field&flower: premium somerset produce from the farm to your door.

voted the best meat box 2012 in the independent, i recently heard about the brilliant (and building) reputation of field&flower. producing and delivering premium, free range, organic meat from their somerset based farm, field&flower have an array of options ranging from classic cuts of beef, good old british sausages and roasting joints to the more adventurous wood pigeon, venison and rabbit. (i'm really sorry my veggie and vegan friends but it's probably best you avert your eyes to some vegan and veggie recipes instead...) 

so off i went to browse their produce and research some recipes to try out that would bring out the extra special meat i was ordering :) on their site, there is the option to buy a regular or "one-off" balanced box of meat to suit your lifestyle or occasion - such as the family barbecue, the skinny, the slow roast, thrifty beef and the seasonal game. 

another option is to work on credits so you can pick your own. so for example with the small meat box which is £55 you get 85 credits; this could get you something like one large chicken, two rump steaks, two gammon steaks, one large beef mince, one small lamb mince, a pack of homemade somerset lamb burgers, pork and leek sausages and two packs of streaky bacon. there are sauces and condiments to go with each meat too!

it suited me to pick the meat individually as i just cook for myself and occasionally my boyfriend or housemates. i went with a 1kg boned and rolled pork belly joint for £10.35, 400g diced wild venison at £6.60 and four wild wood pigeon breasts at £6. as you can see it came in an ice box which kept it cool all day whilst i was at work. 

so, what did i make?

smoked wood pigeon salad.

with all the hot weather we're having (well a bit hit and miss this last week) i've been trying to think of recipes which are quite light but still satisfy my appetite. this hasn't always been successful as i love a hearty evening meal and have lately been eating things like fragrant but healthy curries and seafood pasta dishes. 

when i had my field&flower produce delivery, for which i'll be writing a round up post on soon, i decided to be a bit daring and try out cooking with wood pigeon. a mix of the deep but smokey game flavours, salty lardons, bitter walnuts and fresh salad i actually felt full up. this is one of my most adventurous recipes to date so i hope you enjoy!

poppa wan's show-stopping twice-cooked melting pork: a recipe in pictures.

eek when i was bought the gok cooks chinese book i felt like a little kid getting a new toy! i sat up reading through all the recipes and looking at all the delicious pictures not knowing what to make first; hoisin duck and pancakes, sesame prawns, the amazing sounding oriental salads, dim sum... then i saw this melting pork dish and knew from the name alone that i had to try it out. i'd ordered some meat from field and flower for that weekend and hadn't decided what to make with the rolled and boned pork belly yet.

so since i don't want to give away too much about the wan's family secrets, here is a recipe in pictures of poppa wan's show-stopping twice-cooked melting pork along with sesame carrot salad adapted from the book.

homemade red wine venison ravioli.

my lovely pasta maker has had a little break lately - i seem not to have made anything italian inspired in so long! i recently discovered the somerset produce from field&flower - with everything from classic british sausages to the more unusual game cuts - and thought this would be a brilliant opportunity to try out a posh ravioli with some delicious venison. i ordered a few different meats which will be posts to come. but for now, how did i make it? :)