Food in North Cornwall

As the North Cornwall coast is now well known for it’s great choice of eateries….abundant with good quality local produce…no longer a region just of pasties, fish and chips and cream teas (although I still wouldn’t miss out on them during a visit)!!  And as we love recommending places to you during your stay at Tredarrup.  Here are a few new discoveries and offers that come around at this time of year…

FIFTEEN CORNWALL
Enjoy the fantastic view across Watergate Bay…a great place for a leisurely lunch and a walk along the beach and from now until 21st October enjoy their Totally Cornish menu celebrating the very best of Cornish seasonal produce this autumn.  Three course lunch for just £19.95. 

ODDS
Not one we have got to just yet but apparently it is a beautiful restaurant overlooking wild dunes and clifftops, with views out to the Atlantic ocean – not far from Newquay. A lot of the produce comes directly from their fields (so not many food miles here) and all looks delicious.

The farm boasts 8km of grass resting strips where voles, butterflies, nesting and feeding birds are able to thrive – in fact over 80 species of bird, indigenous and visiting, have been recorded on the farm. Arable crops are protected using nature friendly treatments which allow non-evasive plants to grow, which in turn encourages insects that birds can feed their chicks with. The restaurant and its building design echoes the farm’s conservation theme. The building uses top soil and grass on the roof to increase the insulation and reduce heat loss; a ground source heat pump utilises energy from the soil outside to provide the under floor heating and hot water; the purposefully designed kitchen incorporates energy saving appliances such as an induction hob that heats by magnetism – so reducing power consumption by up to 65% – and, as much of the organic kitchen waste as possible is recycled back into the farm.

THE FIRE CAFE
A Cornish gem that we are looking forward to visiting soon. A cafe, bar and grill that at this time of year is not as rammed as in the summer months. Does great weekend breakfasts  such as the Big Kahuna for £6.75, either as a good hangover cure or a way to well and truly fill you up…I’d be going for the buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup and bacon.  Also open for lunch and dinner and in a great position overlooking the beach at Mawgan Porth.

Local Produce – A good growing time of year…….

At Tredarrup, we are big fans, of local, seasonal and great food – which Cornwall has a plenty.  With such a sunny April (followed by some welcome rain) our fruit planters are bursting with yummy strawberries…very early…and no food miles there!  The plum trees are laden with new fruit, the other fruit trees are looking promising, the elderflower is in full flower so time for making some sorbet and maybe having a try this year at some elderflower bubbly!  And the raspberry canes are set to follow the strawberries with a bumper crop.   What a delicious food time of year!
So following on with the theme of local and Cornish produce beyond our yard…I recently discovered a newish Cornish online supermarket that delivers to your door a whole range of produce and supplies produced in the region, using more than 50 specialist growers and over 30 small Cornish food manufacturers.    

Local fresh produce

Although you may be able to buy some local from the big supermarkets chances are that it may have done a 500 mile round trip and spent a couple of days in transit before it comes back to your doorstep where it was grown.    So what better than buying produce picked yesterday and that adds to the local economy.  So if you are in Cornwall on holiday, why not give it a try…local produce delivered direct to your door ?!

Wild Garlic…..

With so much great weather and a few drops of rain our Cornish hedgerows are really coming alive.  The daffodils have now been replaced by bluebells – our woodland is fantastic this year – but it  is also the time for wild garlic (ramsons).  The banks in our parish lane near Tredarrup are full of the fragrant leaves and pretty flower heads….so what better than to use nature’s harvest in the kitchen and put to use a Riverford recipe of Wild Garlic + parsley pesto……it is really easy, delicious and great to keep in the fridge and freeze until homegrown basil is in abundance…

