After much anticipation and a great deal of excitement, the winners of the ten categories in the Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2011/12 are finally celebrating being named the best of the county’s best!

The competition, devised by Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (NEP), is now in its third year and is again aimed at celebrating all that is great about local produce and drink, recognising excellence within the county’s dining venues and rewarding those who work so hard within the culinary sector.

The results were announced at a glittering Awards Dinner (Thurs 1^st Sept) staged in the magnificent setting of Holdenby House.

The winners and runners-up are:
Young Chef of the Year:
Winner: Leighanne Harrison
Runner-up: Paige Sanderson

Local Food Hero:
Winner: Collyweston Community Shop
Runner-up: Nick Riseley of Creamers Coffee House, Raunds

Community Pub of the Year – Town:
Winner (only): The Malt Shovel Tavern, Northampton
Community Pub of the Year – Rural:
Winner (only): The Sun Inn, Hardingstone

Curry Chef of the Year:
Winner: Durga Sapkota of Mem-Saab Ltd, Northampton
Runner-up: Bodrul Islam of Saffron, Northampton

Pub or Bar Restaurant of the Year:
Winner: Rose & Crown, Yardley Hastings
Runner-up: The Saracen’s Head, Little Brington

Restaurant of the Year:
Winner: Beckworth Emporium, Mears Ashby
Runner-up: The Seafood Café, Northampton 

Best Local Product:
Winner: Farrington’s Balsamic Dressing, Farrington Oils Ltd
Runner up: Diamond Pork Pie, Sauls of Spratton Ltd       

Best Local Drink:
Winner : Fleur Fields Rosé, Fleur Fields Ltd
Runner up: Medium Apple Juice, The Village Orchard

Booker Chef of the Year:
Winner: Lee Gaskins of The Terrace Restaurant at Highgate House, Creaton
Runner-up: Hao Dang of Dang’s Vietnamese Restaurant, Northampton

‘Young Chef of the Year’, Leighanne Harrison, a former Northampton College student who is now working at The Seafood Café in Northampton, was stunned by the announcement of her victory, “I couldn’t believe it when my name was announced and my legs turned to jelly when I got up to collect my trophy! I’ve won two bronze medals and a silver in the UK World Skills competition for my silver service but this is my first award for my cooking – and it’s amazing!”

Meanwhile for Andrew Pye of The Sun Inn, Hardingstone, winning the title of ‘Community Pub of the Year – Rural’ also came as a wonderful surprise, “I’m absolutely delighted! I’ve got twenty five young people in my team and this is fantastic recognition for them and their efforts in supporting the community. This really is the greatest accolade and we certainly intend to have a big party to celebrate!”

And for Duncan Farrington of Farrington Oils in Hargrave whose Balsamic Dressing won the ‘Best Local Product ’ title, the award clearly meant everything, ”This is the third year we’ve entered and so to take the title at last is wonderful, especially with a product which we only launched earlier this summer.  Although we sell nationally and internationally, our greatest following is here in Northamptonshire and so to receive this local award from those wonderful supporters is great and we’d like to say thank you to them!”  

The trophies – a beautifully handcrafted plaque created by Northampton ceramicist Nita Nathwani – were presented by a selection of this year’s Award judges, including Holdenby House owner James Lowther, award-winning broadcaster, editor and food writer William Sitwell and Northampton-born Tom Whitaker, who was runner-up in this year’s BBC Masterchef. Tom said he was very pleased to be playing his part in supporting his county of birth, “It’s been great to come back home and to be involved in what is such a fantastic competition. I’m a real supporter of buying British and indeed local produce and it’s clear Northamptonshire‘s great venues and chefs share my thinking. The county should feel very proud!” 

Guests were welcomed to the event by the competition’s co-ordinator, Rachel Mallows of The Mallows Company and NEP’s Chief Executive, Rob Purdie. Rob spoke afterwards of his delight that the competition is making such an impact, “As the organization behind these awards it was very exciting to see the responses of the winners and runners-up and what success in this competition so clearly means to them. The awards are about encouraging all those in the sector, from grass roots level upwards, to be as good as they can be and across all categories we’re already seeing the difference that is making. We’re delighted that our efforts are reaping such rewards for so many.”

