A feast fit for a restaurant

Eating out isn’t an option at the moment, but cooking a restaurant meal yourself is thanks to new recipes from The Riverford Field Kitchen’s head chef Lewis Glanvill.

Inspired by the veg literally on their doorstep at Riverford’s south Devon farm, he has created fresh recipes showcasing seasonal veg and adapted for you to make at home.

Get the table set with some beautiful ‘tablescaping’, swap the saggy joggers for something swish and recreate these vibrant flavours yourself for a home-cooked feast.  

If you became a sourdough baker during the first lockdown, some homemade bread chunks to dip into extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar are a deliciously simple starter.

Loaves at the Field Kitchen are made with their sourdough starter fondly named ‘Peggy’, but you can make your own from scratch using their video guide below or sourdough bread recipe here. 

For your main, this glorious griddled squash with butterbeans and salsa verde was a hit at one of the Field Kitchen’s ‘feast over fire’ events last summer.

Diners ate amongst the veg patches and inside the polytunnels while dinner was cooked over fire pits and in wood-fired ovens. You can do the same using a griddle pan; the smokiness from charring works well with squash’s natural sweetness and patterns the orange flesh with dramatic black stripes.  

Italian salsa verde adds the acidity this dish needs; it’s a punchy herb sauce which can be adapted to suit your own taste. Add a little garlic and vinegar to begin with, then taste as you go. You can make it ahead of time, but it will lose a little of its vibrancy, both visually and in flavour. Find the full recipe here.  

For dessert, vegan frangipane is a real treat if you fancy something sweet. First made with figs in the autumn, this versatile almond sponge base uses olive oil instead of butter and is dotted with sweet, soft fruits. You can use pear or apple for a winter twist, or in summer soft fruits and berries would work well, too. Serve with custard, ice cream or cream – vegan or classic, whichever you prefer. Explore the recipe here. 

Veg-based drinks may not be the first thing that spring to mind to go with your meal, but the restaurant team loves to get creative with drinks they make and serve, using fruit and veg from the farm’s fields and hedgerows.

‘Parschnapps’ is a wonderful creation with parsnips as the surprising ingredient, created by the Field Kitchen’s drinks maestra Gem. Parsnips work perfectly as a ‘schnapp’ because of their natural, earthy sweetness. 

Delicious on its own served over ice, it needs a little advance planning to prepare it well ahead of time but is extremely easy to make. Turn it into a ‘rooty martini’ – the parschnapps based equivalent of a dirty martini, shaken over ice with vermouth and served with a sprinkle of nutmeg. For full instructions for how to make parschnapps, click here or watch the video below.