Holiday in Devon

I have not been blogging for a little while as I have been away visiting the beautiful English riviera otherwise known as Devon to have a family holiday and see my brother. So I have a bit of catching up to do and lots to write about especially about my travels :)

The weather was very kind and we only had one day of mizzling rain so we were able to get out alot and try allsorts of exciting things. We were staying at berry head, brixham in the bay of Tor. We had some fantastic walks and found similiar foraging hedgerow finds that we would at home in Leicestershire such as cleavers, elderflower, hawthorn, clover amongst others.

As we were so close to many great beaches we had a few things on our list we had to do with the boys, such as crabbing, foraging on the sands and rock pooling. We were not dissapointed and I think every child and adult for that matter should have beach time looking for shells, crabs, mini beasts, fish, or other shellfish as it is just such good fun and exciting when you catch something. We caught many things but put most of them back you don't know what they have been feeding on.

Rock Pooling is great fun and you can get information from tourist information about the times of the times so you don't get caught out and can work out the best time to get out there and check out the pools. Small nets and buckets are always a good thing to buy whilst you are there and take with you. We found clams, mussels, shrimps, baby crabs and starfish looking in the pools, under the rocks and checking underneath the washed up debris. It is such a good feeling when you find something and we put everything in a bucket with sea water and then at the end we had a good look at everything, took some pictures and then careful placed everything back. My son loved jumping from rock to rock and checking out all the little nooks and crannies for sea creatures.

Something I have been meaning to do with my 6yr old is go crabbing as we have never had the opportunity to do it before and you have just got to try it. After buying some crabbing lines and talking to a few of the locals about the best spots we were off early one morning to brixham harbour. It is important you get the lines with little bait nets attached rather than just the hooks as the canny crabs just nick off with the food from the hooks smiling their little crabby smiles. We found out that they just loved pieces of raw smokey bacon and when they came along to grab it from the little nets there claws got tangled in the holes of the net and you can quickly haul them up.

We were settled in our spot with two lines in the water over the harbour wall and thought we would have to wait for ages so we were ecstatic and couldn't believe it when within 5 mins we had caught a crab on both lines, they must have been hungry. It was so cool, we were jumping up and down and squealing at our luck, within half hour we had 7 in the bucket and people were coming over having a look and chatting. Everyone wanted tips on catching them and we just grinned and said it must be beginners luck as it was our first time. We caught some good sized crabs and had 12 at the end of the hour and we put them all back afterwards so hopefully others could have as much fun as we did. You can imagine our faces afterwards, we were buzzing and grinning from ear to ear as we thoroughly enjoyed our crabbing experience and will definitely be doing it again when we are next visiting the coast.

One of the reasons I love bimbling around the countryside or coastal areas is that you just don't know what you are going to find and sometimes they are real little gems which give you such a great feeling and appreciation of our beautiful country.

Giant Puffball find !!

After my successful first fungi forage the other week i was looking forward to finding more and I have a few on my list that i would love to find. One of them is the giant puffball as i have seen them on TV programs and have heard about them on twitter and on other people's blogs, so i was intrigued to be able to go out looking for one but not knowing where on earth to start looking around my area. It is really exciting to know that on a country walk you could come across this huge mushroom that is so large and distinctive that you can spot them several feet away. However with this weather being so inpredictable, my foraging exploits have been somewhat hampered and i wasn't sure whether i would find one at all this year. 

Well it was to be found right under my nose all time, my partner and little boy were out walking around our little village and had popped in to one of the small holdings to see some day old chicks, the next thing i know, she rings me saying you will never guess what i just found, and sure enough they had found a huge puffball growing right there, in fact there were two but one had got squashed. So i would get to taste the famous puffball after all and what a beauty it was, easily 30cm across and an amazing sight to behold. I think my sons eyes must have popped out of his head as he loves to come foraging as well, and we make it a family fun time, out walking in the woods or out in the fields, my six year old loves to spot all the new plants and leaves. My 9 month old just loves sitting in his pushchair taking it all in and saying 'ooooooo' when he sees a pretty flower, it wont be long before he is toddling around after his big brother too. 

