Yemi Adelekan, Author at The Stray Ferret

Yemi’s Food Stories: A ‘sweet day’ at Bettys Cookery School

Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in last year’s BBC TV’s Masterchef competition. Every Saturday Yemi will be writing on the Stray Ferret about her love of the district’s food and sharing cooking tips– please get in touch with her if you want her to review a restaurant, visit your farm, taste the produce you sell or even share a recipe.

‘Push, push, push; stop and twist’ was the mantra at the end of my day at Bettys Cookery School. Let’s get back to the start of my day so you know how I ended up with a mantra and a tip that you will find useful.

Bettys is a Harrogate institution and thousands of people are welcomed each year for the Bettys experience. As a local, I am not surprised that every guest we have wants to visit Bettys and some repeatedly so.

For lingering memories of your Bettys experience, you can shop at the end of your meal, order Bettys products for home delivery or better still, sign up for their cookery school so you can take that knowledge home with you.

I signed up for the pastry class which I knew would give me different skills.

Lisa Bennison, the chef tutor, joined Bettys to gain work experience as part of her training from York Cookery School and never left. She has spent 37 years in different roles with the past 20 years at the cookery school.

She loves teaching basic principles, sharing fail-proof tips on how to get the perfect results whilst encouraging everyone to embrace and learn from any mistakes.

Our day started with warm chocolate pastries with a choice of coffee or tea before we moved on to the first demo.

The pastry class includes making Bettys signature lemon tart and profiteroles. You learn how to make sweet tart pastry, perfectly roll out your dough, line your tart tin and create your tart cases without any cracks or accidents. You then move on to making the lemon filling before learning about the importance of timing and temperature control to correctly manage all elements.

Salmon salad

Whilst our tarts were baking, we sat down to a gorgeous meal of salmon salad with garlic roasted potatoes with choice of wine or non alcoholic drinks. The strawberry cheesecake dessert was divine and went well with a hot drink.

And we were off to the second half of the day after proudly checking out and taking pictures of our lemon tarts.

Next we learnt how to make a choux pastry, knowing what to look for to ensure we get the perfect glossy consistency to ensure a perfect rise.

Then came the mantra of ‘push, push, push; stop and twist’. This is how to perfectly pipe out your profiteroles to get the even round shape. Hold your nuzzle down directly on the baking tray and pipe gently moving up whilst thinking of the mantra.

This easily became a song in my head and we all had a laugh knowing we would be reciting it every time we pipe our choux.

Off we went to make our choux pastry and then came the piping and mantra with many still a bit scared they would pipe it wrong. My first few attempts were hit and miss but Lisa gave me some tips and using them, I decided to re-pipe all my choux and I was happy with them.

The crème patisserie and the chocolate ganache were the last two elements that we learnt how to make whilst the choux buns were baking. Other tips include looking for the v-drop of your choux pastry for the right consistency and don’t be afraid to let the choux make contact with the pan when cooking. We are tempted to constantly stir but we don’t need to do that and once it starts to leave a film on the pan base, it’s cooked.

A great idea for couples

As with all things Bettys, the experience is well crafted starting with a team of people that made you feel welcome, a knowledgeable tutor who loves her job, stunning cutleries for your drinks and meals; plus table setting and food that made you feel like you were in Bettys tea room.

The facilities were top notch with enviable range cookers and adequate work surfaces for all participants. It was obvious they didn’t cut any corners in creating a cookery school to be proud of.

Participants were across all age ranges, careers, had limited to good knowledge of food and came from as far as London. It was a day to make new friends, learn new skills, surprise yourself with your creations to wow friends and family, enjoy the Bettys experience beyond dining in the restaurant and most importantly take home the skill to occasionally recreate some Bettys signature creations.

A Bettys cookery school experience is a great idea for couples, hanging out with friends or co-workers, a gift for the budding or hesitant cooks in your life and would be perfect alternatives to hen-dos with everyone learning a skill for life.

The icing on the cake was taking home all your creations after eating the ones made by the chef tutor.

With classes including three-course meal, chocolate and bread making, patisserie and macarons, there is something to learn. The classes fill up quickly so get booking for a fabulous foodie day.

Yemi’s Food Stories: A visit to Rudding Park’s kitchen garden

If you are looking for recommendations for a place to go for a special occasion, spa or golf days or an amazing meal, Rudding Park hotel always makes the list and quite often is at the top of the list. It’s the reason my 49th birthday celebration was there.

