Slow Food Scotland Welcomes Carlo Petrini

Slow Food Scotland is delighted to be hosting a visit from the father of the Slow Food, recognised as one of the most important figures in world food and the defence of biodiversity.

Named by Time Magazine as a European ‘Hero of Our Time’, a ‘Champion of the Earth’ by the UN and the only Italian on The Guardian list of ’50 people who could save the planet’, Carlo Petrini will be returning to Scotland after a first visit to the founding congress of Slow Food in the UK in 2005. 

Carlo Petrini – The founder of the Slow Food movement

His five-day itinerary (24th – 28th February) will include lectures in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, meetings with local Slow Food members and leaders, chefs, producers, educators and government.

Carlo will also take part in events in the run-up to Milan 2015 Expo, in conjunction with the Italian Consulate.

‘This is an exciting time for Slow Food Scotland as we complete the devolution into a truly national body and now we have the opportunity to be inspired and challenged by Carlo Petrini. The interest has been tremendous with events like the Edinburgh lecture selling out in hours. We look forward to engaging with all those who believe that everyone in Scotland deserves a food system that is truly good, clean and fair.’ commented John Cooke of Slow Food Scotland.

Highlights of the visit:

 A lunch hosted by Slow Food Chef Alliance member Neil Forbes at Café St Honore.

 A public lecture and debate in conjunction with Queen Margaret University’s Gastronomy Department, focusing on Scotland’s aspiration to be a ‘Good Food Nation’. (National Galleries, Edinburgh, 6pm 25th Feb) 

A visit to the Scottish Parliament to meet Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment. 

A trip to East Ayrshire, hosted by Slow Food West of Scotland, to Dunlop Dairy, with local school children performing a ‘Taste of Burns’, and a chance to meet local members of the Ayrshire Food Network.

 In Glasgow, Carlo will be lecturing at the University of Glasgow (2.30pm 27th Feb) on the subject of ‘From Food to Freedom – the struggle for a local agriculture’, as well addressing a Milan Expo 2105 event at the Glasgow Science Centre. 

Finally, Carlo will meet producers and Slow Food Edinburgh members at Edinburgh’s Farmers’ Market at 10am 28th Feb, and enjoy a farewell lunch at Contini Cannonball.

ENDS

 Attached Picture: Carlo Petrini, leader and co-founder of the Slow Food movement.

 Media Contact 

John Cooke contact@slowfoodscotland.com 07866 591885 (Scotland) 

Paola Nano 
p.nano@slowfood.it
 +39 329 8321285 (International)

Editors’ Notes 

What is Slow Food? Slow Food involves over a million of people dedicated to and passionate about ‘good, clean and fair’ food, and creating a food system that reflects those value. This includes chefs, youth, activists, farmers, fishers, experts and academics in over 158 countries; a network of around 100,000 Slow Food members linked to 1,500 local chapters worldwide (known as convivia), contributing through their membership fee, as well as the events and campaigns they organise; and over 2,500 Terra Madre food communities who practice small-scale and sustainable production of quality food around the world. 

What are our values? For Slow Food ‘good, clean and fair’ sees food in a unique holistic perspective. ‘Good’ means healthy, nutritious and tasty, ‘clean’ means food that does not compromise the environment or bio-diversity, whilst ‘fair’ denotes food that is produced in a socially-just, non-exploitative system. 

Our actions Our engagement happens at all levels, from EU policy to organisations defending indigenous peoples, and through events like the Terra Madre global gathering every two years that draws nearly quarter of a million people to Turin. Our Ark of Taste programme has catalogued over 2250 foods from across the world, whilst Presidia products offer direct support to maintain threatened food communities. Other initiatives support sustainable fishing, traditional cheese, sustainable meat and the fight against GMO and land-grabbing. Most recently, Slow Food’s 10 000 Gardens in Africa programme as provided local food production resilience against ebola. 

Slow Food Scotland Slow Food has been operating in Scotland for over a decade, with its largest convivial in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Following a recent re-organisation led by leaders in Scotland, England and Wales, Slow Food in the UK has been largely devolved from central UK control to national bodies able to react better to local conditions, aspirations and culture, whilst co-operating on matters that have a common cause. This process will be concluded this year, with Slow Food Scotland holding its founding AGM in March 2014. 

