Summer Supperclubs with the National Trust

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW - Phone Lindisfarne Castle on 01289 389244 to book

July and August see the return of a very exciting collaboration between The Grazer and the National Trust. Last summer we hosted four incredible evenings at Lindisfarne Castle and on the Farne Islands. The sun shone, guests enjoyed their amazing surrounds, and ate and drank into the night. We are offering you the opportunity to experience this once again, with two Summer Supperclubs on both the Farne Islands and at Lindisfarne Castle. 

Picture yourself on a private boat sailing over to the Farne Islands late in the afternoon, arriving on the white sandy beach of Inner Farne to be greeted with aperitifs and tasty treats. The evening will include a private tour of the island; beautiful beaches, the Lighthouse and its gardens, thousands of amazing birds, gazing back at Bamburgh castle and the beautiful long white Northumbrian beaches. At dusk find yourself sitting down to dine, in the tiny chapel on the island at a beautiful long table. 

Or you could find yourself driving over the causeway to supper at Lindisfarne Castle. Arriving on the battlements to canapés and aperitifs, looking out over the islands and castles of the Northumberland coast... A personal tour through the rooms of Lindisfarne castle, your own private residence for the evening. Supper will be served on the battlements; your view for the evening is the sun slowly sinking over the Cheviots. 

Once in a lifetime dining experiences in totally unique locations. There will only be four events with a limited number of 20 places available at each:

Friday July 25th at Lindisfarne Castle - SOLD OUT

Saturday July 26th at Lindisfarne Castle - SOLD OUT

Saturday August 2nd on The Farne Islands - SOLD OUT

Saturday August 9th on The Farne Islands 

(The event will run from approximately 5-10pm, exact times will be confirmed according to tides and boat crossings)

Tickets for these once in a lifetime dining events are £99 per person and can be booked by phoning Lindisfarne Castle on 01289 389244. Prices include unique private access to the Farnes and Lindisfarne, private tour of castle and island, telescope tours of the coastline, history and nature talks from the National Trust and food introductions from The Grazer.

The evenings dining includes aperitifs and canapés, a set four course sharing menu of fresh local seafood platters, slow cooked Northumberland beef and plentiful puddings with matched wines and coffee. 

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lindisfarne-castle

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/farne-islands

Any questions please email annahedworth@hotmail.com

Return to Inner Farne

I was back on the Farne Islands today, for the first time since last summer. I had been tasked with making lunch for some guests of the National Trust. It was so lovely to return in the beautiful warm sunshine. I had my own chauffeur driven boat from Billy Shiel's to take me over in the morning, we chatted about the dolphins that had been spotted a few weeks back, and watched out for puffins on the sparkling water.

Lunch took place in the beautiful St. Cuthbert's chapel, where I held a couple of supperclubs last summer, such a stunning spot. I had made spring chicken terrines, gruyere tarts, wild garlic damper bread, courgette and mint salads, beetroot and rocket pesto salads and more. Thankfully everything had made the journey in tact!

After packing up I sat on the jetty waiting for my lift home, so peaceful and sunny. The boat drove slowly round the cliffs of Inner Farne on the way back, so we could look at the thousands of nesting  birds. Then when we were nearly home, the driver gave a shout, he thought he had spotted a porpoise up ahead; it turned out to be 6 or 7 dolphins, who came over and swam with our boat as we travelled home. I nearly jumped out of my skin when one leapt out of the water right in front of me, they were such huge beautiful creatures, an amazing end to the day...

A bit more about Cook House

Cook House is going to be my new kitchen in the Ouseburn. A space where people can have something to eat, sit, rest, work and hang out. A kitchen to cook from for my events, a space to host supperclubs; that will also serve breakfast and lunch.

There will be a small food school programme, where interesting food folk talk about or demonstrate what they do every month. There will also be other chefs cooking now and again; and a garden out the back and on the roof growing as much as possible. A bit of a kitchen hang out with lots going on. I’ll be there making some food, so pop by, say hi, and have something to eat. Opening early July...

Cook House

I am opening my own Cook House. Breakfast, Lunch and Events. You can follow the story here over the next couple of months...

Wild Garlic Damper Bread

If you're quick you can still catch the wild garlic season. They say once the flowers appear it is past it but I picked some in Jesmond Dene on Friday, the flowers were just beginning to bud, and as long as you get the fresh little leaves from the base it is still delicious. The bigger leaves are beginning to get a bit tough. You will know when you've found it as it is pretty pungent, a green leafy garlic smell filling the air...

My latest supperclub was a rustic French affair on Friday in the lovely tasting room at Carruthers and Kent. I served the wild garlic as part of the main course in a Spring Stew, cooked in butter with baby onions, asparagus, peas and courgettes, it was delicious alongside Confit duck and Pomme Anna, and went down a treat, thankfully...

I also made this little loaf last weekend in the Lake District where the wild garlic has only just appeared so you have a little longer over there. It is a very simple loaf that I saw Lorraine Pascal making on one of her programmes ages ago. I made a Red Pepper, Thyme and Anchovy Damper loaf a while ago which was delicious, so thought I'd give it a go with fresh wild garlic.

For this version I just made a little loaf so double the amounts if you want a larger loaf. To start heat your oven to 200°C and mix 225g of self raising flour with quarter of a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. Add 110ml of water and mix everything thoroughly until you are left with a ball of dough. Knead briefly until it is combined and smooth.

