Dinner

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.
DinnerCategories
All CategoriesMain IngredientBeefChicken and poultryGameLambMuttonPorkSausageSeafoodVegetableMeal  DinnerLunchSeasonAutumnSpringSummerWinterSweetDessert
Ham With MarmaladeBy Ben WatsonOne of our most successful creations of the last few years has been our 'Ham with no name'. Originally nameless as a bit of a joke, it's stayed that way and sells as well as, if not better, than either the straightforward, smoked or unsmoked, hams. As with so many things, it came about because we had an excess of our apple juice with ginger to get rid of but now, we're making the juice for the ham.
Nut Roast GaletteBy Ben WatsonThe ubiquitous BFS nut roast is available all year, but it does come into its own at Christmas. Indulgently packed with stilton, nuts and parsnips, then wrapped in blanched cabbage leaves, it certainly earns its place at a Christmas table. There’s also a vegan version without the stilton and eggs. Here’s how you can deconstruct our nut roast and make it into stunning centrepiece this Christmas...
Pale Farm’s Leftover Turkey PieBy Ben WatsonVicky Chamings of Pale Farm, our new free-range turkey supplier, shares her crowd-pleasing and delightfully easy recipe for leftover turkey pie. This sumptuous pie is the perfect way to use up your leftover turkey, ham and cream from Christmas Day. Using ready rolled puff pastry to save time in the kitchen, you can't really go wrong. For extra flavour, add leeks and mushrooms. 
Taco EsquitesBy Ben WatsonOur take on the classic Mexican street salad but this time in a taco - using sweetcorn, feta, spring onions & sour cream.
Nduja, Ricotta & Onion TartBy Ben WatsonA French onion tart, cooled but still warm out of the oven, is a truly wondrous thing. Hailing, originally, from Alsace, it’s one of the unsung heroes of French regional cooking, sadly forgotten over here until ‘modern British’ chefs, Simon Hopkinson and Rowley Leigh reintroduced us in all its glory. Somewhere between a Quiche Lorraine and Alsatian ‘flammkuchen’ pizza it’s one of those rare beasts that, despite holistic perfection in its original form, is no enemy of the home cook that just can’t leave good things alone. Bacon lardons and various cheeses (Comte, Gruyere, Beaufort etc in particular) are the standard variations and all bring something to the party but the sweetness of the onions also lends itself to all things smoked. The smoked haddock, chicken and bacon/ham theme has been well mined in the Ben’s Farm Shop kitchen, and elsewhere, but our version of Calabrian salami, nduja, is even better. Being made up, primarily, of pork fat, it melts into the onion mix giving an underlying but not overpowering heat without detracting from the sweetness of the onion. The ricotta is a slightly gratuitous, icing on the cake - adding to the onions sweetness and flashed under the grill, it gives an attractive ‘burnt peak’ appearance.As with all pies, you can get to eight out of ten but those last few points depend on the quality of the pastry and you’re only ever going to get those if you make your own. In the BFS kitchen we make tonnes of the stuff and for commercial pastry, it’s pretty good – but because we make it by the hundred weight, it’s always going to be overworked way past the ‘short’ stage. There are whole books out there on the subject so I’m not going to try to reinvent the wheel but whatever route you chose; you’re going to need about 500gms for a 2½cm deep, 28-30 cm tart case.
Chinese Style MeatballsBy Ben WatsonBeyond the holistic perfection of leek and potato soup, I don’t have much appetite for the old fashioned ‘cream of whatever’ concoctions. I’m much more a ‘stoup’ fan, whether it be chowder, minestrone or something similar, and few ‘Cook’s Cheats’ work better than our Miso Ramen Broth and Fish Soup bases. We’ve done the work for you and all you need to do is chose your seafood or ramen additions.Char Siu pork is probably the most common ramen meat ingredient, but I’m a big fan of a Chinese style meatball. Lion’s Head Meatballs with vermicelli noodles, bok choy and Chinese leaves/Napa cabbage are a good place to start. It's really more of a noodle soup than a classic ramen; a Shanghai classic and easy to make. Traditionally, they’re made big – one per person – and served in a bowl with the vermicelli and bok choy ‘mane’ beneath – hence the ‘lion’s head’. Ignoring the aesthetics, small meatballs win hands down on all other counts, so that’s what I do, and the danger of ending up with broth all over your table cloth and shirt front is averted.
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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