Former Northampton College student and Executive Chef at Gary Rhodes’ Michelin-starred restaurant Rhodes Twenty Four, Adam Gray, prepared a mouth-watering Northamptonshire menu for the 250 entrants, judges, sponsors, media partners and supporters who attended, including the creator of Ready Steady Cook and a Fellow of the Master Chefs of Great Britain, Steven Saunders.  Guests were treated to a starter of cured salmon served with a Northamptonshire honey-pickled cucumber salad, followed by a trio of Northamptonshire lamb and a pudding of iced lemon chiboust served with Northamptonshire blackberries.

First day at the Northamptonshire Foodshow today – thanks to everyone who visited and watched the great demos by Adam Gray, Richard Curtis, Stephen Bulmer and Sophie Grigson in the Shires marquee. More pics and all the recipes will be posted on site the site on Tuesday this week.

If you are coming to the show tomorrow we have another great line up of demos starting at 11.30am and hopefully the weather will be kind.

A cake maker, a coffee-shop owner and a community shop are among the finalists vying to be named ‘Local Food Hero’ in this year’s Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards.

The Awards, devised by Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (NEP), are now in their third year and are again aimed at celebrating all that is great about local produce and drink, recognising excellence within the county’s dining venues and to reward those who work so hard within the culinary sector.

This category, staged in partnership with the Northamptonshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), invited the public to nominate a person, business or organisation which they believed had done more in the last year to promote local food than any other. The five finalists are (in alphabetical order):

Collyweston Community Shop
Dovecote Farm Shop, Newton
Laura Hughes-Wasilewski of Cakerama, Woodford Halse
Nick Riseley of Creamers Coffee House, Raunds
Rob Walker of The Old Forge, Cranford

For Nick Riseley, the news came as something of a pleasant surprise. “It was great to just be nominated but to reach the finals is unbelievable. Hopefully this will make my staff realise how good they actually are as this would not be achievable without them! And of course the customers, who regularly come in, rain or sunshine, to spend their pennies in my business and so to them I am more than thankful. Here’s to many more years!”

Nominations from all corners of the county were received for everything from butchers to bakers, farms shops to nurseries, presenting something of a challenge to the judging panel which included the Chair of the Northamptonshire Community Foundation, David Laing and the Chief Executive of Northampton Borough Council, David Kennedy. “We had a wonderful array of nominations,” said David, “which only goes to show that Northamptonshire is overflowing with people who are passionate about local produce. We found it quite difficult to narrow our selection to just five but as a result I’ve got a long list of wonderful venues to visit over the coming months!”

Sally Hanrahan is the Northamptonshire CPRE’s Development and Education Manager and has worked alongside the competition’s co-ordinator Rachel Mallows from The Mallows Company on this category. “What we love about this particular award is that it throws up some real county gems – people and venues that are highly valued by their customers but not necessarily known widely. So this is the perfect opportunity to shout about their achievements and to let our local food heroes know that their efforts are appreciated!”

The finalists now have until 1st September to discover their fate when the winners and runners-up in all ten categories will be announced at the Awards Dinner at Holdenby House. To see details of all the finalists, including links to their websites please visit www.letyourselfgrow.com/foodanddrinkawards

To celebrate the official opening of our school a number of guests joined us for champagne and canapes.

Representatives from Baumatic, Kenwood and friends of the school had an opportunity to view the new teaching kitchen and enjoyed a cookery demonstration by Adam Gray. Thanks to everyone who came along on the day

Need some food inspiration? Then come along next Saturday 16th July to the fantastic Oundle Food Festival. During the day there will be a number of mouthwatering demonstrations including wild foraging with Arthur Potts Dawson, Artisan Sausage making with Alex Chambers, and award winning baker and Guardian food writer Dan Lepard will be running two great sessions on bread baking.

The stall holders marketplace will offer a fantastic range of local and regional producers, and suppliers of fine foods and organic produce. The Slow Food Movements Taste adventure will keep the kids entertained, along with music, dancing  and entertainment.

