crofting chic

I'm not sure what triggers it (interest rates? the weather? disruptions to the earth's magnetic field?)but every three years or so a section of metropolitan types discover the joys of smallholding and wax lyrical about the joys of growing your own vegetables and waking up to find deer grazing outside one's window.  Obviously I could rant for some considerable time about deer and their base, evil natures but instead here's a chance to wax lyrical about the joys of metropolitan areas.

I was invited to a birthday party down on the South Downs which are blessed with easy walking, great views and a lovely youth hostel.  The complexities of rail tickets meant that I had a day of wandering in Brighton before heading north.  There had been another series of storms battering the south coast a couple of days previously which provided perfect conditions for beachcombing.  Brighton is a great city with food joints such as Bill's that are so hip it hurts but there's an edge of menace that it'll never quite shake with a forceful sea on its doorstep.  It's hard to maintain a sense of elegance when everything on the seafront rusts as you look at it.  The sea had thrown up contrasting white chalk and black wood (remnants from the last burning of the west pier) pebbles, both honeycombed by sea creatures.  There was also a tangle of mermaid's purses and starfish limbs and then a random stack of goose barnacles who'd been uprooted alongside their wooden home.

Last summer we had great volunteer from Asturia staying at Drumbuidhe.  His English wasn't great but, with the aid of Alan Davidson's North Atlantic Seafood, we established that goose barnacles fetch 100 euros a kilo in midwinter when it becomes worthwhile harvesting the difficult wee sods.  I'm afraid I had a 3 day journey north ahead of me so I had to resist the temptation to see what all the fuss is about them.

The journey north took in such wonders as steak and chips at Relais de Venise and Kate Tempest at West Yorkshire Playhouse ending up finally in Glasgow where I had a last burst of sophistication cooking polenta before heading north.  The reasoning behind polenta instead of potato is that I'm still eating my way through last year's anya potatoes and can't bring myself to pay for potatoes in the shops.

Grilled Polenta
1 cup cornmeal (significantly cheaper than stuff labelled 'polenta')
3 cups water
very large knob butter
2 tsp vegetable stock powder
very large knob cheese (chopped)
handful of parsley chopped

mix one cup of cornmeal and one cup water
bring the remaining two cups water, butter and veg powder to boil
tip in the damp polenta and simmer for about 15 minutes 'til very thick
remove from the heat and stir in the cheese and parsley
pour into a small tray and leave 'til cool
cup into chunky chip pieces and grill on two sides 'til browned
serve with garlic mayonnaise or ragu sauce