A day with the cockerels for Christmas at Fosse Meadows Farm

So, there's just over four weeks to go until Christmas.

Unlike some highly organised people I know, I haven't bought and wrapped all the gifts yet.
Of course I haven't - hell would freeze over before I managed to do that so early. However, I have started thinking about it ....

For certain food producers though, Christmas is the biggest event of the year., when precision, planning and timing is crucial

I'm talking about those who are providing the poultry which are the star of the show at most Christmas tables, unless you're veggie or vegan.

The other week I went along to Fosse Meadows , a poultry farm, close to the Fosse Way in rural South Leicestershire, a farm owned by Nick Ball (see below ) and his partner Jacob Sykes.

They produce bronze free range turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens and cockerels. On a damp, grey and cold day after torrential rain, Nick drove me from the farmhouse along to the fields and the huts where the cockerels live.

These cockerels are slightly older than the cockerels being reared for Christmas..

Usually, Nick and Jacob sell between 1,800 - 2,000 chickens a week and about 40 to 50 cockerels, but at Christmas , they sell more cockerels.

So where were the Christmas cockerels I wondered. Nick pointed to some other huts. "Show me your cockerels!" I declared....a phrase some of my colleagues said they had never expected to hear on the radio. 

These cockerels are a french breed with much longer legs and are slower growing, and they are sixteen to seventeen weeks when sent for slaughter. Most of them were preferring to stay indoors, eating to their heart's content on the additive free, ethically sourced feed and staying out of the biting wind.

I also learned about why Nick and Jacob don't sell capons.... have a listen to the piece I recorded to find out the operation here at Fosse Meadows....the link is below .

Nick obviously enjoys his life as a successful and ethical poultry farmer, and I know that many  people around the country will be enjoying his prize winning birds too this Christmas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07v31zq

A foodie Friday with mushrooms

As the saying goes "Never look a gift horse in the mouth."

I don't usually, but I was rather surprised  when my husband came home with some mushrooms which he had collected. Yes, he'd been mushroom picking.

He's never done anything like this before, yet here were some large specimens...

I must admit I was a little suspicious, he doesn't usually eat mushrooms. So were these all for me?

Were they safe to eat? 

I'm not being funny, but what my husband knows about different types of mushrooms could be written on a postage stamp.  He'd gone to play a round of golf, so why mushrooms now? I consulted the only book I have on mushrooms - a lovely present years ago from Claire Alexia, our cousin in France

Mmn. I still wasn't sure. Who had he played golf with?


 When he said it was our friend Keith I smiled.That man is a mine of practical information. He's an ex Marine who can forage for England. He knows his onions...and mushrooms too. Within moments those mushrooms were being sauteed in butter with garlic and leeks. Stock was added, and when they were cooked, the mixture was liquidised, and reheated with some grated nutmeg and a rather large slug of sherry and double cream. Sea salt and black pepper too.

I had loosely followed Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's recipe for a rather retro, rich mushroom soup. So comforting, so smooth, so delicious, even if I had run out of dry sherry and had to whack in some sweet as sin Pedro Ximinez.

I immediately put in an order with my husband for more mushrooms, and they came...some as big as my hands, some as big as my face. More soup followed.....

The other day, more mushrooms arrived.
 I just fancied them sauteed in butter, with cream and a slug of brandy. I started getting butter and cream from the fridge, when I asked if Keith had picked some too.

"Oh no, he wasn't there today" was the reply.

The butter and cream were swiftly put back in the fridge. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but in this case I made an exception and decided to wait until Keith is there too, when the "gift" is picked.......

Here's the link to Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's lovely recipe online .....

https://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/creamy-mushroom-soup