Multi award winning Rudding Park, set amongst 300 acres of beautiful landscaped gardens and woodland with stunning sculptural pieces, is one of the most beautiful hotels in Harrogate offering 90 stylish bedrooms, award winning spa, three AA Rosette Horto Restaurant, and two AA Rosette Clocktower Restaurant, kitchen garden, gym, private cinema, golf course and events venue.

With a Best Fine Dining Restaurant amongst its many awards, I was intrigued by the kitchen garden, which plays a key role in making great dishes happen.

Horto Restaurant offers contemporary fine dining using ingredients from Rudding Park Kitchen Garden with the menu prescribed by nature, the creativity of the chef and the skill of the gardener.

Spending the day with Emma Pugh, kitchen gardener, was eye opening. I was impressed by the pivot from her previous career as a physiotherapist to becoming a gardener, from lifting limbs to lifting plant pots and helping them to grow or recover. Her passion for nurturing and growing things shone through.

Working closely with the chefs, the gardeners influence their dishes by supplying them with in-season produces or growing new plants for fresh ideas and they reward their hard work by creating stunning dishes for the guests who enjoy the results of this collaboration.

There was so much to learn about the different plants that were in season with my mind blown by many varieties of produces that are out there. There were plants that Emma was still learning about and some she was growing for the first time.

I loved tasting the different plants to identify the flavours, notes and coming up with ideas on how they might be used for a sweet or savoury dish with some drawing raised eyebrows and different facial expressions from Emma.

Yemi and Emma exploring the kitchen garden

I discovered Orach which reminded me of Swiss chard but with a slightly salty taste, and can be used to replace spinach in recipes or stuffed like cabbage leaves. I love cooking coarsely blended red peppers, onions, chilli and garlic with olive oil and seasonings until all the water is evaporated and the sauce is well fried releasing all the oils before adding my spinach.

Spinach releases a lot of water when cooked so to reduce this, I rub the leaves with some coarse sea salt to draw out the moisture before rinsing and squeezing out the juices. Orach would work really well in this recipe.

I was introduced to ying-yang beans, and red and green borlotti beans which I had only ever seen the canned versions before.

Sweet Sicily was an interesting herb to taste with the seeds, leaves, flowers, and roots all edible. The young leaves would bring a fresh taste to a salad and can be added to sauces whilst the root can be used as a sweetener. The flavour profile reminded me of fennel, anise seed and liquorice.

This plant would make for a nourishing cup of tea with health properties that are said to help with asthma, breathing problems, digestion issues, cough, chest and throat infections and urinary tract infections.

Sea Kale and Okahijiki (land sea weed) were plants that I had never used before and found them eye-opening. Okahijiki is often used for sushi, and can be added to a salad to introduce pops of saltiness and it would pair well with fish and white meat. I would suggest adding them to sauces just before serving so the crisp texture is retained. I reckon the pops of light saltiness they provide would provide contrast and relief from overly rich and sweet sauces.

I love showcasing colours in my food and cooking with chillies and peppers in many of my sweet and savoury dishes so I was particularly excited to see Hungarian black and purple peppers. I will definitely attempt to grow some of these to elevate the colour and flavour profiles of my dishes.

I left Rudding Kitchen Garden with my head full of new ideas for sweet and savoury dishes, herbs and garnishes. From blue Kuri squashes, butterfly sorrel, purple sage, blackcurrant sage and apple marigold which I think would make great dessert flavours to the weird and wacky looking ice plant.

Nature and great produces inspire chefs to curate new, exciting and delicious menus creating award winning dining experiences. This and so much more is what is waiting for you at Rudding Park hotel.

Next week, I will be writing about my day at Betty’s Cookery School.

I’m also checking out Samira Effa’s new menu at Bar & Restaurant EightyEight at Grantley Hall and going behind the scenes at Dutch Barn Orchard Vodka, so look out for these posts in the coming weeks.

Yemi’s Food Stories: Memorable weddings with Blossom Tree Cake Company

It was love at ‘hello’ when Kean Ong opened the door to the Harrogate-based kitchen design studio which immediately transported me into a timeless, elegant, classic and stunning space that set the perfect scene for what was to come.

Kean grew up in Malaysia and worked in Singapore as a chef before relocating to the UK where he continued to hone his skills working in pan Asian, French and modern European kitchens including the Marriot Group, where he discovered a love and passion for pastry.