So put a date in your diary and come along. More details can be found at www.oundlefoodfestival.co.uk

With the whisks whirring and the sauces simmering, the county’s finest chefs have been fighting over their frying pans to determine who will be named ‘Booker Chef of the Year’ and ‘Curry Chef of the Year’ in probably the world’s most prestigious culinary competition – the Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards.

The Awards, devised by Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (NEP), are now in their third year and are again aimed at celebrating all that is great about local produce and drink, to recognise excellence within the county’s dining venues and to reward those who work so hard within the culinary sector.

The first cook-off, and the bid to be named ‘Booker Chef of the Year’, took place in the impressive kitchens of the Silverstone circuit, and the quartet competing over the stoves were (in alphabetical order):

Hao Dang of Dang’s Vietnamese Restaurant, Northampton
Lee Gaskins of The Terrace Restaurant at Highgate House, Creaton
Scott Grimsley of The Olde Red Lion, Kislingbury
Will Mountain of The Saracen’s Head, Little Brington

In true ‘Ready Steady Cook’ style, each chef was presented with a basket of produce provided by category sponsor Booker, as well as the two key Northamptonshire ingredients of Harpole breast of lamb and strawberries from Newton, from which they had to create two mouthwatering courses.

Among the dishes they served were grilled asparagus with a tomato and coriander concasse, a crispy boiled egg and basil and raspberry vinaigrette, braised lamb ‘two-ways’ with a gateau of ratatouille and a basil and mint dressing and also a dessert of crème brûlée with berries, a mini summer pudding and a mini white wine jelly.

The judges charged with the delicious task of sampling the dishes were BBC Radio Northampton’s Laura Cook, Mike Coppock from Northampton College, Booker’s Regional Director Stuart Hyslop, Steven Saunders who is a Fellow Master Chef of Great Britain and Grant Hawthorne, Master Chef of Great Britain. Said Grant “It’s great to see the regionality of British cooking becoming more prominent on both the chef and wider public’s radar and a competition like this can only serve to enhance the reasons for visiting Northamptonshire. I think it’s a super way to support the county and celebrate not just its wonderful produce, but the people who cook it.”

For Stuart, the successful event was merely confirmation of his company’s decision to support the Awards. “As a local supplier to many chefs throughout Northamptonshire, Booker understands how important it is to reward those individuals who continue to create outstanding food. So to observe the finalists conjuring up some amazing dishes using our produce makes us very proud to be involved!”

Meanwhile the second cook-off was for the title of ‘Curry Chef of the Year’ with the four chefs, each from Northampton, being (in alphabetical order):

Ram Enus of MAHA-RAJ-A
Bodrul Islam of Saffron
Durga Sapkota of Mem Saab Ltd
Baldev Singh of Mem Saab Ltd

This spicy battle was held in the equally impressive training kitchens of the category partners, Northampton College and among the judges were their Catering Manager Richard Curtis, Ian James of sponsor British Pepper and Spice, Head of Catering at Bedford College Raj Mandal, Paul Calcott of media partners WOW Magazine, local food writer and broadcaster Vanessa Kimbell and former Northamptonshire and England cricketer Devon Malcolm.

The chefs produced a remarkable variety of dishes from chicken tikka mushakali to palak paneer, monkfish bhuna to lamb mozzarella kebab which meant that for Devon, choosing his winner was a quite a challenge! “I’ve tasted some of the world’s finest curries while on my international cricket duties so to sample such a high quality of food on my doorstep was fantastic. The standard of all four chefs was amazing and we should be really proud of the talent this county has to offer.”

Rachel Mallows from The Mallows Company is the competition’s co-ordinator. “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Northampton College and so proud to bring in the magnificent venue that is the Silverstone circuit and the UK’s number one cash and carry, Booker, this year. It’s testament to the increasing value of this competition and is further regional and national endorsement of what we’re trying to achieve locally.”

The chefs in both categories now have until 1st September to discover their fate when the winners and runners-up in all ten categories will be announced at the Awards Dinner at Holdenby House. Meanwhile, to see them in action at the cook-offs, visit the Awards’ website – www.letyourselfgrow.com/foodanddrinkawards

Finally, there’s your chance to help to decide who wins the ‘Community Pub of the Year’, ‘Restaurant of the Year’ and the ‘Pub or Bar Restaurant of the Year’ titles again by visiting the Awards’ website – www.letyourselfgrow.com/foodanddrinkawards and voting for your favourite in each category or by completing voting form which is available at each of the venues. You have until 8th August to register your vote.