The Giant Puffball or Calvatia Gigantea was so light it was like it was made of polystyrene and because it was a young puffball it was still white and when I sliced it, it had a white, fresh, thick texture like a huge chunk of marshmallow. We wanted to taste it just as it was so I just peeled it and sautéed it in a little butter and had it with a nice rump steak, delicious. It should keep fine in the fridge for a few days but i already have several meals planned for which i want to include the puffball in so I don't think it will last that long after all. My plans include a beef stroganoff, battered puffball slices with potato wedges as well as a lovely caramelised onion and mushroom tart. The list could be endless as it seems to be such a versatile ingredient to cook with. If i do have any left i might cube, cook lightly and freeze so i can add it to stews or casseroles when i need it. Really enjoyed the taste and texture if this incredible mushroom and would definitely cook with again if we were lucky to find some more, and if not then there is always next year and our neighbours small holding :)

If you would like to learn more about my exploits foraging for free wild food and the recipes I have cooked with my herbs and grow your own then please have a look at some of my other posts :)

Not Turkish Delight but Elderflower Delight

Oh my goodness I knew that I loved cooking and especially making sweets or desserts but not as much as when I tasted this delicious little square of loveliness.

I love the texture of turkish delight so you can imagine my 'delight' when i read about this treat last year and have been meaning to try it. I like to experiment and adapt all the information from existing recipes and came up with a quicker and tastier version to suit my sweet tooth. Instead of using the elderflower heads I used my homemade cordial instead. This is my recipe below and feel free to try it or experiment with the flavours yourself;

Elderflower Delight

400mls neat elderflower cordial

400mls water

200grams cornflower

Coating

110grams cornflower

90 grams icing sugar

Dilute the 400mls of the cordial with 200mls of the water and place in a pan. Mix the cornflower with the rest of the water and add to the pan. Bring slowly to the boil stirring all the time with a balloon whisk and after about 10-15 minutes the mixture starts to get a little more transparent and very gloopy !!

Take off the heat and whilst it is cooling for 5 minutes you can prepare your tray or dish. In a seperate bowl mix the coating ingredients together, grease the tray and liberally apply some of the coating mixture, making sure to cover all the inside of the tray. place the excess back into the bowl and set aside for later.

Tip or spoon the delight mixture into the tray and slowly and gently level out. Sprinkle with a little more of the coating mixture and place in the fridge for at least 3hours to set.

Once set, cut into cubes and individually cost each piece. I placed in a sealed container with an inlay of grease proof paper to keep them from being sticky. Enjoy :)

Going to try using wild dog rose petal syrup next instead of rose water as I do like a stronger, sweeter flavour. But this recipe can be adapted to make delights of any flavour you wish.

If you would like to learn more about my exploits foraging for free wild food and the recipes I have cooked with my herbs and grow your own then please have a look at some of my other posts :)

Finished elderflower delight

All packaged up 

Cooking with Chicken of the Woods

After a great two hours of foraging for fungi and coming home with some positively identified species of mushroom I was very interested with my first haul. One of these was a bracket fungi called sulphur polypore (laetiporus sulphureus), also known as chicken of the woods. It seems that most people enjoy eating this mushroom but i must admit i was a little unsure, as the colours of orange and sulphur yellow usually mean stay away in nature but after researching it and assuring myself it was safe i decided to press on and try this wonderfully tiered bracket fungi. You can see the pictures of what i found including the chicken of the woods in a previous post here fungi foraging

I gave it a clean with a soft little brush to remove the dirt (as i had read somewhere that washing mushrooms isnt a good idea as they suck up the moisture) and then i sliced it thinly. It suggested online that you should boil in salt water for 5 minutes before using and then i sautéed the slices for a few minutes in some of my homemade wild garlic butter mixed with a little extra virgin olive oil. I then tasted a piece before adding the rest to a turkey and vegetable casserole that i already had going on the hob. I simmered for about 20 minutes until the meat was tender and the vegetables were cooked through. 

When I was preparing the fungi I was surprised at the distinctive smell that filed the kitchen and as I am a first time fungi forager I hadn't smelt anything like it before, not a horrible smell at all but earthy, strong and unusual too. I wanted to taste the mushroom as an individual taste sensation first before adding it to the casserole and i was was struck by the denseness of the flesh and the taste matched the aroma perfectly. You can see from the close up of the slices why it is called chicken of the woods. It is not because it tastes of chicken but it has the denseness and look of sliced chicken. I preferred it within the casserole where it was complimented and balanced out by all the other flavours and textures. I found it to be quite filling as well so you don't need to add too much to a dish. All in all i was very happy with with my first tentative steps into the world of finding free food in edible fungi and i think i had a lucky first forage so I am looking forward to my next adventure in the woods to see what other delights i can find. If you have a chance then go give it a try but make sure you have a good handbook or someone experienced with you to help identify the edible species before you pick and take them home. 

If you would like to learn more about my exploits foraging for free wild food and the recipes I have cooked with my herbs and grow your own then please have a look at some of my other posts :)

Sliced Chicken of the Woods

Closeup so you can see the texture

The finished casserole complete with fungi