Recipes

At the Farm Shop we don’t treat cooking as a precise science, nor are we trying to give a comprehensive list of recipes. These are some of our favourite dishes and we hope you’ll give some of them a try. They’ve worked for us on countless occasions but that doesn’t mean, with a bit of imagination and a few tweaks, they can’t be improved. Good luck.
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FishMain IngredientBeefChicken and poultryGameLambMuttonPorkSausageSeafoodVegetableMealDinnerLunchSeasonAutumnSpringSummerWinterSweetDessert
Marmalade MarzipanBy Ben WatsonWe only tend to use it at Christmas but marzipan is wonderful stuff and incredibly easy to make. Easter is on the horizon and if you’re Simnel cake inclined, homemade marzipan is so much better than shop bought. Well chilled, you can grate it into Hot X buns and tea cakes. It’s really not hard either and it doesn’t have to be ultra sweet. Many recipes call for orange zest but a few spoonful's of marmalade are so much easier. Most home made recipes call for egg as a binding tool but the marmalade does much the same thing.
Lily Watson’s Whipped Tofu with Harissa ButterBy Ben WatsonDaughter Lily has been vegan for many years, so I thought she might be better advised than myself as to what’s happening on the edge, so here is her second recipe contribution in celebration of Veganuary. I've had enough bland, cardboard like tofu over the past few years. I'm not saying it can't be good - it can - but it can also be pretty disastrous. However, blended until creamy and topped with something fun, it's hard to go wrong.
Mayo-Roasted (a month after) Thanksgiving Turkey with GravyBy Ben WatsonTime: about 2 hours, plus overnight dry-briningSome recipes for mayo-roasted turkey promise extra-juicy results with minimal effort. This one does no such thing. The mayonnaise won’t help the turkey stay juicy; only salting and resting (a light curing process known colloquially as dry-brining) and carefully monitoring its internal temperature as it roasts will.The mayonnaise will, however, produce a turkey with glistening, burnished, golden-brown skin evenly flavoured with herbs, no basting required. The mayo’s viscosity helps it stay in place as it roasts, while the extra protein from egg aids in browning.This recipe will make a little more mayonnaise than you’ll need. Use the excess for leftovers sandwiches, or toss it with roughly chopped vegetables (carrots, broccoli, brussels sprouts, courgette or squash) before roasting at high heat for 10 to 15 minutes.
Simple Fish Soup with SofritoBy Ben WatsonI’m never sure where a fish soup crosses the line and becomes a bouillabaisse but suspect that my cooks cheat version sits somewhere in the middle. Rouille spread on toasted bagette, saffron, a handful of mussels in the shell and a selection of Mediterranean fish would definitely make it a bouillabaisse but, given the Spanish sofrito base, I think we’ll stick with fish soup. For the fish stock, I prefer something reasonably light but for a classic Provence or Basque fish soup or bouillabaisse they really go to town making sure there is plenty of fish heads and skin as well as white fish frames and intentionally boil the bones to produce a thick cloudy stock. Some recipes even call for blitzing the bones and passing it through a potato ricer / food mill. The choice is yours. For the fish, to keep it simple and cheap, I use those little red mullet fillets you can quite often get from the fish van in Totnes market and, correct me if you know something I don’t, I can’t see anything wrong with frozen precooked and shelled mussels. After all, we are cheating.
Panissa alla VercelleseBy Ben WatsonA classic nose to tail Piedmontese risotto. Harry and I cooked this in preparation for our Piedmont wine evening at the bar, and I thought it was absolutely delicious. Unctuously moreish would be an understatement with lardo, pork rind and bone broth all adding to the ‘cucina rustica’ party.
Lily Watson’s Grilled ‘Kimchi Hispi CabbageBy Ben WatsonForty years is a long time in the food business and I have to confess that staying ahead of the game in the food world can be trying. So, I’ve delegated to my daughter Lily. Since running the Smokehouse last summer, she’s actually moved up to the smoke and been working in some uber cool coffee joint in Shoreditch. I thought it might be a good idea if she brought us up to speed on what’s happening on the edge. First up is her grilled ‘kimchi’ hispi cabbage that worked so well last summer. The world seems to have slightly fallen out of love with kimchi (let’s face it, it is a bit overpowering) and moved on to other ferments, but this is a great recipe that doesn’t blow your head off.
Coffee rubbed bavette steak with pounded herb sauceBy Ben WatsonFlank steak is a cut of beef steak taken from the flank, which lies forward of the rear quarter of a cow, behind the plate. Over the narrow sea, they're a little more specific and French butchers call it bavette, which means "bib". bavette is big on flavour and tender enough, as long as you don't overcook them and eat fresh off the griddle or barbecue. Unless you really like it blue, resting for more than a few minutes will toughen things up. I'm not doing much of a sales job here but in France, onglet and bavette are up there with the best. They should be here too!
Ruth Rae’s Broad Bean and Goats Cheese PâtéBy Ben WatsonEdgy Veggie is a vegetarian and vegan takeaway that took off during lockdown and has since moved in a few doors down from our Totnes shop on the Totnes high street. It's broad bean season and our shops are brimming with them, so we asked owner and chef Ruth Rae to share her favourite broad bean recipe. A perfect dish for spring and summer, this earthy yet tangy and refreshing dish is light but satisfying.
Elizabeth David’s CaponataBy Ben Watson

Along with Tuscan Panzanella, Sicilian Caponata is a good way of pulling any mezze or antipasti style meal together and, as such and given how long it keeps, should have a berth in everyone’s fridge through the summer. Most people don’t see caponata as a pickle but it ticks most of the boxes and will keep for at least a week in the fridge. For an even longer life, put it in a jar, press down to get the air bubbles out and pasteurise to a core temperature of 72degC for twenty minutes. 

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