Love2Walk sloe?
Sloes, originally uploaded by simonwheatley.
With the Bridgend Love2Walk Festival and the Wales Alternative Food Festival both kicking off this week, we thought we’d do something in the lead up to combine the two themes.
The Sloe Walk on Thursday evening was led by Robert Jones, that’s the ecologist and not the former Wales and British Lion Scrum Half I add! Rob is the countryside Officer in Bridgend County Borough Council and his knowledge on plants and anything related to ecology is pretty impressive to say the least, he’s also a rare breed being an Ecologist with a sense of humour (though his jokes are sometimes not as memorable as his expertise). We were in for a good night though (hopefully with some gin!) and we weren’t disappointed. Well, I was disappointed at the lack of gin at the end of the walk, but not with the lack of sloes.
I hadn’t really walked around Bedford Park near Bridgend before, I had visited the Ironworks but not actually ventured further afield around the circular walk. It takes in part of the former Dyffryn-Llynfi railway line that must have served the docks in Porthcawl and Cardiff with coal from the Valleys. What a beautiful walk it presents us with today. There is one stretch in particular where the trees lining the route form a perfect archway in a straight line for about half a mile. Worth going to just to see that.
Anyway, Rob was a gem. He pointed out loads of edible plants and poisonous ones too that we should avoid obviously. Some were even too similar to call, so you have to be cautious and know what you’re doing, or take Rob with you! But Rob made it all very entertaining by bolting on the odd story or historical anecdote at nearly every stop that made this walk one of the most enjoyable I’ve been on for a while.
So, about the sloes. Yes, there were sloes in abundance but were they right for picking? A great debate ensued but even a bigger one surrounding the best recipe for sloe gin. I was amongst some experts that’s for sure but as for myself, I’m quite good at drinking the stuff and that’s about it.
Some recipies for Sloe Gin and other wild foods can be found at the following links:
http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/ancient/wild-food-guide.php http://www.sloe.biz/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sloegin_7722
Please remember there are old wild flood pickers and bold wild food pickers but no old and bold wild food pickers. If you have any doubts whatsoever about your identification of a wild plant or mushroom, don’t eat it!
Speedy Leek & Potato Soup
Leek-Potato Soup. IMG_2423, originally uploaded by bookchen.
Recipe by Ann Davies, Bridgend Public Health Team
Another straight forward recipe provided via our partners Reach, visit their website for more details. This one is quick and good to see our favourite local produce in the leek making an appearance!
Serves 2
1 pint vegetable stock
1 – 2 potatoes
1 small leek
salt and pepper to taste
Peel and finely chop the potato. Wash the leek and finely chop.
In a pan, bring the stock to the boil.
Add the potato and leek and bring back to the boil.
Simmer until tender, then blend until smooth. Season to taste.
Blackberry and Apple Crumble
Blackberry and Apple Crumble, originally uploaded by Amanda Rudkin.
Reach, the organisation delivering the Rural Development Programme for Bridgend and also our local food experts in Feastival, have some interesting recipes on their website, but here’s one of our favourites:
Apple and Blackberry Crumble (Recipe by Alison Huw Jones, Howel Food Consultancy)
Serves 1-2
125 g plain flour
100g rolled oats
75g brown sugar
125g butter
25g flaked almonds, optional
2 Bramley apples, peeled, cored and sliced
A dash of lemon juice
100g blackberries
75g caster sugar
Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190C/375F
Place the flour in a large mixing bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the oats and brown sugar.
In an oven proof dish put the apples and blackberries with a dash of lemon juice and mix in the caster sugar. Sprinkle the flour and butter mixture on top.
Cook in a pre-heated oven for 30 – 35 minutes or until the topping is golden.
Breadcrumb belly pork with black pudding
Stephen does not appear at Feastival, but we do love his restaurant and thought you may want to see this video of one of Wales’ best known chefs in action. Here he can be seen presenting his breadcrumb belly pork with black pudding recipe on YouTube. Great video this, one of our favorites for sure. Stephen has won numerous awards and operates out of his restaurant the Hardwick near Abergavenny. To catch Stephen in action, he is a regular at the renown Abergavenny Food Festival in September.
