COCKTAIL​

Raspberry and rosemary G&T

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STARTER ​

Crayfish or beetroot with pickled chilli mayonnaise, winter leaves, pickled radishes and sourdough

 

The crayfish were caught in the river lea by Crayfish Bob. We found the chillies and radishes in November at Stepney City Farm and Forty Hall Farm and decided pickling was the best way to preserve them for the January supper club. To do this we made our own vinegar with wine from Forty Hall Vineyard and combined it with a little Bermondsey Street Bees' honey and some aromatics, also from Stepney. We added the chopped pickled chillies into the mayo made with eggs from Growing Communities and rapeseed oil. The radishes were scattered over delicious winter salad leaves from Growing Communities and Stepney City Farm. Each type of leaf (baby chard, endive, green-in-snow, rocket, three cornered leek) was full of flavour due to the small scale, organic farming. With this dish we hoped to show how amazing fresh produce can simply become a delicious plate of food. We also had a roasted beetroot option for vegetarians and both were served with freshly baked sourdough - made with flour from Brixton Windmill and E5 Bakehouse.

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MAIN

Tagliatelle with goat ragù or Jerusalem artichokes

 

We were really surprised to find meat within 10 miles of London Fields but the goat from Stepney City Farm was an even better find. This is small scale, organic and ethical farming. We chose goat shoulder to make a warming slow cooked ragù. We made the base with onions, leeks and cabbages from Forty Hall Farm, bacchus wine from Forty Hall Vineyard and stock made from peelings and what would otherwise be wasted. We added some rosemary from Growing Communities and let it slowly cook for 4 hours. We made fresh pasta to serve it with, using eggs also from Growing Communities and flour from E5 Bakehouse. We topped it with Nash cheese from Wildes Cheese and some fresh parsley.

 

Roast squash, crisp kale, horseradish dressing, ale toasted squash seeds

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Organically grown kale from Stepney City Farm was really delicious lightly roasted until it crisped up. We served it on sharing plates, topped with slices of roast squash from Forty Hall Farm. We also used the seeds from the squash, taking the time to clean them, dry them then roast them in a sticky glaze made with ale from London Fields Brewery and honey from Bermondsey Street Bees. A simple but flavour-packed side to go with our tagliatelle main

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DESSERT

Jam roly-poly, roast hazelnut crumb, whey custard

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This was the most difficult course to plan as there is no sugar, butter, milk or cream to be found within 10 miles of London Fields. And on top of that, at this time of year, there’s no fresh fruit either. Luckily we found the community project East End Jam that organises foraging walks and then teaches the urban explorers how to make jam with the bounty. We used their hedgerow jelly and apple and blackberry jam from a walk around Stratford. Without any butter, a fat-less sponge was the answer, which happens to be the type of sponge used for a Swiss roll. With a bit of experimenting, we managed to tweak the recipe to work with Bermondsey Street Bees honey instead of sugar. We also used flour from E5 Bakehouse and eggs from Growing Communities. A few surprises were the hazelnuts we came across at Forty Hall Farm – we chopped them up to give our dessert a crumb. The other was the whey. This is a by-product of the cheese making process at Wildes Cheese. We used it to make custard with a slightly sour flavour. A small spin on the classic British pudding – perfect to accompany the sweet roly-poly.