Nature's harvest - wild garlic

Cornwall Spring Feast

Well spring has well and truly sprung here in North Cornwall, four weeks now of the most amazing weather, daffodils in abundance, birds singing their song, wild garlic raising its first leaves and the grass ready for its first cut !!!
And whilst the weather is so great, its best to make the most of it…so this week we decided to have lunch out and enjoy the bursting fresh flavours of the new season with one of Cornwall’s Spring Feast menus at award-winning chef Nathan Outlaw’s Seafood and Grill….and it could not have been better a stunning view out across the estuary, the sun shimmering on the water, blistering sunshine…and great food. 
And apparently in the new edition of the Lonely Planet guide innovative cooking plus organic, locally sourced and ethically produced food put the south-west well ahead of anywhere else in the UK, including London.  So check our availability and get yourself a top table before the summer rush and enjoy a culinary tour of Cornish food…..

Enjoy some of Cornwall's great restaurants and produce!!!!

Great March offers…..

It seems that Spring has maybe sprung….the days at the moment are clear, bright with that lovely hot sun.  The daffodils are out at last and the bluebells are emerging from the ground in our woodland.   So a great time of year to visit, enjoy Cornwall at a quiet time, bracing walks, the stunning coastline, fresh crisp air, cosy evenings and of course our great local food…so here are some offfers to enjoy if you visit us  in March

 

The Seafood Restaurant
Riverside, Padstow, Cornwall 
 3-course £29.95 set lunch menu*  until Sunday 3rd April 2011*. Available everyday between 12pm and 2.30pm. 

St Petroc’s Bistro
3-course £17.85 lunch menu
Enjoy some of Rick Stein’s French and Mediterranean dishes at St Petroc’s Bistro through until Sunday 3rd April 2011.
To make a reservation call 01841 532700

FIFTEEN CORNWALL – Sicilian Season
Three course lunch for just £19.95
Monday – Friday until 8th April, inspired from the Mediterranean flavours of Sicily, in the deep south of Italy.
Using favourite Cornish and Italian ingredients to create standout Sicilian dishes like caponata, a pale aubergine ragu; Palermo-style frittelle made with artichokes, peas and broad beans; arancini rice balls; and fresh tagliarini with sardines. Not forgetting of course classic Sicilian cassata and blood orange ice-cream for afters…To book, please call our reservations team on 01637 861000 or book online

A Cornish Christmas….

Cornwall is full of many great traditions (some might say oddities!!!), festivities, local produce and much more besides and at this time of year there is so much going on…so much that I had forgotten about until last week a Cornish treasure – Rick Stein – reminded me when I watched his Cornish Christmas , so watch again if you missed and tune in for tonights latest Cornish offering !!!

Rick Stein's Cornish Christmas

Christmas Shopping with Cornwall’s Eden Project

Christmas is coming… great Christmas ideas, take a look in the Eden Project shop……

 

From the Eden Project

Bottle top bag.......

 

Afternoon tea!!!!!

Cornish Winter Lunch offers

If you are with us over the winter months check out these Winter lunch offers…..

At Rick Steins……. The Seafood Restaurant and St Petroc’s Bistro. Our £28.50 Seafood Restaurant lunch menu which has gone down a storm in recent years, is built around prime Cornish seafood like lobster, crab, scallops, sole, bass and turbot. The £17.50 3-course lunch menu is coming back to St Petroc’s Bistro, where you can sample French and Mediterranean dishes. To make a reservation call 01841 532 700 and quote ‘winter lunch offer’.

At Fifteen Cornwall Taste of Tuscany 

Three course lunch for just £19.95
1st November – 17th December
Monday – Friday only
Experience the authentic flavours of Tuscany. Tuscan-inspired menu  uses the best Cornish and Italian ingredients to create authentic dishes such as ribollita, a classic Tuscan soup packed full of vegetables and thickened with bread, coniglio in umido con olive verdi, a wild rabbit stew with tomato and green olives and Chianti poached pear al zabaglione.  To make a reservation call 01637 861000 or book online >>

Cornish Ice – cream

 At this time of year we all love an ice-cream…there is nothing better on a summer’s day than that great taste of homemade ice-cream and Cornwall is a county with much great ice-cream.  With the low milk prices many farmers over the years started to sell their milk direct and produce milk based products, such as cheese, cream and ice-cream and with Cornwall being a county with the largest amount of local food producers what could be better on a hot (or not so hot) summers day than choosing your flavours and type of cone and sitting back to enjoy…….  