In 2014, Slow Food Scotland led a delegation of Scots chefs, producers, students and leaders to Terra Madre in Turin, as well as organising the first ever Scottish Terra Madre gathering at home. 

More information about Slow Food can be found here: www.slowfood.com

 

 

Slow Food Supper

By Rachel Gillon

This week saw the group’s first ‘Slow Food Supper’ and it’s fair to say that it was great success. The event, held in Dunlop,  was supported by members of Ayrshire Food Network and featured produce from 20 West of Scotland producers.

All the ingredients for a wonderful artisan supper

The food was coordinated by group member, Brenda Anderson of Tasting Scotland and on arrival, the 45 guests enjoyed a selection of  canapes made by Brenda, using cheeses donated by two local award winning dairys, Dunlop Dairy and Barwheys Dairy.  The selection also included delicious scotch eggs from local supporters  Aye Love Real Food

Our chef Brenda, making sure guests were fed

The wines for the meal was chosen by wine expert and group  supporter, Pieter Rosenthal. Pieter ensured there were some Scottish connections with the drinks, with guests enjoying a selection of aperitifs on arrival and a further choice of outstanding wines with their meal.

Peter with a selection of the wines he had chose for the event

A variety of colourful Mediterranean influenced leaf and vegetable salads, made by Eileen Wilkinson of Petrie Fine Foods

And of course no ‘Slow Food’ supper would be complete without truly wonderful food. This snapshot shows some of the delicious food enjoyed from an exceptional array of local ingredients.

Beautiful table flowers from Mayfield Flowers, a perfect match to the colourful food

 Our chef Brenda, devised a fantastic menu, with emphasis on produce coming from local producers and the ‘Forgotten Foods Campaign’ at Slow Food UK . Local meats and pies came from Nethergate Larder, delicious and colourful salads made by  Petrie Fine Foods , Bere Meal bread from Heart & Soul Food, and ice creams from Lime Tree Larder and Wester Highgate Ice Cream. Locally roasted coffee was supplied by Ayrshire’s Round Square Roastery                                   

   Local ice creams for dessert and handmade chocolates with local roasted coffee

                          

As the evening was informal, there were no speeches, but we did hear from group leader, Howard Wilkinson about Slow Food and local Ayrshire food, particularly produce from Ayrshire Food Network Four short recordings, funded via the Taste Ayrshire, TORE (Taste of Rural Europe) Leadership Project,  were shown, all highlighting the strong rural food network in the Ayrshire area. These can all be accessed  the home page on Ayrshire Food Network via the heading  Taste of Ayrshire Videos, ‘Something in Ayrshire’

‘Storytelling’, local food and slow food

Of course, there’s no such thing as a free dinner and an important element of the evening was to raise much needed funds to enable the group to go forward with Slow Food Scotland and spread the ‘Good, Clean, Fair’  message in the West of Scotland. The generosity of supporters was outstanding and the group were most fortunate to receive some exceptional prizes for the evenings raffle. Our thanks for donations go to local artist, Charles Jamieson , coffee suppliers, Roundsquare Roastery, Distillers, Arran Whisky, chilli relish producer, Everything Chilli, egg producers, Corrie Mains Farm, The Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow , Borland’s Deli (Facebook /borlands.deli)  Petrie Fine Foods (Facebook /Petrie Fine Foods) and Veg supplier’s GC Growers, Girvan and Grants of Prestwick

Some of the fantastic prizes. Print by Charles Jamieson, Vegetables from GC Growers and a 14 year old malt from Arran Whisky

 The strong relationship Slow Food have with Ayrshire food and drink producers was evident throughout the evening and with so many great food and drink producers in the West of Scotland, the group are looking forward to hosting similar events in the future. 

