SPROUTS, HAZELNUTS AND BROWN BUTTER

100g bread (sourdough

works well) 100g toasted hazelnuts 600g brussels sprouts

100g butter

1 tbsp cider vinegar 25g flat leaf parsley, stalks discarded and leaves

roughly chopped 3 sprigs of tarragon, stalks discarded and leaves

roughly chopped Maldon salt flakes and

white pepper Olive oil and butter for frying

Serves four INGREDIENTS METHOD Preheat the oven to

200C, 180C (fan), Gas 6. Rip up a few chunks of good bread and put them and the hazelnuts on to separate baking trays. Toast in the oven for eight minutes, shaking after four to ensure an even colour. Ensure they don’t burn. Remove from the

oven and set aside. When cool, roughly chop the hazelnuts and keep to one side. Do the same with

the bread pieces. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil, add the

sprouts, turn the heat down slightly and simmer for five minutes (or until just cooked). Drain, run under cold water for a minute, shake off the excess moisture and cut

them in half. Brown the butter by warming it slowly in a pan

until the solids have separated and you have a white film on the top. Skim off the white film and allow

the butter to start to go brown – it will smell nutty. Remove from the heat, leave to stand for two minutes, add the cider

vinegar and stir. Put a frying pan over a medium heat and add a big glug of oil and a knob of butter. Fry the sprouts cut side down. You want them dark brown, but keep an eye on them so that they

don’t burn. Remove from the pan, put in a bowl and dress them with the

brown butter. Add salt to taste. Mix in the chopped herbs and hazelnuts and put on to a

serving plate. Finish with the breadcrumbs and

white pepper.

Charlie Hibbert is head chef at Thyme (thyme.co.uk). With thanks to Gareth Storey

THE BLOOD MONTHS

This is my morose time of year. The “Blood Months”, as they used to be called (according to the

magazine), when the livestock were slaughtered. The only methods of preserving were salting and smoking so everyone killed successionally in the cold months when food for both humans and the stock became scarce. They used what they could and shared the rest.

Yesterday, we dispatched the pig with a heavy heart. I have found them to be trusting, intelligent and beautiful beasts with bags of character. Hopefully they have had a pleasant life foraging in the woodland and being finished on apples and quince. We fed her in the trailer for the last two nights as advocated by Rex Fairbrother in and hopefully it made her send-off marginally less stressful.

Self Sufficiency Group Cambridgeshire The Archers,

THE LOCAL BUTCHER

The pigs have cleared the nettles from the understorey of the wood pretty well. I planted the wood about 36 years ago (see main photo story) and they only