turned into a rant about readers’ bad experiences at the various restaurants in the chain.

What’s clear is that issues such as sustainability and food ethics make little difference to consumers if the food is inedible. The environmental movement have hijacked issues relating to the supply of fish arguing that this is what is most important to consumers. This is not the case at all. What is important is that the fish they buy and eat tastes good and represents value for money. What the industry forgets is that if consumers don’t like the fish on offer, they won’t buy it. Then sustainability won’t be an issue because there will be no demand for the fish at all.

Read the article in full here: http://www.callandermcdowell.co.uk/relaks469.html

This argument can go a step further. If you buy the best tasting food we would argue that 9 times out of 10 you will also find that it is also the most ethically produced food. Quality producers are in it for the long term, they work in harmony with the environment and to the highest standards of animal husbandry. We don’t sell food just because it ticks boxes like ‘organic’ or ‘msc approved’, we sell the best tasting food we can possibly find from producers who really care about what they make and in the process we would argue that it XYZ.

What do you think? Are there ethical labels that you look for when shopping? Does ‘sustainability’ mean something to you? What does it mean anyway? Surely intensively factory farmed chicken and pork is just as if not more sustainable as organic or indeed conventionally produced food, should we all be eating that?

Give or take a few minutes roasting time this is a foolproof recipe for pretty much any game bird, although you might struggle to find a frying pan big enough for a turkey. Feel free to add apples or pears to the vegetables, swap the wine for cider or ale.

Ingredients
• 2 Grouse, oven ready and well seasoned
• 4 slices of Streaky Bacon
• Oil for frying
• 1 Onion, 1 stick of Celery, 1 Carrot – all diced
• 1 clove of Garlic, chopped
• 1 small bunch of fresh Thyme
• 150ml Red Wine and 150ml of Beef, Chicken or Game Stock
• Butter, salt and pepper to taste
• Serves 2

Preparation
• Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F / gas mark 4.

• Wrap the bacon around the breasts of the grouse (if you buy from Forman & Field we do this for you in advance), get the oil quite hot in a heavy based frying pan and sear the birds all over so they have a good rich colour, just a couple of minutes each side.

• Take out the birds and set aside, reduce the heat to medium and soften the onion, celery and carrot and fry gently for another few minutes. Then add the garlic and give it another minute.

• Pour in the wine and stock and warm through.

• If your pan is oven friendly – if not, transfer to a casserole – pop the birds on top of the veg and liquid, loosely cover with foil and put them in the oven.

• Roast for 20 minutes, take out and give the breasts a squeeze. If they feel firmish on the outside but with a bit of give inside that should mean they are just cooked through but nice and pink and juicey. Reduce the roasting time by a five minutes if you prefer them rare, or add five minutes for well done.

• Once cooked take out the birds and set aside to rest for at least 5 minutes. Return the pan to the hob and bubble whilst vigourously scraping all that good stuff off the bottom until it is thickened to your liking – you can add more wine/stock if it’s already gone very syrupy whilst roasting. Strain, taste and season and whisk in a knob of butter if you fancy it.

• Serve the birds with the sauce, Creamed Potato with Black Truffle Shavings is an ideal side dish.

Further to our post below we’re delighted to report that we’ve resolved the problem with error messages relating to security and the site is working smoothly once more. We’d like to reiterate that this was just a technical bug and there was no risk to any customer details at any point. Thank you for bearing with us and please do continue to shop with confidence!

“We’re in the process of transferring our website on to a new ‘server’ which is going to make it faster for everybody to use, more secure than ever and very reliable so even at the busiest times of the year you’ll be able to access it with no trouble.

Unfortunately whilst that transfer is happening there are one or two odd error messages and warnings that some internet browsers will generate when you try to log in to your account or place an order. Please do not be alarmed! The site’s absolutely secure still, all account and credit card details are taken on an encripted connection and there’s no way they can be accessed by anyone else. In fact, even our staff are not able to access your credit or debit card details, they are and always will be 100% private.

It should only be a day or two before the transfer is complete so do please bear with us while we make the changes. If you’ve any concerns whatsoever you can always call us on 0208 5252 352 or email us on info@formanandfield.com.”

Our lovely Lancastrian kippers – number two breakfast of champions, after Forman’s smoked salmon of course – have won Gold in the 2010 Great Taste Awards.

The knack to the smoking process is getting smoke to permeate the flesh without overpowering the taste of the fish, imparting a soft smoky flavour throughout. Tricky, but not impossible, and the chaps at the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse really know what to do with a herring. For a hearty brunch, brush with melted butter and grill for two to three minutes either side. Serve with a squeeze of lemon, a quick shake of cayenne pepper, and the best bread and butter you can lay your hands on. If you’d like us to take out the fuss and bones, opt for our kipper fillets and save yourself the hassle.

For something more unusual here’s chef Lloyd’s recipe for kipper pate, a fabulous fishy starter for four.

Forman & Field Chef Lloyd’s Kipper Pate

Ingredients
1 Port of Lancaster Kipper, cooked
3tbsp marscapone cheese
Juice of a lemon
1-2tsp Moniac Castle Horseradish Sauce
1tbsp melted butter
1tbsp chopped chives
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Serves 4

Method
Flake the kipper meat off the bone and check for any last pesky bones, then blend with the remaining ingredients and season to taste. If you think it needs a little more of anything – tastes are different after all – just add a bit more of what you fancy.

Decant into individual ramekins and serve with toasted bread, a little dressed rocket and a lemon wedge. If you wish to make ahead, the pate keeps quite happily in the fridge for a day or two simply seal the surface with a little clarified butter, and allow to come to room temperature before serving.

On Saturday 2nd October, please come and join us for our annual free, public open day. It will be a celebration of taste, a chance for visitors to meet some of the best artisan food producers from around the country and to eat the best of British.

Following a hugely successful event in 2009 we are expecting up to a thousand visitors at the historic Fish Island salmon smokery, restaurant and events venue, located just across from the 2012 Olympic stadium in East London. The event will form part of the British Food Fortnight celebrations from 18th September to 3rd October.

featuring…
• Food Theatre with talks and demonstrations from the Forman & Field family of artisan British food producers
• Guided Tours where visitors will learn firsthand how the country’s oldest salmon smoker produces its trademark ‘London Cure’ smoked salmon
• Producers Market with stalls providing free tastings and selling gourmet British produce to take home – Seldom Seen Farm and Neal’sYard Dairy confirmed already with lots more to come
• Formans Restaurant serving gourmet British food and drink – as featured in the semi-final of Celebrity Masterchef 2010
• Competitions and games for junior gastronomes
• Salmon carving demonstrations from the Guinness Book of Records’ Fastest Salmon Carver, Forman’s Darren Matson
• Located on the bank of the River Lea, with unrivalled views of the new London 2012 Olympic Stadium

FREE entry and open to all, please just email info@formanandfield.com or call 0208 5252 352 to register for your free places

Managing Director Lance Forman says:
“This is a rare chance for Londoners to come and learn what goes into making artisan food. They will be guided through the whole process of our salmon smoking and at the same time they can meet some of the best food producers from the rest of the country. This day will give a real insight into the skill and passion of people who dedicate themselves to putting something really special on your plate.

Last year’s event was so popular we have decided to expand it to include a dedicated Food Theatre with more talks and demonstrations and a whole floor for the Market where our producers will be selling their fantastic food. This is going to be a brilliant gastronomic day out.”