Picking up a best-in-year award for the advanced diploma in culinary arts patisserie and confectionary at Westminster Kingsway College was the beginning of a truly amazing career at some of London’s finest restaurants including Albert Roux’s The Brasserie at Sofitel St James, Quo Vadis in Soho, Inamo at Wardour Street and St James near Piccadilly.

At Blossom Tree Cake Company He is half of a brilliant duo with Stephen, who I can only describe as the heartwarming ‘behind the scenes yet keeping the show on the road’ main man, and Kean credits Stephen for being a key enabler to their success story.

The name Blossom Tree was inspired by a tree in their front garden and the oriental influences of Kean’s background.

Despite having had an enviable career, Kean says making wedding cakes is what he loves the most. He considers being a part of a couple’s big day a privilege that he pays back by creating the most beautiful, elegant, contemporary and delicious cakes to match their important occasion.

He makes cakes that look as good as they taste on the inside and he wants couples to look back years later still happy with their timeless cake design.

As a food lover, Kean is driven by passion and quality which have translated into him making quality, ethical and traceability choices including growing his own fruits and herbs and moving from fresh flowers to hand crafting life-like flowers for his cakes.

The flavours in his cakes are created using the freshest ingredients, with every element homemade, minimal use of food colouring and the cakes are infused with his signature syrups that keep them moist and light without being overly sweet.

For the tasting, Kean made me three flavours including a new one which he will be unveiling for the next wedding season.

The Chocolate Salted-Caramel cake was a delight with the lightest chocolate sponge perfectly balanced with the salted caramel buttercream. As a non-chocolate cake lover, I was an easy convert by the delicate flavour which didn’t smack me in the face with chocolate.

Kean explained that he kept the flavour light because people would have been eating all day and wouldn’t want a cake that is heavy or overly sweet.

Yemi and Kean Ong with some of his creations

I moved on to the most popular flavour of Passion Fruit curd, Vanilla buttercream and White Chocolate sponge and could immediately see why this is popular, with most couples asking for a layer. The passion fruit curd was sublime cutting through the white chocolate sponge making me want to go for yet another bite.

My favourite all time cake remains a well made Victoria sponge cake and the new flavour that I tasted took it to another level. We are often told the classics are classic for a reason and should be untouched, but I counter that by saying sometimes a classic needs a facelift in the hands of a craftsman.

That’s exactly what Kean has done with his twist on this well loved classic featuring quintessentially British ingredients, capturing the smells of summer and champagne.

Each flavour was the front runner until I tasted the next one; I left without being able to decide my favourite but I remain partial to his latest creation.

Kean puts his heart and soul into his work; his artistic flair, skill, experience and training as a pastry chef was rewarded with four Guild of Fine Food Great Taste Awards in 2022 for his Elderflower & Blackcurrant, Raspberry velvet, zesty Lime, and Pistachio & Plum flavours.

Another three awards were added in 2023 for Zesty lemon, Chocolate & Cherry and Lychee, Raspberry & Rose flavours.

Blossom Tree Cake Company’s creations have been featured in many magazines and is the preferred partner for many venues including Goldsborough Hall, Grantley Hall, Ripley Castle and Rudding Park in Harrogate.

Bookings are taken a year in advance with tastings done over the winter period. Tailored consultations result in your wedding cake complimenting and being a talking point on your big day.

With a warm welcome, cakes that look like artworks and creatively delicious flavour profiles, I left Blossom Tree Cakes still in love and armed with tips and inspirations to take my own baking to the next level. Kudos to this dynamic duo.

Yemi’s Food Stories: The perfect day out at Yolk Farm

What are the makings of a perfect day out?

Everyone has their own idea of what this looks like but for me a perfect day out would start with a sunny day, being outdoors and close to nature, a spot of idyllic shopping, discovering new ideas and having access to stressless parking, great food and drink.

This experience is what Yolk farm, Minskip farm shop and the farm kitchen have to offer to everyone. Yolk farm, which claims to be the world’s first egg restaurant on a real egg farm, is the perfect location for children’s day out where they can feed the pigs and goats and hang out with alpacas before heading in for a bite.

The kitchen offers a lovely, welcoming space and employees who serve you with a smile whilst paying attention to the details. From the egg crates that have been repurposed as the perfect light fixtures to the swinging chairs that take you back to eating on park swings, there’s a lot to desire.