“Very helpful” – “A great idea” – “A really positive step” –  just some of the thoughts of the county’s food and drink producers, suppliers and venues at the launch of ‘Made in Northamptonshire’ – a new networking group for those within the local food and drink sector.

The group was launched at Beckworth Emporium in Mears Ashby on Tuesday 18^th January and is aimed at giving members an opportunity to meet others from the industry, share expertise, discuss issues and promote themselves. It will stage quarterly meetings, have its own social networking site and act as a point of contact for answering local food and drink sourcing questions.

Among those who attended the launch was James Evans of Pastures Poultry in Yardley Hastings, who feels that the group could be of real value to his business. “This is a great idea because buying local has never been more important and so this is a chance to meet people from the industry and make new connections.”

Meanwhile John Crossan, the Manager of The Royal Oak at Eydon, left the launch event with a new contact already made. “We’re always looking to buy local where we can and we think we may even have found a new supplier on our doorstep from this launch. Plus we’ve been offered some advice on where we might find some well-qualified restaurant staff locally – so coming to the event has certainly been worthwhile!”

 Guests were invited to enjoy a welcome bacon sandwich before the official proceedings got underway with some brief speeches, a food quiz and an informal networking session. Among the speakers were Rachel Mallows of The Mallows Company, who has set up the group, Kate Dent, Head of Tourism from Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited, which facilitates the Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards, and Jo Murphy from the East Midlands Food and Drink iNet.

As Rachel explained, the group has been established to build on the success of the Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards. “When local producers, chefs and venues take part in the Awards, they’re up against once other, but this group is about helping businesses to take off those competitive oven gloves to support each other and work together to enhance what they do! I think the reaction from today’s founder members shows just why such a group is so important and how it might help to promote Northamptonshire’s food and drink sector to a wider audience.”

 Meanwhile, in her launch speech, Kate Dent, said the group will act as a real boost to the local visitor economy. “The food and drink sector is worth £150m to us and we’re really pleased to be supporting this venture as part of our ‘Made in Northamptonshire’ campaign across the county’s creative arts.”

‘Made in Northamptonshire’ is aimed at:

• producers wishing to find new markets and to work collaboratively
• retail outlets wanting to sell the ‘best of Northamptonshire’
• chefs and eateries looking to source good local produce
• county food and drink businesses which support local business
• people who love the ‘buy local’ philosophy

The next meeting will take place on 3^rd March as part of the Northamptonshire Tourism Forum at the Kettering Park Hotel .  Membership is FREE and open to anyone from the food and drink sector who would like to join. For further information, please visit www.letyourselfgrow/local or email anna@rachelmallows.com or call 01933 664437.

After much anticipation, excitement and a certain amount of nerves, the winners of the seven categories in the Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2010/11 are finally celebrating being named the best of the county’s best!

The Awards, devised by Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited, were designed to celebrate all that is great about the county’s produce and drink, to recognise excellence within its dining venues and to reward those who work so hard within the culinary sector.

The results were announced at a glittering Awards Dinner (Weds 6th October) staged in the magnificent Elizabethan rooms of Holdenby House.

The winners and runners-up are:

Best Local Product:
Runner-up Original Brixworth Pâté by Brixworth Foods
Winner Chocolate Surprise Cupcake from Angelina Cupcake, Towcester

Best Local Drink:
Runner-up Champs D’Amour by Fleur Fields Vineyard, Brixworth
Winner Solstice Stout from Hoggleys Brewery, Litchborough

Curry Chef of the Year:
Runner-up Baldev Singh,of Mem-Saab, Northampton
Winner Hao Dang, of Dang’s Vietnamese Restaurant, Northampton

Community Pub of the Year:
Runner-up The Picturedrome, Northampton
Winner The Lamplighter, Northampton

Pub or Bar Restaurant of the Year:
Runner-up The Red Lion, Sibbertoft
Winner The Olde Red Lion, Kislingbury

