Displaying items by tag: Norfolk

Did you know that pasta has been commercially made in Norfolk for over a hundred years? Its pedigree firmly established in the county since 1878. New Norfolk brand Waveney Mill has developed and crafted a beautiful, yet simple range of pasta shapes using bronze dies, creating a product with stunning texture and great flavour. Waveney Mill has stood on the banks of the River Yare in the Waveney Valley for over 140 years, an area rich in wheat cultivation since the Saxon times. Durum wheat, rarely seen milled in the UK, is the essential ingredient in Waveney Mill's pasta and although at the moment sourced from France the makers are determined to source British durum wheat of the quality required. (Come on East Anglian farmers, you can do it! ) Compared to soft wheat flour, hard durum wheat has less elasticity and much more plasticity, and when cut using bronze dies means that thick and rugged pasta shapes not only can soak up rich sauces so wonderfully, but they also don’t lose their extruded shape when being cooked. Of the box that was gifted to SuffolkFoodie HQ to try our favourite was Spatziola served simply with our home made pesto sauce, the curly trumpet like shapes providing pockets to cradle the sauce.Yum!

• the Spatziola trapped the pesto in every little curl
• dollop the pesto on the cooked pasta
• home made pesto sauce (recipe link in blog post)
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Busy, busy, back to work and sooo nice to be back out on the road. One of my first stops for elevensies was Bircham Mill. A welcome coffee and delicious Belgian (Bircham) bun. Well worth a visit to buy bread if you are in North Norfolk.

What a fun evening! Sculling and sailing through the creeks and marshes at Wells next the Sea, on a traditonal flat bottomed mussel boat, with our skipper Dom entertaining us with stories of the sea and a half time picnic of local cheeses, quiche, salads, bread and freshly brewed coffee. (We took our own wine). Henry from The Coastal Exploration Company has thought of everything when organising the trips and even for you landlubbers out there the three or four hour sail, on the tide, is just the most magical way to spend a summers evening.

• our boat ready and waiting for us at Wells harbour
• and we're off
• picnic time with local goodies including fabulousBrays pork pies
• and out comes the kettle to make a cafetiere of coffee
• Dom kept us entertained with his humble charm and wit
• the tide turns
• back before dark
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Food redistribution charity FareShare East Anglia officially launched in Ipswich today with the aim of supplying hundreds of local charities with good food that will otherwise go to waste. FareShare is the UK’s largest food redistribution charity tackling food waste and food poverty by redistributing in date, good quality food from the food and drink industry. The food is redistributed to frontline charities and community groups that support vulnerable people, including homeless shelters, children’s breakfast clubs, and domestic violence refuges. These organisations transform the food into nutritious meals, which they provide alongside life-changing support.  The FareShare East Anglia Regional Centre was made possible through a £500,000 donation by the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation as part of its ‘Fill Your Tank’ programme^.  So how can you help? If you are an East Anglian charity or community group interested in becoming a food member to access good quality in-date food, visit http://fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-centres/east-anglia/. If you would like to become a local 'food hero' and are free to volunteer a few hours a week to drive surplus food to local charities and groups, visit http://fareshare.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering/apply-to-volunteer-east-anglia/

You don't usually see menus like this being served in a Norfolk village hall. Run by Rebellion who hold monthly pop ups, here is the link the their Facebook page and to their pop up at Long Stratton Village Hall on March 5th. £40 per head. Sounds good and it's bookings only.

You can't beat a plate of Norfolk asparagus and our favourite place to buy is direct from Tim Jolly at Roudham Farm. During the months of April, May and June the farm shop is open and you can see the freshly daily picked asparagus being sorted and bundled, ready to go off to Covent Garden and Spitalfields markets. The crooked spears are always a bargain if you want to make some soup or a risotto. Follow the signs between the whisky distillery and the railway station in East Harling.

• graded asparaus
• kitchen quality
• the shop
• bundling asparagus
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Delia isn't very happy as Norwich are relegated from the Premier League this week, but us Tractor Boys are. We are also happy that there is now a monthly street food event at The Forum in the centre of Norwich - who are ya?

I was hunting for microcress, pea shoots and edible flowers and found the most amazing selection grown right here in East Anglia.

Allan Miller at Nurtured in Norfolk in Dereham invited me to take a tour of his glasshouses and I was hit by a sea of green, mini micro leaves of every variety, some which I had never even heard of.

Allan and his wife Sue gave up their jobs as chefs and started growing microcress in a greenhouse in their back garden.  Now they supply the likes of Ollie Dabbous and other Michelin acclaimed chefs.

• garlic chives
• the glasshouse
• par-cel
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This multi function and award winning community building has a cafe, with enthusiastic staff and lots of homemade cakes. They tried to persuade me to have a full English breakfast, but for the sake of my arteries I settled for a capuccino.

Go upstairs to find out about the Pulham Pigs.

I couldn't stay in Cromer last night without trying out No 1 Fish and Chip Restaurant and takeaway, recently opened by Galton Blackiston ( you know; Morston Hall, Michelin Star, Celebrity Chef...) The restaurant is quite big and the takeaway shop is next door. 

When you arrive you stand behind a sign which says "please wait to be seated" so I did. The waitress came over and said that she was not allowed to seat me - I thought she was joking, but she wasn't.  So I had to wait for the lady in charge to finish taking an order before she showed me to a table.

I was hoping to try the house special - crab cakes - but they had sold out so I ordered plaice and chips and a portion of mushy pea fritters.The printed menu gives more space to the wines on offer than the savoury food but I was driving so had a ginger beer, there are some nice choices of soft drinks. The fish was very fresh - had lovely batter, light and crisp - and very good chips with a portion of homemade tartare sauce on the side. The pea fritters were also tasty and so hot I burnt my mouth eating them. They were served with a mint dip.

The service was a bit shaky from that wait at the start. A few things were forgotton and there were some interesting descriptions of the menu - olives in the tartare sauce.... I don't think so!

• posh condiments
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• cromer
• mushy pea fritter
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