Have an ice-cream.....

Where once we used to listen out for the sound of the ice-cream van as a treat, now there is a huge range to choose from……. and for some with a dollop of clotted ceam on top…
So some of our favourites…   

Roskilly’s  organic ice-cream is now not only available in Cornwall but around the UK.  There are around 50 flavours including sorbets and frozen yoghurts – classic vanilla, chocolate, rum and raisin and one of their classics Hokey Pokey.  In the summer they can produce 6,000 litres daily… and soon they will be producing carbon neutral ice-cream !!!  You can also visit their great farm and delicious tea room on the Lizard….. 

Treleavens – luxury handmade Cornish ice-cream with some great flavours…..was my pudding of choice at the St Kew Inn on Tuesday night 

Callestic Farm – They have created over 26 flavours of ice cream, each flavour is brimming with fresh, pure cream – in many cases Cornish Clotted Cream. And 8 sorbets made with water from  their own spring  – the perfect pallet cleanser.
How their ice-cream is made :
Milk arrives fresh into the factory each day from their own dairy and the ice-cream making process begins
The milk from the dairy flows into the ‘heating tank’. Here we add all the key ingredients such as cream and sugar. It is then homogenised to produce a very smooth consistency.
It is pumped into the pasteurising vat where it is held at 65.5°C for half an hour to destroy any bacteria, it then passes through a plate cooler and into one of the holding tanks to finish cooling and age over night.
Any flavours are then added to the ice cream mixture before it is then pumped into the ice cream machine, a continuous freezer where the cool milky mixture goes in and ice-cream comes out at the other end.
If we are making an ice-cream which contains any fruit or confectionary, this is the stage where it is added via the fruit feeder.
The ice cream is now ready for dispensing into tubs. The portion sized tubs are filled by a very speedy, high-tec automatic filling machine called a flexifill. The larger tubs are filled by a less speedy but equally high-tec Sebastian Parker.
Once filled, the tubs are date coded, boxed and stored overnight in the blast freezer at -32°C. 

And not forgetting Kellys….their vanilla is fab… not only widely available in tubs but still comes in the magic ice-cream van complete with a flake… 

The sound of an ice-ceam van.....

Buying Local

We know that supermarket shopping is both a way of life and a necessity – the six largest supermarkets in the UK account for 80% of the money we spend on groceries. Some items you just have to go there for and it can’t be avoided – and some supermarkets offer better options than others.  But Cornwall is fortunate to have a lot of great local produce and many places to allow people to buy local and whilst at Tredarrup – even if you buy just the odd item locally…it still can make a difference. North Cornwall has very much become the ‘gourmet coast’ with lots of great places to go to eat and farm shops in abundance so we recently created for our properties our Tredarrup Food Finder to help find where to shop and eat during your stay (but we didn’t forget the local supermarkets)….  And from the beginning we have offered our visitors the chance to recycle and compost so that we can try and make some small steps that might make a difference…
Using local produce is:
Better for the local economy: Every £1 spent on local produce at local shops or producers generates £2.56 in the local economy, which is about twice as much as spending the same £1 in a supermarket. That means more jobs for our young people and more wealth for our community.
Better for the Environment: Consuming local produce reduces your ‘Food Miles’ and carbon pollution and increases our food and energy security, as well as typically requiring far less packaging (don’t get me started on food packaging!!!!!).
Better value for money and better deal for our farmers, fishermen and all our local producers.
Better quality, fresher food – higher in nutrients, lower in saturated fats and additives.
Buying local food directly from our local shops and producers is a very effective way of expressing our support for the local economy, safeguarding and creating jobs and indirectly supporting Cornwall.