A-FORAGING-WE-WILL-GO!

October 2014

A Foraging We Will Go

Almost sounds like a song from the folk mega group Bellow Head, they sing, A “Begging we will go!”
So I am not begging but sitting in a converted goods shed, next door to Canterbury West Railway Station, and surprisingly it is called the Goods Shed. It is a farmers market, that is open 6 days a week from 9 am, with a fish stall, a butchers, a general stall selling Kentish cider and beer, a bakery, a wine merchant, a fruit and vegetable stall and a couple of Cafes, they have a
chart on the wall comparing prices with the local supermarkets, so shoppers can compare .

But what am I doing here? Well I am waiting for Fergus the Forager to appear, at this point in time am not too sure of his organisational skills, as I caught an early morning train from London, to be here for 9 am and then, oops, it has turned into 10 am! Ah well we shall see!
So he has just appeared, he is over subscribed for this course, so Dave, one of the foragers has been despatched to find his car, so we can get to the woods, en masse! One look at Fergus’ car makes me wonder if it has ever passed a vehicle inspection, the front is taped together and the radiator has sprung a leak( hence an enormous plastic jerry can which came in very useful as my chair). But never mind. We are off to the woods. We begin with a talk on fungi in general and he
has lots of specimens and we learn how to identify them. Bottom line? Not so easy! Firstly one should buy a couple of books,
one or two of them slim line editions but a couple are indeed weighty tombs, but then one does need to be sure, after all it is a matter of life and death!

Many years ago, whilst living in southern Germany, we decided that we should ” do” as the locals and hunt for mushrooms.Our field guide was a bit confusing, on one side, the description was highly flavourable ,whilst on the other it read ” deadly poisonous. After much debate,and to no conclusion, we fed them to the dog! Quelle Horreur, I hear you say, well, he lived as did we!
Hence my second debut into the life of foraging!

Well we did find lots of various types of Funghi, some of which were very much edible, others
edible, but not wildly exciting and others to be avoided at all costs. Some were Rock hard and indeed looked like Rocks , whilst others felt like leather and could be mushed up and made into paper. Dave ( he of extra car)
declared that he had hunted mushrooms for years and his rule of thumb was ” if it smelt like a mushroom, then it was a mushroom, hence safe to eat” well I guess he had just been lucky over the years, as this not a good rule at all.
So our best edible find were the chanterelles, not a huge amount, but they were just beginning to
poke through the undergrowth. After discussing all of our finds, we were bundled back into the
vehicles to another wood, where some of us did wonder, if In fact this was where we were to be
“bumped off” with the headline ” Foragers gone missing” But no! Deep into the wood we found
half an oil drum hidden away, Fergus, unpacked his enormous rucksack and proceeded to cook
lunch, soup, pasta with our chanterelles and a fake crumble, with pears ( windfalls of course )
and some type of foraged berry.

Fergus did not partake of this foraged feast, as he is currently living on, chestnuts ( usually ground and made into some type of porridge) walnuts, Hawthorne berries, nettles, a type of seaweed and a couple of other berries, the names of which I can not remember.

Not a diet that I would relish I think., I think he is quiet mad, but then I also think we need more mad people, it would be very boring if we were all the same.
As for Funghi ?, maybe this weekend? Maybe I will have to test them on Himself, as we no
longer have a dog!

Head to Malaga for a fantastic Market

We are on the Costa del Sol with new old friends ( none of us old you understand) to enjoy the sunshine and the golf and some sightseeing as well ( currently it is raining” Cats and Dogs” and has been all night) The rain has curtailed our trip To Cadiz the oldest inhabited settlement in Europe .

One of the Axarquia villages, in the hills away from Malaga

However we have been to Malaga, to the old city and had a driving tour of the old villages of Axarquia . Very pretty white Peubla villages nestled in the mountains up very steep and narrow roads.