Some of our great local food producers. Left, Anne Dorward & David Hamilton of Dunlop Dairy and right, Arlene & Thomson McKenzie of Nethergate Larder with May & Gavin Wiley of Wester Highgate Ice Cream 

  Photographs

Thanks to Sally Jamieson, Caroline Rye and Rachel Gillon for photographs.    

http://www.ayrshirefoodnetwork.co.uk

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Happy Terra Madre Day

Happy Terra Madre Day from the Slow Food West of Scotland Group

Happy Terra Madre Day, the day that Slow Food communicates it’s philosophy of good, clean, fair food to the world. To celebrate the day in the West of Scotland, we are sharing a recipe from our group member and Slow Food Chef Alliance chef, Zoltan Szabo. Last week the group took part in a local food festival at Edenmill Farm and this is the dish that Zoltan cooked and shared on the day.

Seared tenderloin & slow cooked belly of Scottish pork, sauté & purée of forest
mushrooms, red onion crushed potatoes & apple cider jus
Ingredients for four:

Seared tenderloin:
4 x 100gr Scottish pork tenderloin, fully trimmed (ask your butcher to do
this), room temperature
30ml Scottish rapeseed oil
1tbsp butter, unsalted
2-3 sprig of thyme
Seasoning to taste

Slow cooked belly:
For the brine:
180gr table salt
100gr Muscovado or Demerara sugar
200ml hot water
800ml cold water
2 sprig of thyme or rosemary or sage
1teaspoon crushed pepper corns

600gr Scottish pork belly, skin on, bones off
30ml Scottish rapeseed oil
1 onion roughly chopped
1 carrot roughly chopped
2-3 clove of garlic, crushed
2-3 sprigs of thyme or rosemary
1 bay leaf
300-400ml vegetable or beef stock (you can use Knorr stock cubes)

Sautee and purée of forest mushrooms:
1 small shallot, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
30ml Scottish rapeseed oil
1 sprig of thyme or rosemary
12 large button mushrooms, sliced
1tbsp truffle oil or truffle & porcini salsa
1-2 tbsp butter, unsalted
Seasoning to taste

30ml Scottish rapeseed oil
2 banana shallots, large, halved
4baby carrots, peeled
2tbsp butter
120gr mixed mushrooms
Seasoning to taste
2 sprig of fresh parsley

Red onion crushed potatoes:
4 large maris pipers potatoes, peeled
2 tbsp Scottish rapeseed oil
1 tbsp butter, unsalted
2 sprig of thyme
1 teaspoon Muscovado or Demerara sugar
Seasoning to taste

Sauce:
Pork belly cooking juices
0.5 btl apple cider
Seasoning to taste
1tbsp butter
2 sprig of sage

To cook the tenderloin: Season the pork with salt and white pepper.
Heat up the rapeseed oil and butter till foams, add the pork tenderloin
and thyme. Cook for 3 minutes on high heat continuously turning all
sides to be golden brown. Cook in 200C oven till the core temperature
reaches 75C degrees. Remove from the oven and rest for 5 minutes
before serving.

To cook the belly: 24hrs in advance prepare the brine by mixing
together the hot water with the salt and sugar till dissolves before
adding the rest of the ingredients. Immerse the belly in the brine and
refrigerate for 12 hrs at least. Before cooking the belly remove from the
brine, rinse under cold water to remove the excess salt and pat dry.
Gently brush the skin with a touch of oil.

Heat up a heavy based casserole dish, add the oil and the vegetables
and cook till golden. Add the herbs and bay leaf, topped with the pork
belly skin side up. Pour half the stock around the belly and roast on
200c for 20minutes, add the rest of the stock and reduce the oven
temperature to 170C. Cook the belly till soft( if you need more liquid
just use water to top it up), remove from the juices once cooked. Pass
the juices through a fine mesh sieve and keep it aside.

Mushroom pure & garnish:Heat up a small pot then add the  oil, shallots and garlic and cook till soften. Add the button mushrooms and thyme. Cook for about 2 minutes with out colouring; add just enough water to cover the mushrooms. Cook till soften then remove the thyme stems and blend with a hand blender into  fine puree. Adjust the seasoning and add a little drizzle of truffle oil or porcini salsa. Keep warm till needed.

