Rogan. Simon Rogan

back, in order to maintain our mutually beneficial and respectful relationship with it.

      Here again we can control what goes back into our soil, as we know that we are not introducing any chemicals into our compost and therefore the earth, so we can ensure it is healthy.

      To me, this sums up so much of what we are trying to achieve in Cartmel. Experimentation is so much a part of what we do in the restaurants and the test kitchen; we are constantly trying to innovate and push the boundaries of what we can achieve, using all our natural resources to create new dishes and combinations.

      In the sixteen years that we having been growing and cooking in Cartmel, we have made improvements year on year, learning from every mistake and every success. Weather and pests permitting, we now know what grows well, what doesn’t, and how we can get the best from what we are growing. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop there; the size of the farm has tripled since we first started and we now have chickens, pigs, sheep and cattle grazing the land around the tunnels and in the orchard, to produce a closed system where the animal waste is returned to the land, completing the circle of nature. This year we have our bees to provide honey and bee pollen – not to mention the benefits to our plants to have pollinators on site and doing our bit to help a dwindling bee population in this country.

      For us, growing and rearing our own means being responsible for our levels of consumption – using what we have and not demanding more – and making best use of our natural resources.

      We are proud of the unique way in which we stock our restaurants, and we are delighted to be at the forefront of a movement where chefs either produce their own ingredients or seek out local farmers to do it for them, with an awareness of the provenance of the food they are serving and a passion for their ingredients.

      In the spirit of spreading the message and sharing our passion, this book was born. This isn’t a L’Enclume cookbook; you won’t find in these pages the recipes for some of the more complex dishes that we serve there, but these are variations of many favourites from our menu that have the essence of the flavours of our food. It isn’t an everyday cookbook, the recipes here are perhaps best used for inspiration and ideas for trying out new and exciting combinations, flavours and ingredients.

      Of course, my cooking tends to use some more unusual ingredients or varieties because I’m lucky enough to be able to grow, source or forage for them in my local area. I know that some of these are hard to find for many, particularly if you are based in a city, so the recipes here mostly include ingredients that you can get hold of without too much trouble. Not everyone has access to woodlands on the doorstep for foraging in, coastal fish markets or 12 acres of land, I know, but we do all have access to good local markets and suppliers where we can buy organic fruit and vegetables, or meat, poultry or fish, knowing its provenance, and even local cheeses.

      My journey from Southampton to Cartmel has been a long, and at times agonising one, but I would do it all again. For me, and the chefs who work with me, the idea of seasonality and fresh ingredients isn’t a gimmick, it’s our passion, it underlies everything we do. I am fortunate to have a restaurant and a team who have helped me to achieve great accolades in the culinary world, but I would cheerfully sacrifice any of these to uphold my principles about food production and the environment. It matters. It is our responsibility to future generations to nurture what we have now, and to leave them that legacy.

      With this book I hope to share with you another way to eat – our way to eat – which will inspire you to demand more from your food. Think seasonal, think local, think organic, and if all else fails, think about the origins of your ingredients.

AYNESOME VEGETABLE INFUSION

      Simply created as a celebration of all the flavoursome and delicious herbs and baby vegetables that we produce, this is a showcase for the produce from Our Farm, demonstrating exactly what we are all about, so it seemed only right to call this dish after the land where we grow – Aynesome.

      SERVES 4, AS A STARTER

      Vegetable broth

      3 large onions, halved

      6 red peppers, halved and deseeded

      6 plum tomatoes, halved

      2 sprigs of rosemary

      2 bay leaves

      2 sprigs of thyme

      tapioca flour, for thickening

      Aynesome vegetables

      a few sprigs of bronze fennel tops

      6 mixed colour cherry tomatoes, peeled (see here) and halved

      4 baby pigeon cabbage leaves

      2 courgette flowers, halved

      2 baby turnips, halved

      5mm-thick slice of kohlrabi, cut into 4 small discs using an apple corer

      4 tiny baby radishes

      32 broad beans, shelled

      2 baby courgettes, 1 green, 1 yellow, each cut into 8

      8 cooked simane onion petals (see here)

      Thai basil leaves and brassica flowers, to serve

      To make the broth, preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6. Place the onions cut side down on a baking tray and bake for 40 minutes until golden. After 5 minutes, put the peppers, cut side down on another baking tray and bake in the oven for 30–35 minutes until soft and starting to char, then add the tomatoes on another baking tray for the last 20 minutes of cooking. If the onions or peppers are beginning to brown too much, move them to a lower shelf or cover them with foil to avoid the stock becoming too dark.

      Once cooked, put the vegetables into separate large, heavy-based saucepans and add 2 litres of water to each, adding the rosemary to the tomatoes, bay leaves to the peppers and thyme to the onions. Bring the pans to the boil over a medium heat, then cover with lids, turn the heat down as low as possible and cook for a further hour. Strain each liquid through a fine sieve into a measuring jug, making a note of how much stock you have – aim for 1 litre per pan – then stir them together in a large, clean saucepan.

      For every 500ml of vegetable broth, blend 15g tapioca flour and 30ml water to a paste. Add to the warm liquid and whisk over a low heat for 5–10 minutes until it has thickened to a broth consistency (do not let it boil).

      While the stock is thickening, arrange the Aynesome vegetables evenly into four bowls and sprinkle over some Thai basil leaves and brassica flowers. Pour over the hot thickened broth and serve immediately.

      NOTE: This recipe yields around 1 litre of each broth, which is more than you need. Keep the leftover broth in the fridge for up to a week.

GRILLED COURGETTES AND QUAILS’ EGGS WITH MARJORAM BUTTER

      If you grow your own courgettes, use a few different-coloured varieties for maximum visual effect. We use whatever we have growing, but particular favourites are green Passandra F1 and yellow Easy Pick Gold. (This dish is a great way to use up a glut, too!)