Summer lunch at the Sportsman

Sometimes familiarity breeds content: a late spring lunch at the Sportsman at Seasalter with Sarah and Ian on a hot windless day was pure pleasure. Thanks to the new high-speed train, we'd arrived early, so we got a drink and sauntered out into the garden to soak up the sun and exchange news. The lovely waiting staff showed us where our table was, but asked if we'd like to relocate to the conservatory? Yes please.

The flowers on the table sum up one of the many things I love about the Sportman - these aren't hot house specimens, they're wild and local and look beautiful: celandine, yarrow, grasses and one of the many umbelifera whose name I don't know.

The Sportsman's bread and butter (both made on the premisis, along with the salt) is a vital start to any meal. This time we got the usual fantastic foccacia and a moreish soda bread. Ian kicked off with the pickled herring and cabbage salad, chosen because it reminded him of childhood days in Denmark. This revelation led to the inevitable Swedish chef impersonations.

Ian loved it, and he kindly gave me a forkful: I thought it was marvellous. The fish was sweetly cured, accompanied by a very finely shredded cabbage, again lightly cured. I'm having this next time.

Sarah was getting started on her slip sole with smoked salt: a divine little fish, she said.

I couldn't resist the chilled asparagas soup. It came with a tiny little tart filled with cream cheese and shredded sorrel. The flavour of the soup was sooo asparagasy - pure green heaven. Word cam from the kitchen that it wasn't a veggie stock, but the liquid base was milk. Hmmm - one to try and recreate at home.

Sarah had gone her usual route of two starters rather than starter then main. She said her mushroom tart was the most unusual she'd ever had. The mushroom base was toped with a cheesey custard, with swoosh of spinach puree at the side. She loved it and said the pastry was to die for - buttery and melt in the mouth.

Ian and I had both chosen the roast chicken with truffle cream sauce. It came with a further helping of asparagas and a roastie. This was as good as I remembered - moist tender chicken topped with crisp skin. Ian called it a 'juicy happy chicken'. For a moment we lapsed into the silence that good food gives.

Ian and I plumped for the same dessert: warm chocolate mousse with salted caramel and milk sorbet. The sorbet sank gently through the silky soft mousse, and a diving motion with the spoon reunited the two elements. I think this is the best pud I've had at the Sportsman - or at least up there with the creme brulee. Sarah, meanwhile, was polishing off her cheese cream ice cream, strawberry puree, meringue and shortbread crumbs with squeaks of delight.

This was a lovely, lovely meal - local seasonal food cooked with care and imagination, and served with thoughtful attention. Which is why we keep going back, and have yet to be disappointed.

Slightly stuffed and full of good cheer, we had a salty stagger through Whitstable, soaking up the sun and ending a fine Kent adventure.

Essex Food Show

Thanks to Big Spud and Essex Gourmet, I was alerted to the pleasures of the Essex Food Show on Saturday. A quick hop down to Liverpool Street to meet Ian and we were on our way to the charming White Notley, the nearest station to the show. I'm always apprehensive about food shows I don't know: are they going to be full of manky faux local food that actually comes out of multi-national factories - or are they the genuine article? Thankfully, apart from the trouser press guy and some dubious mass produced bottled goods, the Essex Show was a really great showcase for local food.

Meat was the first purchase of the day - some fine beef from Spaynes Hall Farm Meats based in Halstead. The beef is Red Poll, and all the other meats are rare breed. Also very tempting were the delicious Berkshire/Duroc sausages from Boxes Farm - spicey and juicy. I bagged half a dozen.

At this point, the show got distinctly avian. Polly's Parrots is a one-man band and his troupe of rescued parrots - here's the rather shy macaw. The display was wonderful. Further along was this fine ex-batt hen, looking very calm and enjoying all the attention.

And as Ian munched his pasty, this fowl group came to take a closer look.

Away from the livestock, apples were getting mashed for cider.

The cider was good but not made with cider apples, so lacked a certain subtley. But very quaffable, none the less.

The food stalls were scattered throughout the collection of barns at Cressing, and it was lovely to see the guys from Love Farm there with their excellent rapeseed oil. At the back of one of the barns, I made my first big find of the day.

Three types of cheese from Crete, imported by a brand new Essex company. The creamy sheep's myzithra was fantastically good, and I was easily persuaded to get a pot. I don't much like goat's cheese, but Ian was impressed. I do hope we get to see more of these cheeses.

I sqeaked with excitement when I saw this stall and a row of d'Arcy Spice apple juice. My favourite apple (discovered last year at Lathcoat's) and an Essex original.

My second big discovery was this red wine jelly, made in Sardinia and exported by Tre Stella. It was utterly delicious. No problem making a buy here.

By now, our bags were heaving and the weather was beginning to take on a gloomy hue. So we rang for a taxi and were lucky to get an asparagas-loving driver who swiftly conveyed us to the nearest farm shop were I bought the one desired item we didn't find at the fair. Back home, I cooked up a quick and  very late brunch of egg, smoked bacon and asparagas...

...followed by a slice of chocolate cheesecake; recipe from Jason Atherton's Gourmet Food for a Fiver. Jolly good it was too.

Thanks Ian for fine company and putting up (again) with a foodie on the rampage.

Real Food Festival 2010

I don't know if it was my election up-all-night malaise, or no Big Bro, or something in the air, but this year's Real Food Festival seemed to lack the buzz of last year's. Maybe it's just that working an all-nighter makes me tireder than it used to. Anyway, I felt like snucking into the Laverstock piglets' pen and cuddling up to them. Petal the buffalo was also fast asleep.

The first bit of food to tempt me was this fine Nordic cheese - I bought a hunk of the tasty prast which had a lovely depth of flavour. I don't seem to have taken many photos this year either, but other cheese that I loved was a yummy Cornish Blue and a very impressive Old Winchester, from Lyburn cheeses in the New Forest.

I loved the design on these oil gift sets from Nudo oils and I thought the mandarin flavoured oil was lovely - not overly sweet but a real blast of citrus oil as a top taste note. I came away clutching a tiny tin.

Up to this point, I'd been wandering around without a catalogue, feeling slightly grumpy at having to fork out a fiver for one. But I needed a map, so wandered back, passing this glorious display of baklava.

There were quite a few bigger brands at the fair, but one I didn't mind buying from was Denhay's, as I've been buying their bacon for an age. And it was good to see Tracklements - I can remember buying their mustard 30 years ago when they were Urchfont Tracklements.

Weirdly, my find of the show was a rapeseed oil.

John and Tom are two brothers who have just started making oil at Love Farm in Suffolk. It's a beautiful oil, and the nuttiest rapeseed oil I've tasted. Their website doesn't seem to be up yet, but I told them to get on to Twitter and they have! Follow them at @love_farm. Good luck boys!

After three hours, I staggered off home, and unpacked my goodies, including three super puds from Burtree Puddings, a favourite from last year, and a jar of my beloved date and tamarind chutney from Anila. A great haul, and I'm only sorry that my post-election malaise meant I didn't last for longer.