Last week saw the beginning of a new TV series from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall - River Cottage Autumn. The Sky+ messed up, so I missed the first episode, however, I did catch it this week and I liked it…I liked very much indeed!

The humble cauliflower, a vegetable I have to admit that I rarely buy, is made a star with a  ‘Cheese Cauliflower’ - a wedge of deep fried smoked brie served with a creamy cauliflower sauce. It was so good that Hugh, a seasoned disliker of cauliflower, served it  in the River Cottage Canteen on a special vegetarian night to celebrate the Autumn bounty.

Another dish destined for the vegetarian night, a ‘Speltotto‘ - a risotto made from pearled spelt, looked awesome and is one I must try. Having been introduced to spelt bread at the Real Food festival, I’m quite fascinated by this ancient grain, although it does contain gluten.

One of the Bristol smallholders is learning how to butcher a pig, something I would love to learn how to do properly - not only do you learn about all the different cuts of meat and what to do with them but you also learn that fantastic dishes can be made using the cheapest of cuts. The use of the ‘unpopular’ pork belly made me smile as in Portugal it’s a very popular cut of meat, prized for it’s juiciness and flavour and it’s used so much more than in the UK. The crackling on the roast, stuffed pork belly made my mouth water, it looked and sounded so appetising.

I love the way Hugh introduces us to cheaper, perhaps less fashionable foods that taste just as good as their more expensive counterparts. Take sea bass and black bream for example, the bream costs approximately a third of the price of bass, yet it cooks just as well and tastes so similar even the fisherman helping Hugh can’t tell the difference.

For me, the most interesting and exciting part of the programme was the feature on the Abundance project in Sheffield. A team of volunteers has found a way to harvest and make use of the local glut of apples, pears, figs, peaches and plums that are often left to rot where they fall

The Abundance crew gain permission to pick the fruit from people’s gardens, shopping centres, derelict land and other unlikely urban corners. The fruit is then redistributed to poorer areas of the community on a non-profit basis, with some of the apples being pressed into juice.

What a fantastic scheme! Do you have any schemes like this where you live? I have no idea whether there is anything like it in my area but I’m definitely going to find out!

After such an enlightening and mouth-watering episode, I can’t wait for the next one! Right, I’m off to download the first episode to see what I’ve missed!

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