Growing up a neighbour ( and mother of an old boyfriend) used to come to this part of Spain, she had the bleached blond hair with the dark roots showing and skin like leather. My Mother ” tut tutted” and talked about the Costa Del Crime. I think over the years the area has had a bad rap. True the unfinished developments are there to be seen and from parts of the freeway one could be forgiven for thinking that one was in the outskirts of Delhi or another developing country. But away from this the countryside is beautiful and Malaga city centre is fascinating, the narrow streets, the cafés spilling out onto the streets and the Market!

The market is housed in a beautiful 19 th Century Iron Clad building in the middle of the old town with the original Moorish gate, that once connected the town to the port. and is open daily ( 8- 2 but not Sunday’s ) we were there late morning along with the rest of Malaga, but these were real people and not the tourists and ” foodies” of Borough Market fame. These were local people doing their weekend shop. And Oh I could have bought everything there, the fish, the snails, the clams, the meat, the sausages, the olives, the mushrooms, the spices, oh the list is endless! And the prices! Compared to London, as cheap as could be! Look at the pictures and decide for yourself .

The Art Deco Market Building — The Art Deco Market building

Whilst here, wehave been sampling the local food ( and wine)! Just down the road from where we are staying is a restaurant called ElJinete, there you can dine outside and have a three course meal for €17 (€22 on Thursday and Saturday when they have live music) the entrecôte steak is excellent. Further along the coast is a restaurant called Da Bruno, again eat out under the stars, the service is excellent as is the food. And the wine was extra special.

Filet of sea bream on a bed of wild mushrooms

Old friends, Chez Bruce and Borough Market

A short while ago, we were treated by Old friends ( friends that we have known for a long time, and not old at all) to a wonderful dinner at Chez Bruce in Wandsworth ( London). Not my neck of the woods at all, and in fact in all the years that I have been connected in some way or another, have never been to that part of London! After all, it is south of the river! South of the river means transportation is just that little bit more difficult. So difficult in fact, it meant we had to drive! Quelle Horreur! But the friends and the restaurant made it all worth while.

Chez Bruce is one of the three restaurants run by Chef Bruce Poole .

Chez Bruce opened for business in 1995. Nigel ( Nigel Platts Martin business partner and owner of the Ledbury and the Square) and Bruce added The Glasshouse, in Kew in 1999; and La Trompette, in Chiswick in 2001 to the London-based group.

We have been many times to La Trompette which is a very affordable Michelin starred restaurant in a back street Chiswick ( London W4). Likewise the Glasshouse in Kew ( handily next to the tube station).

However this was our first visit to Chez Bruce, and I have to say that it lived up to it’s hype as far as food was concerned. BUT himself felt that the service let it down. One time he was fiddling with his wine glass, with maybe a soupçon of very quaffable wine left in it, when the waiter descended and said “shall I take that away?” and before himself could protest, away it was gone. Later on, after dessert, again the waiter came with a “Are you done with that?” not so much the words but the tone, and then the lights went on, bright lights, I was almost expecting the chairs to be put on the table ( we were not the last by any means).

But as I said, the food was very good indeed and you can judge for yourself.

Today , we took a trip to Borough Market, which is by London Bridge Tube/Railway Station. I really like going to this markets, but then I love markets. However, this has gone really upmarket in recent years and I have not been for a while and was really surprised by how much more upmarket it has become. There are in fact less market type stalls, many specialist food stalls, especially olive oil, and truffle olive oils. Not so many fruit and vegetable type stands anymore but oodles of food stands, anything from melted cheese to bratwurst with all the trimmings to vegetarian hamburgers to venison sausages to Thai curries to Japanese noodles, the list is endless. If you are ever in London and at a loose end then it is worth the visit. It is now open Wednesday through Saturday, with Saturday being the busiest day. If you want to shop then it is almost impossible as it is now really a “destination” place for ( on the whole) standing and eating. So trying to “shop with shopping trolley in tow, pushing past punters with plates of steaming Paella is near nigh impossible. Likewise on the other open days, avoid lunch times as again it is really busy.