GROWING BABY SALADS IN WILTSHIRE

      I firmly believe that vegetables, herbs and fruits are a cook’s greatest asset. Any cook who thinks vegetables are the least interesting part of a meal, a bore to prepare, and a mere garnish to meat or fish, is totally missing the point. As far as I’m concerned, vegetables are a staple, central to a dish, the real deal. A lot of my dishes are based around fruits or vegetables – meat, fish or dairy is quite often an afterthought, something to fill the dish out.

      Today there really are no excuses for not using organically grown fruit and vegetables. I could almost guarantee that if you were to have your vegetables delivered each week by one of the many box schemes working hard to change the way we think about organic produce, you would spend the same amount of money as you would do filling your stainless steel trolley on a Saturday afternoon. Plus, it would make you think a little more about what you cook, and you would discover new flavours and combinations.

      Food miles (how far your carrot, potato or apple flew, aided by fossil fuel, in order to sit on your plate) is a big issue for enviromentalists. I try to buy British produce when it’s in season but when I have to I choose imported produce from a source I know is benefiting the people growing it. Britain could be much more self-sufficient and not import out-of-season produce from far flung places – but only if the supermarkets were prepared to pay a fair price for them. Also, if Britain’s farmers grew a greater variety of crops, they would live less under the threat of abandonment by supermarket buyers.

      Greengrocers are fast disappearing from the British high street. They find it too much of a struggle to compete on price with the supermarkets. If you have a greengrocer near you – support it! They buy their produce straight from the traditional wholesale market, who buy straight from the grower. This simple supply chain means you can buy vegetables that were picked the previous afternoon, and you will taste the freshness. Again it’s a question of pester power; ask your greengrocer to sell the vegetables and fruit at the time of year you want them and when they are at their best.

      However, it is not all doom and gloom as smaller chains of supermarkets build long-term relationships with farmers. Some support watercress growers in the South, and rhubarb growers in Yorkshire. Others encourage farmers to grow specialist vegetables such as wild mushrooms, violet pearl aubergines and spiny artichokes. I would love to see fields of artichokes growing in Yorkshire and sweet peppers in Devon’s greenhouses.

      A true ambassador to the cause is someone who has been a great friend of mine for almost ten years, Richard Vine from R.V. Salads based in Wiltshire. He is the maestro of all things very small. Richard’s passion is now centred fully on growing micro salads after a career as a livestock producer and organic vegetable producer. He now runs a highly successful operation supplying England’s best restaurants with ingredients that simply were not available seven or eight years ago.

      Born and raised on his family farm in Berkshire, in a world where everyone foraged for nature’s seasonal harvests and grew a large proportion of their own food, he experienced massive changes in food production, and consumer expectations of it. In a world where nothing was wasted, food was both British and seasonal, with national pride in his produce being taken by producers and consumers alike.

      Richard says, ‘the myriad of convenience and fast foods, with a whole fusion of taste experiences from around the world meant that we as a nation came very close to loosing both our national and regional food heritage’.

      Richard’s business needed to diversify to meet the demands from a new breed of chef whose passion and desire to source and use every available British product was unbounded. He operates in both a greenhouse and an outdoor environment where the skills and dedication of his small team of passionate and committed gardeners and pickers reign supreme. Everything from ground preparation to seed sowing and produce picking is all done by hand.

      The philosophy is to work in partnership with nature and so his crops are subject to fluctuations in temperature, humidity and daylight. There is also the inevitable problem of pests. They try very hard not to use any form of pest control, preferring to dispose of crops (composting what they can) and starting again. If absolutely necessary he uses an organic control method.

      Greenhouse heaters are set on frost control only (this is his small attempt at conserving fossil fuels and reducing his carbon footprint). Each tiny plant and leaf is packed with phenomenal flavour as well as being aesthetically beautiful. Visual appearance and taste are of equal importance and it is exciting to see how these qualities marry with and enhance any dish. It usually takes him eighteen months to find out if a new plant or leaf is viable.

      Some of Richards’s favourite micro salads that I include on my menu are:

      Nasturtium: hot and peppery

      Watercress: peppery

      Buckler sorrel: sharp/citrus/apple

      Red chard: sweet/mild beetroot

      Yellow chard: strong/earthy beetroot

      Chicory italica rosso: bitter/dandelion

      Mizuna: delicate mild/cabbage/hint of mustard

      Russian kale: sweet/cabbage/earthy

      Red mustard: mild cabbage/then increasing mustard flavour/heat

      Bronze fennel: sweet/increasing/intense aniseed

      Green fennel: sweet/mild delicate aniseed

      Broad bean and runner bean flowers: delicate/tastes exactly like the baby pods/tiny hint of sweet pollen

      If you have the inclination, time and space there is also another way you can get closer to the joys of eating fresh vegetables all through the year and that is by growing it yourself. For the truly committed there are allotments but you can produce quite a lot in a small garden or even on a balcony using growbags and containers. As a busy chef I am not the one to tell you how to do it. But I know that it’s a worthwhile exercise and worth exploring if you can. To witness the changes in the garden throughout the year must make you think about food in a different way. If you have nurtured something from seedling to maturity you will really appreciate its value.

      You can really do anything with vegetables, but remember the biggest sin of all is overcooking. Vegetables picked young and fresh from the garden need barely any cooking or no cooking at all. Old stale vegetables, or those that are cooked too long, not only loose the high proportion of vitamins and minerals that are in vegetables, but become dull and tasteless as well.

      Every month of the year there is something new arriving at my kitchen door to get me motivated and excited. The dishes that go on the menu in the restaurant are constantly changing as we celebrate the seasons and incorporate vegetables that are at their most tender and flavoursome. Britain is capable of providing outstanding vegetables and if you keep your ear close to the ground and badger your suppliers for seasonal produce you will reap the rewards.

      Richard Vine is the master of micro salads in England. I’ve been fortunate enough to have known him for almost ten years. I’ve wanted to pay homage to Richard for a long time by creating a dish based around his gorgeous nasturtiums. The watercress-like pepperiness of the nasturtium leaves is an excellent counterpoint to the pickled cockles and capers. The pickled cockles are best prepared at least a day in advance.

      Richard Vine’s Nasturtium Salad with Pickled Cockles, Red Mullet and Capers

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