GROW & COOK
This month: The Ethicurean
Our series featuring recipes from celebrated kitchen gardens. This month: The Ethicurean in Somerset
walled kitchen gardens are places of enchantment. Aside from their pleasing layouts and productive beds, brick boundaries make each one a world in itself, sheltering people and plants, and romancing visitors with a sense of the past. Add views of the Mendip Hills and an artisan restaurant in an old glasshouse, and you’ve a bewitching example in Barley Wood Walled Garden – a beautifully restored Victorian plot in Wrington, Somerset, home to The Ethicurean.
A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY
On this slightly overcast July morning, Iain Pennington is inside podding peas at one of the tables while he runs through the day’s menu with his brother Matthew (both opposite, left to right), fellow owner and co-head chef. Colourful glass jars and bottles line the windowsill, creating the air of a science lab. “We’ve always experimented,” Iain says, gesturing at what he calls ‘objects of curiosity’: oils, vinegars, wines and spirits. “Both of us constantly question how dishes and drinks are made and try to discover new ways to showcase ingredients.” The self-taught chefs’ culinary passions were sparked in childhood, inspired by their father who cooked for them and their two sisters. It was in 2008, while running a Bristol-based business using farmers’ market produce to make artisan takeaway food, such as chorizo Scotch eggs, that the pair heard about a glasshouse-based café to let. They hit upon the
idea of creating a restaurant serving up great dishes, seasoned with the strong ethical principles that they believe in so passionately.
SPECIAL DELIVERY
Today’s offering from the plot’s gardener, Mark Cox, illustrates why this was an irresistible idea and worth the 120-hour weeks the brothers worked to make The Ethicurean a success. As well as a variety of flowers for the tables, including several different dahlias, there are ‘Golden Globe’, ‘Albina Ice’ and ‘Chioggia’ beetroots and pinkish-striped ‘Graffiti’ aubergines. “July is a bounteous month,” Iain says, admiring the display. “There are gooseberries galore, destined for sorbets, vinegars, chutneys, jams and sherbet, which is lovely with our steamed strawberry pudding or to dab homemade liquorice sticks into.” This is just a fraction of the organically grown fruit, vegetables and herbs available within feet of The Ethicurean’s door. Peas podded, Iain heads out to pick from a vast bed of broad beans, which he’ll use in a granita served alongside fresh cucumber ribbons, ewe’s curd, dukkah and the gooseberry sherbet.
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
“I’m a seed-aholic with a passion for heritage varieties,” Mark says. “I’ve a 1920s shipping chest stuffed full of packets from Tamar Organics and The Real Seed Catalogue.” With help from one parttime assistant, Ellie Wimshurst, he supplies around 80 per cent of the restaurant’s fresh produce, meets the team daily to discuss what’s available to cook with, and takes head chef Simon Miller on a tour of the beds every week so he can plan menus. “The soil is dark and crumbly with just a little clay. I’ve been adding organic matter to it for years and am trying the no-dig approach this year.” The garden is divided into a classic crop-rotation system of four sections and there are three polytunnels, one with a 30-foot propagation unit and two in which tomatoes, chillis and salads thrive. Mark is devoted to Barley Wood, living just two minutes’ walk away, and cooks his meals on a stove in the polytunnel so he can work long days during spring and summer. Despite his evident skill, he is very modest: “I learn something new every day, but it seems to me that gardening is mostly about timing and seizing the moment.”
THE FAT OF THE LAND
With no experience, the Penningtons and their team had much to find out about running a restaurant in 2010. “We didn’t have a clue,” Iain recalls. “We started the working day as late as 9am, expecting to pick our own produce from often-frozen beds in winter and then, as crops became thinner on the ground, we were stuck. Now we know to preserve as much as possible by pickling and fermenting – and begin at 7am.” From the outset, The Ethicurean has been deeply connected to the local area: staples such as potatoes and carrots are from a community farm in nearby Chew Magna, Matthew and Iain forage coastal greens including samphire around Portishead and Clevedon, and the meat they serve is either wild or from breeds native to the region, such as those raised by Piper’s Farm in Cullompton, Devon.
The brothers may have refined their offering since those early days, but there’s still the odd stressful morning. The antidote is time in the garden. “This is a daily ritual for all the chefs,” Matthew says. “We’re efficient enough now to allow everyone to take 15 minutes out. Gaining some clarity and quiet before a busy service is really beneficial to the food and atmosphere we strive to create.”
As the restaurant fills up this lunchtime, it’s clear that its awardwinning fare, rural setting and relaxed ambience are a draw for both young and old, business colleagues and families, parties and couples. Casual diners sit at a long communal table; those who’ve made their journey by bike or bus are rewarded with a ten per cent discount on their bill. In a pleasing instance of symmetry, just as the chefs often visit the garden before service begins, customers find that the ultimate way to finish a meal at The Ethicurean, whether a simple lunch or a full-blown feast, is to walk around the garden that has fed them. Turn the page for delicious recipes using seasonal produce.
The Ethicurean, Barley Wood Walled Garden, Long Lane, Wrington, Somerset (theethicurean. com). Recipes adapted from The Ethicurean Cookbook by Matthew Pennington, Iain Pennington, Paula Zarate and Jack Adairbevan. Published by Ebury Press, £27.