Freedom Food
09 Oct 2009
Farm Animal Week, run by the RSPCA’s Freedom Food scheme, runs from October 19th – 25th.
There is a simple message for the week – do your bit towards improving farm animal welfare by making an extra effort to buy or ask for welfare-friendly products, such as those with the Freedom Food label.
Food provenance is really important to a lot of people. Increasingly they want to know where their food comes from, what is in it and how it was made. And when it comes to meat, poultry, fish and dairy products welfare is important too and more and more of us want to know about how animals are reared on our farms.
The campaign is supported by celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Antony Worrall Thompson and Phil Vickery – to mention but a few. The aim of the scheme is to raise the standards of welfare for all the animals that we rear for food. All RSPCA Freedom Food approved farmers have to commit to adhere to a strict but achievable set of welfare standards when rearing their animals.
But it’s not just on the farm. The animals must be covered by the RSPCA welfare standards throughout their lives - whether at the hatchery, in the case of hens and chickens, in transport and at the abattoir. When all the standards are met the product - be it pork, lamb, beef, turkey, chicken, salmon, duck or eggs - can bear the distinctive blue and white Freedom Food label.
Unfortunately the picture isn’t quite so encouraging when it comes to eating out. A staggering 85% of all eggs used in pubs, restaurants, cafes, canteens etc still come from hens kept in cruel battery cages.
The campaign, supported by celebrity chefs, including Antony Worrall Thompson and Raymond Blanc, is aimed at pubs, restaurants, cafes – anywhere where people eat out. Readers can get involved by asking where the eggs they order come from.
So no matter where you are eating – at home or out – you can make a difference. We have some Freedom Food recipes here which you can try at home, donated by celebrity chefs. We hope you enjoy them!
www.freedomfood.co.uk/simplyask
Beef Fillet with Shalots and Guiness
by Mike Robinson
Served with creamy mashed potato, the tender meat and rich Guinness sauce, make this hearty dish ideal for a cold winter supper. This recipe is taken from Mike’s latest book ‘Wild Flavours.’
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
625g / 1lb 7oz Freedom Food labelled beef fillet
2 tbsp olive oil
12 shallots, peeled
2 red onions, sliced
1 tbsp tomato purée
3 garlic cloves, peeled
600ml / 1 pint Guinness
3 sprigs of thyme
salt, and freshly ground pepper
25g / 1oz butter
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp chives, chopped, to garnish
mashed potato, to serve
Method
Heat a frying pan until hot. Add in half a tbsp of olive oil and heat through. Add the beef and sear on all sides, making sure the fillet is really well browned all over - you want almost to burn it. Heat the remaining olive oil in a casserole dish. Add in the shallots, red onion, tomato puree and garlic and fry, stirring often, until the onion are slightly softened and lightly browned. Add in the beef fillet, Guinness and thyme. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the beef fillet and set aside to rest, keeping warm. Bring the Guinness mixture to the boil. Meanwhile, rub the butter and flour together until well mixed. Add this mixture to the sauce a little at a time, stirring it in until absorbed to thicken the sauce. Serve the beef with mashed potato, garnished with chives, and spoon around the liquor.
Roast Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary
by Nick Nairn
Serves 6
Ingredients
1.8 kg/4.5lb Freedom Food leg of lamb
2-3 large branches of rosemary (or a couple of packets)
4 large garlic cloves
olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
For the ‘stew’
675g/1.5lbs baby plum tomatoes
4 tbsp olive oil
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
675g/1.5lbs broad beans in the pod to give about 350g/12oz beans or use frozen broad beans
a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7. Pull small sprigs off the rosemary. Cut the garlic into thick slivers or sticks. Score the meat deeply in a wide criss-cross pattern (about 2cm or 3/4 inch deep). Rub the whole leg with olive oil and set in a roasting tin. Tuck the rosemary and garlic into the cuts. Grind over plenty of black pepper. Roast for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and roast for a further hour, basting from time to time. Remove the meat from the oven, transfer to a warm carving dish, cover loosely with foil and leave to rest in a warm place for 15 minutes before carving. While the meat is resting, you can spoon the fat from the juices left in the pan, add a little white wine or water, boil up, scraping all the sticky bits up from the base of the tin. Taste and season for gravy.
For the ‘stew’
Take the beans out of their furry pods. Blanche in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and plunge into a bowl of cold water to cool them down quickly. Drain again and pop them out of their skins. (If using frozen beans, cook in boiling water for 2-3 minutes and do exactly the same as for the fresh ones). Scatter the tomatoes into a roasting tin and pour over the olive oil. Mix them around and season with salt and pepper. Tuck in the thyme and roast in the oven with the lamb for about 20 minutes or until slightly collapsed and the skins are beginning to brown. Mix in the beans and return to the oven to heat up the beans. Serve with the lamb.
Sticky Chocolate and Orange Cake
by Phil Vickery
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 - 40 minutes
Serve: 6-8
Ingredients
2 Freedom Food labelled eggs
175g/6oz unsalted butter
175g/6oz caster sugar
115g/4oz self raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
Zest of 1 orange
3 tbsp icing sugar
Method
Cream 175g/6oz unsalted butter and 175g/6oz caster sugar together until pale, light and fluffy, then gradually beat in 2 eggs. Fold 115g/4oz self raising flour and 3 tbsp cocoa powder into the mixture, then stir in 4 tbsp water and the finely grated zest of 1 orange. Pour mixture into a lined 900g/2lb loaf tin and bake as above. Meanwhile, remove the zest of 1 orange using a zester and blanch in three changes of boiling water. Squeeze the juice of the orange into a pan, add 3 tbsp icing sugar and heat until the sugar has dissolved, then add the blanched orange zest and simmer for 3 minutes. Prick the surface of the cooked sponge, pour over the hot syrup and leave to cool.
Spaghetti Carbonara
by Nick Nairn
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
100g / 3.5 oz Freedom Food labelled bacon or pancetta chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
150ml / 5fl oz Freedom Food labelled double cream
50g / 1 3/4 oz parmesan, finely grated
2 Freedom Food labelled egg yolks
140g / 5oz dried spaghetti
chopped basil, to serve
Method
Heat the oil and add the pancetta (or bacon), cooking for 3 - 4 minutes until slightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes then take off the heat and set aside. Whisk the cream, parmesan and egg yolks together in a bowl until well combined but not too frothy. Tip the pancetta into the egg mixture and stir. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti, according to the packet instructions, and drain. Immediately tip the egg and pancetta/bacon mixture into the cooked spaghetti and stir thoroughly to combine. The heat from the pasta will cook the sauce. Serve immediately with fresh basil and more parmesan.
Article from issue 28 Oct/Nov 09. To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.