Dust your work surface with some flour and flatten out the ball of dough into a circle. I finely chopped a large handful of wild garlic. You could use any combination of fillings you fancy really; chopped green or black olives, roast soft garlic, diced chorizo, roasted tomatoes. Pile your filling into the centre of the dough and start to fold the edges over the top until it is sealed. Turn the dough over and knead it to distribute the wild garlic. The aim is a ball of dough with the filling mixed through evenly inside. Once you have it under control flatten it out a bit and squash the handle of a wooden spoon into it to create triangular segments.

Finally bake in the oven, Lorraine said 35 minutes for her olive version, mine took about 40 minutes, if you use wetter fillings it takes longer again. It should be golden and risen and sound hollow on the bottom when tapped. 

So green bread is a little strange visually, but it was delicious! It was TLI's birthday so we took it on a walk up the valley armed with a picnic basket and some fizzy wine. A thick piece of cold butter went perfectly with the bread, it tastes like garlic bread, funnily enough, but fresh and mild. Give it a go if you come across a patch while it lasts...

Homemade Bagels

I have been quite the traveller over the past month or so, from Hong Kong to the Lake District, with a long stretch in London between. I have been down in the big smoke working in two professional kitchens over the last fortnight. My first week took me to Rochelle Canteen, a wonderful little place in Shoreditch that serves breakfast and lunch and caters for various events and parties. The second week took me to Quo Vadis, at the heart of Soho’s busy restaurant scene. The aim being to gain a better insight into the professional kitchen, learn some new skills for the future and expand my horizons. I’ve been running my own dining events for nearly two years now and I thought it was about time I learnt a bit better how the professionals went about it. I will tell you more about what I learnt over the next week or so because a lot of it was incredibly delicious and interesting.

In the mean time back to recipes; all this travelling has meant very little time for recording anything I have cooked over the past few months, and there has actually been some pretty tasty stuff. I’ll start with these homemade bagels, a world away from what you buy in the supermarket, they are totally delicious. I was inspired by the famous Salt Beef bagels of Brick Lane, fresh bagels, stuffed with warm soft salt beef, pickles and English mustard. So good that I had to set about recreating them myself. The salt beef is brisket, brined for two weeks then braised for hours, I’ll share the recipe soon as it is definitely one of my new favourite things. But first the bagels...

These amounts will make 8 bagels. First take 450g of strong white bread flour and add 2 teaspoons of salt and 7g of dried yeast. Then combine 250ml of warm water, 2 tablespoons of honey and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, mix, add to the flour and bring together into a ball of dough. It shouldn’t be too sticky, add a bit more flour if it is and knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes.

Then leave to rise in a lightly oiled bowl covered with cling film for 3 hours in a warm spot. When it has risen, to at least double in size take it out of the bowl and divide into 8 pieces. Now for the bagel shaping; I found rolling them into a long thin sausage then joining the ends with a dab of water to be my preferred method. You can also make them into a ball, stick your finger through the middle and spin it around your finger a bit to widen it, but I found the holes in these bagels closed up more while cooking. When you have formed your bagels put them back on a tray, covered with cling film and let them rest for 10 minutes. Do not leave them much longer than this; you don’t want them to start to rise again. I had a disaster with one batch where the initial dough was a bit too soft and then I left them too long to rest and they were just too soft to poach or bake, I ended up with giant bagel pancakes.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil while they rest and add 3 tablespoons of honey, which gives the outside of the bagel a very slight sweetness, you can also use a dark treacle for added colour and a slightly different flavour. At the same time put the oven on at 220°C. When the bagels have finished their resting you need to poach them, I did 3 at a time in a very large pan, be careful not to over crowd them. Make sure the water is simmering, then carefully pick up your bagels one at a time and drop them into the boiling water. They will float and bob about, you need to poach them for 1-2 minutes on the first side, then turn them and poach for a further 1-2 minutes on the other side, then remove to a baking tray.

The longer you poach them the chewier a crust you will achieve. They will increase in size in the water and also look like they have a slight batter like appearance to the outside when you take them out. Continue until they are all poached and then brush the top of each bagel with an egg wash. You can also sprinkle them with poppy seeds or sesame seeds at this point if you fancy.

Place in the oven to bake for 20 minutes until they are golden brown. They really are a whole different species than those found in the supermarket, that always seem to taste of either nothing or cardboard. These are light and slightly sweet inside with a delicious chewy crust. Filled with salt beef, mustard and sweet cucumber pickle I found myself overcome with joy... one of the most satisfying meals I have ever made, if you can call a sandwich a meal, which I definitely do...

Some Like it Hops

After a bit of a bagel baking disaster and a 5am start to rectify the situation I was slightly jaded come the start of Some Like it Hops, add to that a bit of jet lag and you have a slightly clumsy dazed supperclub host. But everything was alright on the night thankfully; lovely guests, much improved second bake bagels and some delicious beers from Northern Alchemy, Out There Brewing Company and Tyne Bank Brewery. I am fast becoming a craft beer convert, I didn't even know I liked the stuff; turns out I like a lot of it... Add to that some pretty delicious hot salt beef and a few half pints of pickle and you have yourself a splendid evening at The Cumberland Arms...