Our Produce, supplying Staffordshire with great value local food

Hi Jenny,

Just to let you know that we will be going on our hollyhocks for a couple of weeks, so won”t be putting an order in for a bit. It”s great that I can do 2 weeks in advance though, so I have put one in for when we get back. Thanks ever so,

 Julie

For some time roast pork has been off our Sunday menu – anaemic, dry, tasteless. Thanks, but we’ll stick to beef, lamb and chicken. No longer! Our Produce belly pork is a real find. A 3lb joint is perfect for 5 hungry people. I  rubbed a bit of salt into the skin, slapped it in the oven, forgot about it for a couple of hours – I literally did nothing to it - and hey presto! It’s moist, melt-in-the-mouth, magnificent-tasting and the crackling is to die for.

Bethan, Newborough

So says the latest edition of the East Staffs News on their green issues pages. They recommend reducing your carbon foorprint by taking into account the number of food miles the food you buy may have travelled. Growing your own veg is clearly the best, but if you can’t grow your own, and of course there is loads of food other than veg you are after, then supporting local producers is the best alternative as it will have travelled fewest miles, be fresher, healthier and support the local economy. That’s where Our Produce comes in: we do the miles to the producer for lots of customers all in one go, so you don’t have to! Everyone’s a winner.

Click http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1298227/Tescos-misleading-claims-bread-just-tip-iceberg.html  to read this article, which was sent to me by a regular customer who was appalled by what she read in the newspaper this week about the mass produced ‘fresh’ bread sold in our supermarkets, and suggested I feature it in this week’s newsletter.  Luckily you don’t have to buy supermarket bread of course, as Our Produce sells truly fresh bread, really made from scratch and without preservatives, made by Lichfield-based bakers, Hindleys. Either that or you can bake your own using Claybrooke Mill’s organic flours. Good on you!

Ingredients: Equal portions cream and extra virgin rapeseeed oil to a third lemon juice, spring onion, tip of sugar, salt and pepper

Use a spoon to combine the lemon juice, oil and cream (I use anything leftover – soured, single, double, Elmlea, whatever), then add the sugar and season. You have to TASTE this to get the proportions of everything just to your liking, then you finely chop the onion (or chive, or fresh parsley) and add to the dressing. I use this dressing to coat crisp iceberg lettuce on its own or even just finely sliced cucumber. Adding parmesan makes it more like a Caesar.

Serves 4-6

This is a delicious low-cost meal,and looks really impressive- like a huge, crisp cake of potatoe! Serve with salad.

Ingredients: Good 1lb of peeled potatoes, 6 free range eggs, 1 medium chopped onion, 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin rapeseed oil, salt and pepper

Finely slice and cut the potatoes into roughly scrabble tile-sized pieces; sprinkle with salt. Heat 2 good tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and when hot, cook potatoes for 5 minutes, turning frequently. Add the onion, stir well, reduce heat a bit and then cover, cooking for a further 10 minutes, stirring often. Break eggs into a large bowl and beat just a little, adding salt and pepper. Check the pots are cooked and then add to the bowl of egg mixture. Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan and then add the contents of the bowl. Cook for about 15 minutes on a very low heat, until there is only the smallest amount of runny egg on top. To turn over, cover the pan with a large plate, invert and return the omelette to the pan the other way up by sliding it off the plate. Cook for a further 2 minutes.