Freshly laid eggs from the farm are used in the kitchen and sold in the farm shop; with eggs collected twice a day, you can’t get fresher than what they have to offer.

After a brief wander in the farm shop we went into the farm kitchen for a bite to eat working our way through three of their amazing dishes. The banoffee buttermilk pancake topped with fresh bananas, candied nuts, whipped cream and toffee sauce was delicious and perfect for banana lovers.

The Get Fresh featuring one of my favourite ingredients, sweetcorn, was sweetcorn fritters seasoned with lime and coriander topped with poached eggs, red pepper, sweetcorn and courgette salsa and a salsa verde that smacked you in the face with the right amount of sharpness. This was topped with ribbons of courgette noodles and a herb salad which brought extra freshness to the dish. With the fritter held together by the barest amount of batter, it felt like ‘health on a plate’ earning the well deserved name – ‘Get Fresh’.

Banoffee Buttermilk Pancakes, ‘What came first’ chicken and Get fresh

The dish I was obsessing over finally came out and it is their signature ‘what came first – chicken or egg?’ dish. The description of the dish reads like a food poem – crispy fried chicken, hot sauce hollandaise, smoked bacon, maple syrup, house pickles and fried eggs.

The chicken was crispy without being oily and the chicken had the softness, juiciness and melt in the mouth quality of sous vide chicken. Intrigued by how chef Iain Wilkinson (@igwhospitality) got the chicken to be so tender, he shared a few tips with me which included the chicken being marinaded in butter milk and other ingredients for 24 hours as part of the cooking process.

Every bite was unique as it depends on what makes it on to your fork. From crispy fried onions, crispy bacon, chicken, fried eggs, tangy pickles, maple syrup and hot sauce hollandaise, there was no end to customising each bite. The pancakes were the perfect base to carry all the other flavours.

I don’t know what came first but I am definitely glad that both the chicken and the egg ended up on the same plate in their signature dish. I enjoyed the glowing goddess tea – hibiscus, orange and fenugreek – with my food.

I finished my visit with shopping for some of the finest Yorkshire produces you can imagine. The farm shop offers Christmas and bespoke hampers and gift vouchers to use in the shop, kitchen or for their alpaca experience.

Yolk farm is the vision of people who have a passion for people of all ages to enjoy a revitalising and enjoyable day out.

Nathan George, the general manager was hands-on, pulling out all the stops to make sure all diners had a great experience.

Be sure to try their signature dish when you go and prepare to stock up on the best ingredients and produces.

Thanks for reading my food story; the next one will be on Lavender tea room in Knaresborough.

Yemi’s Food Stories: Cooking the perfect steak

One of my favourite things to eat is a rib eye steak which has to be tasty, juicy and tender; topped with a sauce like chimichurri or flavoured butter.

Growing up in Nigeria, meat was broiled with spices and seasoning before frying and adding to a pepper and tomato based sauce, boiled in a soup, slow cooked to make stews, roasted or grilled over open fire.

Our cooking methods meant that I grew up with meat cooked well done.

Decades ago on a work trip to London, I ordered a well done steak; I was warned that it would be tough to eat and it was. It was my first appreciation of how different cuts of meat react to heat and different cooking methods.

I started to ask for my steak as medium well and slowly began to work my way to medium. I love cooking steak but I’m always tempted to leave it slightly longer than it needs to be.

It’s no surprise that learning how to cook a perfect steak remained high on my wish list next to making great sauces. A few years ago, I watched a steak cooking masterclass by Heston Blumenthal on the Australian MasterChef competition.

He suggested using a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a high heat, with a thin layer of oil that is heated until the oil is smoking hot. Cooking the steak involved seasoning it with a little salt before placing in the hot pan for 15–20 seconds. The steak is turned over and cooked for 15 – 20 seconds and this process is repeated for 2 – 3 minutes before it is removed and rested over a wire rack.

Letting the pan heat up between each turn results in a good caramelisation and juicy steak.

During the Yorkshire Dales Food and Drinks Festival, I signed up for the Tomahawk cooking class (main image) as I was eager to pick some pointers for steak cooking.