Restaurant of the Year:
Runner-up Equilibrium at Fawsley Hall, Fawsley
Winner Oundle Mill, Oundle

Local Food Hero of the Year:
Winner Mrs Sheena Harris, Moulton
Winner Beckworth Emporium, Mears Ashby
Winner The Green Patch, Kettering
Winner Limes Farm, Farthinghoe

Julie Elliott of Angelina Cupcake, winner of the Best Local Product for her Surprise Chocolate Cupcake, was absolutely amazed at the announcement. “I only started the company just over a year ago after my twin boys started at school. Before that I’d just been baking for friends and family and it’s grown from there. So to have come up against some long established firms with some fantastic products and win is really overwhelming.”

Meanwhile for Julie Hogg of Hoggleys Brewery, winning the ‘Best Local Drink’ title for their Solstice Stout was all the more sweet because they’d come so close last year. “We were runners-up in 2009 for our Northamptonshire Bitter and really wanted this Award! We’re really proud of our beer and it’s wonderful to think that its quality is being so widely recognised.”

And for Ian Dorwood of Limes Farm, his wife’s reaction on the firm being named as a Local Food Hero said it all “Nicky had tears in her eyes as we walked up to fetch our trophy! That’s because our family business means everything to us and winning this award is wonderful recognition for our efforts. Sometimes it can get a bit demoralising, grinding on day by day but knowing that we’re appreciated by our customers makes it all worthwhile!”

The trophies – a beautifully handcrafted map of the county created from Northamptonshire leather by craftswoman Kate Lee from Northampton – were presented by celebrated Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton, the star of such TV shows as ‘Saturday Kitchen’ and ‘Great British Menu’. He spoke highly of the winners and also praised all those who had been short-listed; “20 years ago, when I was a lad learning my trade, we weren’t so bothered by the idea of ‘local’ but now the industry has come to realise the importance of sourcing good, fresh ingredients from on the doorstep. Clearly your pubs and restaurants are doing that and thankfully there are the producers and suppliers to meet the demand! I’m really impressed by what Northamptonshire has to offer and I think these Awards are a wonderful way of celebrating all that’s being achieved.”

As a perfect demonstration of that, former Northampton College student and now Executive Chef at Gary Rhodes’ Michelin-starred restaurant Rhodes Twenty Four, Adam Gray, prepared a mouth-watering Northamptonshire menu for the 140 entrants, judges, sponsors, media partners and supporters who attended, including judge Sophie Grigson and Holdenby House’s gracious owner James Lowther. They were treated to a smoked beetroot and goats cheese starter drizzled with a Northamptonshire red-wine dressing, local venison and an apple mousse with cider-glazed apples, the red wine and cider both coming from short-listed entrant Welland Valley Vineyard.

Said the competition’s co-ordinator, Rachel Mallows of Rachel Mallows Services to Business “We set a pretty high standard when we launched the competition last year, yet thanks to Carlsberg UK and our other sponsors, our partners in the Awards and most of all the hundreds that took part, this year has been even better. I hope that it encourages Northamptonshire’s foodies to get out and support the excellence that’s on their doorstep.”

    If you attended the Taste of Summer event today at The Garden Store Billing – please bear with us whilst we get the recipes onto the site.

In the meantime we hope you enjoyed the tastings!

Come and join us this weekend for a Taste of Summer at Billing Garden Store

Our chefs will be demonstrating a range of mouth watering dishes over the two days with ingredients supplied by the exhibitors.

We will be kicking off our first demo at 10.30 on Saturday with some mouth watering Caribbean flavours- ceviche of bass, jerk salmon with rice and beans.

12 noon- Vegetarian heaven - watch our chef create two fabulous vegetarian dishes – Courgette and saffron risotto, Mediterranean puy lentil casserole.

2pm – Chicken feast – learn how cook chicken infused with flavour.

4pm – Home made beef burgers – a real bbq treat.

Sunday
11.30 Fruit frenzy – Summer fruits Eaton mess, flambe strawberry cheesecake.

1.30 Pan fried Moroccan pork with cous cous and yoghurt.

3pm - Fishy flavours Pan fried trout with asparagus

Come along and join us – meet the exhibitors and taste the flavours at the Billing Garden Store