Another wonderful recipe kindly passed on by a friend. And one that I must try making with my children.

Primrose Curd

Two generous handfuls of unsprayed clean primrose petals.

450grms sugar

450grms Bramley apple

125grms unsalted butter

4-5 large eggs

The zest and juice of two lemons.

Day One

Finely chop the primrose petals and place them with the sugar in a container and stir through the primrose flowers. Cover and leave for at least 24 hours (this will allow the flavours from the petals to be released into the sugar.

Day Two

Peel and chop 450grms of apples, put them in a pan with 100ml of water and the lemon zest and juice. On the hob, gently cook the apple until it is yieldingly soft and then mash it into a purée.

One third fill a pan with water and place a snug-fitting heat-proof bowl on the top of the pan. Add the apple, butter, lemon juice and primrose sugar mixture to the bowl. Heat the pan and stir the mixture until the butter has completely melted.

Turn off the heat and add the eggs to the mixture through a sieve. Stir the eggs in thoroughly with a balloon whisk.

Put the pan back on a gentle heat and stir the mixture for about 10 minutes until it thickens. (It will thicken further as it cools). Pour the curd into sterilised jars, seal immediately and store in the fridge where it will keep for up to a month. Sieve the curd whilst pouring the curd into the jar.

It looks delicious and apparently takes amazing. A superb and very interesting wild harvest recipe in my opinion.

Eva and I caught a wild from trout from the Bristol Frome this evening. We rarely take Trout from the Frome, but I took this small trout this evening for Eva's dinner. I tend to only take small fish (less than 1/2lb) for my children's dinner. All big fish go back.

We made a Wild Onion, Elephant Garlic, Smoked Elephant Garlic and Wild Garlic Pesto and Eva had it for her tea. She couldn't stop praising how it all tasted!

Eva also made a giant Lesser Celandine chain and we had a fire by the river. Happy days!!!

The Pesto ingredients;

Pine nuts

Hazel nuts

Olive oil

Vinegar (slash to preserve)

Elephant Garlic

Smoke Elephant Garlic

A small bunch of Wild Onion Leaves

Wild Garlic

A wild salad made up by Eva (my 9 year old) - Hairy Bittercress, Sorrel, Lesser Celandine, Wild Onion (Leaves & Bulb), Wild Garlic (leaves & buds), Young Hawthorn Leaves, Hedge Garlic, Ground Elder, Cow Parsley, topped with a handful of Sweet Violets and Primrose. We ate it with Merguez, Cooking Chorizo and Burdock Root.

The Forest of Dean has a wealth of history. It's been inhabited by humans since Mesolithic times. Archaeological evidence shows that it was used during the Bronze and Iron Age. It was used by the Romans and was the second largest Royal Hunting Forest (Crown Forest). The largest being the New Forest. So it has a long history of being used as a hunting ground and it's harvest used to feed humans. There is also evidence of it being used as an ancient sea port.

There are now large herds of Fallow Deer Present. I've personally seen all morphological types, Common, Menil, Melanistic and White Fallow Deer. With no natural predators the numbers of fallow deer have to managed annually.

Wild Boar became extinct around 300 years ago in the UK. The Forest of Dean population is the largest of the breeding populations that now exist in England. The original population established in woodlands near Ross-on-Wye after escaping from a wild boar farm in the area during the 1990’s. However, in 2004 a group of around 60-farm reared wild boar were dumped in an illegal release near the village of Staunton on the western edge of the Forest above the Wye Valley. By 2009 it was clear that the two populations had merged. The numbers are an estimated 800+ Wild Boar in the forest. The signs of the routing boar is clear to see, over much of the forest. The Boar also therefore require management. Much of the venison and boar meat goes into the human food chain.

There are also Muntjac and Roe Deer in the forest. I believe now a herd of Red Deer, although I haven't seen them to date.

It's a truly beautiful and wild place.

There are no natural predictors to either deer or boar. It is estimated that around 20% of the deer in the UK need to be culled each year the the UK to prevent deer numbers escalating to unsustainable levels and to prevent significant woodland and crop damage. If the deer were not managed, the result would be a loss of woodland regeneration and a loss of woodland flora. Recently some experts suggest that 50% of the deer in the UK should be culled, in order to stop the significant rise in deer numbers, that has occured over recent years. Each year there are around 70,000 RTAs on our roads involving deer, 500 hospitalisations and around 10-20 human fatalities. If deer are not managed, these figures could rise dramatically.

The aim is always to manage the deer & boar to suistainsble numbers and not to eliminate them. This is important to ensure a healthy population and a balanced ecosystem.

Ingredients:

Red Deer Liver - coarsely ground. I used a blender.

An equal amount of coarsely ground shoulder of pork. The butcher ground the shoulder pork up for me.

Local home cured and smoked streaky bacon. This was cured and smoked by my local butcher.

One small onion. Pan fried in butter until translucent.

A couple of cloves of garlic finely chopped.

Chopped Sage and Tyme.

Sea Salt and coarsely ground black pepper.

A handful of breadcrumbs. This is important to keep the pate moist.

A small glug of good red wine, I used Rioja or port.

Mix the incredients in a large bowl thoroughly by hand.

Line a pate dish or loaf tin with the streaky bacon. Layer the bacon over the top of the pate.

Cook in a Bain Marie (a dish with some water in it) for 1.5 hours in the oven on a medium heat.

It's ready. Cool and serve.

The Red Deer and Muntjac loins were marinated in olive oil, salt and pepper. Left to room temperature before cooking. Browned in pan, then about 8min in oven..

The haunch of muntjac was cooked in the slow cooker with Blackberries, vegetable stock, red wine and creme de cassis.

The loins were served with pretty much same, but the sauce on the loins much more reduced into a jus. They were served on a bed of sautéed leeks.

This is Andy's multi bird Christmas Roast. All of the birds were deboned. But the legs and wings were left on the Turkey.

From the outside:

Turkey,

Guinea Fowl

Mallard

Pheasant

Partridge

Woodcock

2 Quail

Wood pigeon

A modified supermarket recipe from a friend of mine - spicy pear chutney.

I threw in some ground cinnamon, cloves, plum tomatoes and cashew nuts. I didn't have star anise. Would probably reduce the sugar a bit if I made it again, because it's quite sweet.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Total time: 1 hour 35 minutes    

Makes: 1kg (4 x 250ml jars)

Ingredients

1kg bag essential Waitrose Conference Pears

300g light muscovado sugar

500ml cider vinegar

2 medium red onions, roughly chopped

40g peeled, grated, fresh ginger

4 cloves garlic, minced

1½ tsp salt

250g pack Waitrose LOVE Life Cherries, Raisins & Nuts

2 cinnamon sticks

3 star anise

1 X ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Put 4 x 250ml clean jars and lids on a baking tray and place in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes to sterilise. Remove the tray from the oven and set aside to cool.

2. Peel and core the pears then chop into rough chunks. In a large pan, bring the sugar and vinegar to the boil, then add the pears and the rest of the ingredients. Simmer over a low heat for 1 hour uncovered, or until thick and glossy.

3. Decant the chutney into the sterilised jars and screw the lids on. Allow to cool completely, then store in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Plum liqueur:

1. Place the vodka, plums and sugar in a large saucepan.

2. Bring to the boil and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool.

3. Transfer the vodka plum mixture into two bottles and store in a dark, cool place for 3 months.

4. Optional: Strain the plum vodka through muslin and bottle in 2 clean bottles; or keep plums in liqueur to make a compote.

INGREDIENTS

1 bottle of vodka

450 g plums, halved and stoned

225 g sugar