To sauté the mushrooms and to caramelise the shallots & carrots heat
up a heavy based fry pan. Add the oil and once hot add the carrots and
shallots to the pan. Gently shake the pan to turn the carrots till golden
all the way around and to move the shallots around. Add a few spoon
full of water just to moisten the pan, this will helps the vegetables to
cook faster. As soon as there cooked remove from the pan, season
and set aside. Add the mushrooms to the pan and gently sauté for
about 2 minutes or so or until soften. Adjust the seasoning and add
some chopped parsley. Set aside till needed.
For the red onion crush: Heat a heavy based fry pan and add the
sugar. As soon as it melts add the sliced red onions and thyme, cook
till soften and caramelised. Meanwhile boil the potatoes till soft in
salted water.

As soon as the potatoes are cooked, drain them and add to the onions.
Crush them by a fork and adjusting the seasoning.

To finish the sauce: reduce the apple cider by half, add all the pork
cooking juices along with the sage. Reduce by half and strain, whisk in
the butter and keep hot till serving.

Time to use up the leftover pumpkin

Halloween is almost over and what many are thinking about is what to do with those leftover pumpkins. No doubt, lots will end up in compost bins but there are so many ways to use up the leftover flesh or indeed whole pumpkins.

Squashes are ideal for soup and roasting but most of us of look for some inspiration when it comes to dealing with pumpkins after Halloween.

Slow Food Alliance Chef and Head Chef at Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel, Zoltan Zsabo, cooked some wonderful flavoured dishes at our recent seasonal cooking demonstration at Paisley Farmers Market. Many shoppers had never cooked with pumpkin and were delighted to sample the dishes that Zoltan had cooked. Here, he shares a few of his favourite pumpkin and squash recipes that he cooked at the demonstration.

potato gnocchi with butternut squash, aubergine & sun blushed tomatoes with hazelnuts & sour cream

This is a great recipe if you looking for a seasonal treat. This version is vegetarian however you can always add a few slices of chorizo or smoked pancetta or even serve as a garnish for a marinated grilled chicken breast.

Ingredients for four as starters

500gr ready made potato gnocchi

90ml Scottish rapeseed oil

200gr butternut squash, peeled and diced

0.5 aubergine, diced

5-6 pieces of sun blushed tomatoes, finely sliced

1 clove of garlic

1 small shallot, finely diced

1 small package of hazelnuts about 50gr ish

1-2 sprig of thyme

2-3 leaf of fresh sage

50ml sour cream

Seasoning to taste

Heat a heavy based frying pan and add 3tbsp rapeseed oil. Add the diced shallots and cook for a minute or so, then add the diced squash, aubergine & garlic at the same time. Add the hazelnuts then sauté all along with the thyme until softens about 8-12minutes. Pour the vegetable mix into a bowl and keep warm or chill till needed.

Sauté the gnocchi on the rapeseed oil till golden and heated through, then add the cooked vegetables. Lower the heat and cook all together for a minute or so, toss with some finely sliced sage.

Serve the dish in a bowl with a drizzle of sour cream and some grated parmesan(optional).

Roasted pumpkin salad with Paisley Farmers Market cheeses, mushrooms, herbs and rocket 

I just love the fall season. It gives you such a different dimension to your dishes. The season is dominated by the root vegetables, the different variety of apples, pear grapes or wild berries, cabbages etc.

You can always add a thin slice of Lardo di Collonata, Serrano-type ham to give another dimension for the dish. 

Ingredients for four as snacks 

1-2 slice of day old sourdough bread/baguette or any types of loaf, diced

50-60gr mixed forest mushrooms, sliced (or button mushrooms)

100-150gr pumpkin, sliced or diced

1 medium shallot, sliced

1 pear

50-80ml rapeseed oil

1 clove of garlic

1-2 sprig of thyme

80gr Scottish cheese from your local farmers market, blue, cheddar, brie or even a cream cheese

50ml hazelnut oil

2-3 handful of rocket

1 teaspoon of sherry vinegar

Seasoning to taste

Heat a few spoonful of rapeseed oil, and sauté the pumpkin, crushed garlic and thyme until till soft, season to taste. Remove the pumpkin from the frying pan and place into a bowl then keep warm and set aside. Sauté the mushrooms with the shallot till soft, season then add to the pumpkin.

