Page 58 - Phonebox Magazine October 2012

Phonebox Foodie
News & gossip from the
foodie front
Delicious Deli Boards
They seem to be all the range right now. Every gastro pub in the country has their own take on the Deli Board and it is a fashion that is right up my street. I love
grazing food, I love sharing food, and I love simple, quality ingredients. I suppose it’s the posh version of the great British Ploughmans and it truly is about quality ingredients. If you are going to have a plate piled high with simple unadulterated ham, cheese and chutney, that ham, cheese and chutney had better be good! The
spanish have been doing it for years, with their ‘rationes’ - plates of sardines, jamon, manchego
cheese etc, that you share amongst friends with a hunk of bread. The Bull in Olney do a great one with a venison scotch
egg (there’s a photo of the egg on the BOFF article on the preceding page). The
Bell and Bear do a superb selection on their new Garden menu, and we discovered
a very tasty version at The Green Man in Lavendon earlier this month. As well as a
good quality ham and a lovely wedge of stilton, they served chicken breast marinated in a delicious lemon and mustard seed
HALL OF FAME
This is the highly researched, definitive list of the all time top five dishes from around here!
1) Steak and Ale pie: the Swan 2) Chow ki Tikki: Amaya
3) Penne Limone: Kasbah
4) Roast Beef Sunday Dinner: the Bell and Bear
5) Ham Hock Terrine: the Bull
dressing.
dressing. Really yummy and makes me want to go back and investigate their menu in a bit more detail!
A touch of Apple Brandy
Those deli boards are washed down rather nicely with a swift half of cider and I am rather partial to a good cider. Local cider maker Virtual Orchard has now gone full time. This means that not only can we look forward to more of the sharp and tasty award-winning Hard Core, but there are single variety brews being planned for the future. And, with the help of licensed distiller, English Vodka Company, he is dabbling in a little apple brandy - something I managed to get a sneaky taste of at the recent Big Olney Food Festival. Smooth, warming and beautifully apply.
Let me know your own top five on facebook/phoneboxfoodie
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58 Phonebox Magazine
Green Man, Lavendon Deli Board
Virtual Orchard and Woughton Cider, plus an apple brandy!