Speciality-Food-Magazine-September-2024

63 LAST WORDS The final word on fine food TWO&ONE VERDE EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL As someone who doesn’t often drink, particularly so in the past couple of years, my eyes have been opened to the potential for beauty in the everyday ingredients that are a constant inmy culinary life. Years ago I switched frommass-produced olive oil to small- batch, expertly produced extra virgin options, so I was delighted to discover Two&One’s Verde Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Vibrantly green in flavour andmade using young Spanish Picual olives, it brings a signature flavour to everything I’ve served it with. Spoiler: it’s delicious on its own with excellent crusty bread. twoandoneoliveoil.co.uk BOOJA BOOJA SALTED CARAMEL WONDERS I can’t deny that when it comes to chocolate, I can sometimes go a bit overboard. So when the team at Booja Booja shared news of their newWonders range I was more than excited to try them– and they do not disappoint. Just as delicious and satiating as the brand’s gift boxes of plant-based truffles, but smaller-scale and ideal for on-the-go indulgence, my favourite in the range –which features Cookie Dough, Hazelnut and Raspberry Scrunch – is the Salted Caramel variety. Rich and unctuous with a perfectly balanced blend of salty and sweet, they’re the ultimate way to treat yourself with balance. boojabooja.com NATURE’S STRAWBERRIES, TRUFRU More andmore shoppers are steering their trollies towards the freezer section in specialist retailers right now, and this in turn has sparked a tide of innovation, including these delectable little bites. At less than 90 calories per portion, they fit neatly into consumer desire for ‘permissible treats’. And we think they taste great too. Fresh frozen ripe strawberries are dunked not once, but twice in sustainably sourced chocolate. Firstly in a layer of creamy white goodness, then finished inmilk chocolate. The taste is sweet, cocoa-rich, and a little tart, and we’ve found these a huge hit with all ages. Containing just two ingredients, with a clean deck, they tick a lot of boxes. trufru.com INVEST IN QUALITY TO CREATE AN OCCASION PARTNER CONTENT THE INDEPENDENT SHOPPER Ollie Dabbous and also Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. We offer elevated British menus and I fuse this with Caribbean influences (I was born in Curacao), as well as Asian inspiration. My passion is fresh seafood and open-grill cooking. Being in the heart of the beautiful Cotswolds means we’re in the wonderful position of being able to source the finest seasonal produce right on our doorstep to pair with the amazing variety of seafood found around our coasts. We specialise in sustainably sourced British food, and our menus combine a plethora of local produce. We have a sizable kitchen garden which we take great pride in managing, drawing the bulk of our kitchen herbs and dish garnishes. We’re currently experimenting with new potatoes and courgettes. For anything we can’t grow on-site we use Fourseasons Fruiterers. We get staples such as eggs from Cackleberry Farm just five minutes away from us in Stow-on-the-Wold and T he Feathered Nest is located in the heart of the Cotswolds in the picturesque village of Nether Westcote, boasting stunning panoramic views of the beautiful Evenlode Valley. Our traditional Cotswolds pub offers 3 AA Rosette cuisine, four boutique bedrooms, a dog-friendly cottage and unrivalled countryside views — all just a 90-minute train journey from London. With plans for eight additional bedrooms approved, in a stand-alone new property on-site, coming in 2025. Before being appointed as head chef here I trained under the helm of our lamb comes from the Gawcombe Estate which is reared in fields minutes from our restaurant. We see our suppliers as our partners, taking the time to regularly visit their premises and to truly understand the inner workings of their business. Flying Fish Seafoods source our fish and seafood directly from Cornwall and we get our meat from Aubrey Allen butchers. We’re a quintessential spot for afternoon tea and our outdoor terrace overlooks the rolling Cotswold hills. Our daily afternoon tea is a popular fixture in our restaurant where you can find all the classics including scones, finger sandwiches and petit fours in our esteemed countryside haven. You can opt for Champagne tea which comes with sparkling wine from our favoured supplier Rathfinny Wine Estate. As well as a restaurant, we’re a proper village pub. You can drop into the bar any time for a couple of drinks and bar snacks. We have one of the largest selections of wines in the Cotswolds and we source the bulk of our wines from the Oxford Wine Company. We’re very fortunate to have some brilliant local breweries on our doorstep too. We have ales from both Hawkstone Brewery near Bourton Under Water and Hook Norton Brewery on tap. Renemar Pinedo, head chef of The Feathered Nest TRIED & TESTED A sk any food lover to recall the moment they fell in love with Italian food and chances are they’ll recount the details of an incredibly simple dish. For this editor, it was a gnocchi pomodoro, off menu, created especially for the English girl who couldn’t decipher the menu. Without the time to tinker with the recipe, and with a naive mouth to feed, the chefs undoubtedly kept it simple – to spectacular effect. The softness of the gnocchi and the sweetness of the tomatoes meant that this most basic Italian dish is, decades later, still up there with some of the very best I’ve tasted – including inMichelin-starred establishments across Europe. The key to the ultimate Italian dish is simplicity. But how can you recreate suchmagic at home in the UK? Ingredients. The fresher the better, and the higher quality the better. Consider the difference between a fridge-cold, supermarket- sourced, flown-in-from-abroad tomato and one recently picked from a local field. Still warm from the sunshine, perhaps, its flavour shines through however you serve By investing in quality and freshness, you can afford to indulge in the secret that makes Italian cuisine so special it. As ever when stocking fresh, local wins out, but Isle of Wight Tomatoes are an incredible option for those without a supplier nearby. Moving over to the cheese counter, compare and contrast an industrially-made Mozzarella, formed usingmilk from intensely- farmed dairy cows – dry, rubbery and a bit lacklustre in taste, it’s a far cry from the rich, soft andmilky texture of freshly-made Buffalo Mozzarella. We rate Laverstoke Park’s range, which demonstrate that you don’t have to travel to Italy to enjoy an artisanal Italian-inspired indulgence. No ambient shelf is complete without Balsamic vinegar, but it’s all too easy to fall for the wrong one. Be sure to try before you invest in stock; sharp and artificially sweet spells a poor quality product, while unctuous, sticky and verging on jam-like and you’re onto a well-aged winner. Just three staple ingredients these might be, but stocked smartly they can spell the difference between a disappointing meal and one which gets shoppers flocking to your store for an authentic taste of Italy. specialityfoodmagazine.com