Heat the remaining rapeseed oil and fry the diced bread, season and fry till crispy then spoon over a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

Fall season bruschetta

The fall season gives you such a different dimension to your dishes. The season is dominated by  root vegetables and the different variety of apples, pear grapes or wild berries, cabbages etc.You can always add a thin slice of Lardo di Collonata, Serrano-type ham to give another dimension for the dish.

Ingredients for four as snacks

Medium sized baguette, sliced

50-60gr mixed forest mushrooms, sliced (or button mushrooms)

100gr butternut squash finely diced (or pumpkin)

1 smaller aubergine, diced

1 medium sized onion, sliced

1 red apple or grapes

50-80ml rapeseed oil

1 clove of garlic

1-2 sprig of thyme

2-3 leaf of sage or continental parsley(optional)

1tbsp caster sugar

Seasoning to taste

Heat a heavy based frying pan and add the sugar. As soon as the sugar starting to caramelise add the diced onion and cook till soften. Add the sliced garlic, mushrooms, thyme, squash, aubergine and cook for 4-5 minutes stirring carefully to avoid the sugar to burn. You can add a spoon full of water if necessary. Gently season and cook till the squash is softened then add the apples and/or grapes.

Add the chopped parsley and adjust the seasoning.

Charr or toast the baguette and spoon over the bruschetta mix.

If you fancy drizzle with some balsamic reduction and sprinkle with parmesan.

 

Further Information

Thank you to Zoltan for taking time out to cook for us and for sharing his fantastic recipes. you can follow him on twitter @zoltan_zs

 www.SlowFood.org.uk

Follow @SlowFoodWSCOT on twitter and Slow Food West of Scotland on Facebook.

 

Farmers Market Cooking and Food Tasting

Good, Clean and Fair, the food cooked by Slow Food Chef Alliance Chef, Zoltan Zsabo ticked all of those boxes when the group joined stallholders at Paisley  Farmers market in Renfrewshire for a seasonal cooking and tasting demonstration. It was a chilly Saturday morning but with autumn in full swing and  lots of comforting produce on the various stalls, shoppers were keen to see what Zoltan had in his shopping basket.

Meat and fish were plentiful and on  the vegetable stalls, pumpkins and butternut squashes were in abundance, along with mushrooms, aubergines,  apples and pears. Zoltan had chosen recipes that were simple and straightforward  to prepare and with our limited cooking facilities, the dishes needed to be quick and easy to cook.

The first dish, ‘Fall Season Bruschetta’, included butternut squash and many shoppers were surprised to see it being cooked like this with many admitting to lacking imagination when it came to cooking with squashes and pumpkins. 

Bruschetta is served

Next dish was the most delicious ‘gnocchi with butternut squash, aubergine & sun blushed tomato with hazelnuts and sour cream. This really flavoursome and filling dish was popular with the crowd, particularly some children who had recently become vegetarians.

Next up was ‘ warm roasted pumpkin salad, with local cheese, mushrooms herbs and rocket’.  Like the butternut squash, shoppers were surprised to see pumpkin in a salad and most agreed that in future pumpkins were not just for Halloween lanterns.  In this recipe, Zoltan used cheddar from from local award winning cheesemaker, Ann Dorward of Dunlop Dairy, although it works equally well with other cheeses such as blue, brie or even cream cheese.

There’s more to pumpkin than Halloween lanterns

The demonstration and the food tasting was very popular with shoppers, and as  many had never heard of Slow Food, it gave us a welcome opportunity to spread the ‘Good, Clean, Fair’ message and to encourage them to support the local group.

The event was a great success and Zoltan, who is Head Chef at Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel, delighted the crowd with lots of cooking tips and hints for preparing ingredients. Everyone was happy to take home copies of the various recipes and many some even went off to buy pumpkins for the recipes.

Zoltan with some very enthusiastic tasters

Thank you to the Grand Central Hotel Glasgow for their support with this event .

Chef Zoltan Zsabo is Head Chef at the Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow. http://www.thegrandcentralhotel.co.uk  Follow him on twitter @zoltan_zs

For further information on Slow Food and the ‘Chef Alliance’ see http://www.SlowFood.org.uk .

Further information on Paisley farmers market can be found at http://www.ayrshirefarmersmarket.co.uk