Yemi’s tips on cooking steak:

Choose the right cut: opt for well-marbled cuts like ribeye or filet mignon for the best flavour and tenderness
Let it come to room temperature: take the steak out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before cooking to ensure even cooking. If you’re short on time, leave steak in original water tight packaging and place in slightly warm water to quickly bring the temperature up.
Season generously: remove excess moisture and generously season the steak with salt and pepper or your favourite dry rub to enhance its natural flavours
Preheat the cooking surface: make sure your grill or pan is preheated to a high temperature before placing the steak on it.
Get a good sear: sear the steak over high heat to lock in the juices and create a flavourful crust. Depending on the thickness of the steak, sear each side for 1-3 minutes. Turn every minute.
Sear all the edges of the steak to kill off any bacteria which can be on the surface. Add some butter or oil with garlic and fresh herbs; baste the meat for extra flavour
Always use a meat thermometer: for precise cooking, use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. For medium-rare, aim for 130-135°F (54-57°C), medium 140-145°F (60-63°C), and medium-well 150-155°F (66-68°C).
Let it rest: once cooked to your desired doneness, remove the steak from the heat and let it rest for as long as possible. This allows the juices to redistribute and keeps the meat juicy and tender.
Add flavoured butter or finishing sauce: for an extra touch of richness and flavour, add some melted butter or your favourite finishing sauce to the steak while it’s resting.

My most important takeaway is to always use my meat thermometer. I use Thermapen gifted to me by the company during my MasterChef UK competition.

No one should call the shots on how your steak should be cooked, so eat your steak the way you like it. Remember to use the right cuts of meat and a well done steak needs longer resting time.

I am at Yolk Farm and Minskip Farm shop today. Drop by and come say hi if you’re in the area.

For more stories on food and drink locally why not check out our Lifestyle section.

Yemi’s Food Stories: My slow love for avocado

My mum introduced me to avocado over four decades ago and I wondered what she loved about a tasteless, mushy mess that discoloured quickly, or so I thought.

She loved telling us the story of how she introduced avocado to her village. As a young woman, she lived with a family in Lagos which was then Nigeria’s capital city, and they had access to imported fruits.

She discovered avocado and decided she wanted to grow them, so she took some seeds back to her parents who planted them. Other farmers took advantage of the seeds with many deciding to grow them.

Avocado is also known as butter or alligator pear and they grow well in warm climates; they are packed full of monounsaturated fatty acids and rich in many vitamins, minerals and fibre. It’s a food to add to your arsenal for weight loss.

My mum simple ate the avocado with a sprinkle of salt; it was so uninspiring that I never bothered with it after the first time I tried it.

Fast forward a few decades; the humble Avocado had become the new kid on the ‘superfood’ block. Avocado toast, the toast of all sandwiches, was pricey and the environmentalists were calculating the distance an avocado travelled and the impact on global warming.

It became the bourgeois thing to eat with Oprah famously having her own avocado farm. Every diet needs to include avocado a few times a week; I had to get on board somehow and give avocado another try so I began to look for ways to enjoy them.

It took a few attempts of guacamole until I got to like it and now, I am at a stage where I can say I enjoy it especially for brunch where I pair it with toasted sourdough, poached eggs and smoked salmon, grilled kippers, pan-fried salmon or prawns.

Avocado, flat mushrooms, sautéed kale and eggs

I enjoy avocado paired with a simple but well flavoured dressing of ratio 1:1 of lemon juice to olive oil, a pinch of gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes) for aesthetics and flavour, freshly cracked black pepper and smoked sea salt. Mix well and drizzle over sliced avocado.

I also pair my avocado with rib eye steak, flatbread, and salads. I use crushed and seasoned avocado as a topping for sweetcorn fritters finished with sweetcorn and smoky bacon-grilled pepper salsa.

Avocado, poached eggs, smoked salmon and samphire

Avocado mousse is perfect as a light and aerated toping for more elegant dinner. It can provide an air of mystery as diners wonder what is under the light and delicate green cloud. Anything from scallops, prawns and grilled fish to crispy pancetta and chorizo crumps would be perfect underneath the cloud.

It is also great for making vegan or vegetarian desserts.

I am not a huge fan of bananas as I find the flavour too overpowering especially when it is very ripe so banana cakes or breads are a no-no for me. I eat the odd banana when it still has a little bite to it. This also means that banana based smoothies are off the menu so I replace the banana with avocado to get a rich and thick smoothie.

The avocado is undetectable in the smoothie and this was my starting point of introducing them to my diet.

Here’s my recipe for Pineapple Smoothie:

Add 500g of pineapples to a blender

Add 1 medium avocado to the blender

Add a whole lemon (washed) and half the juice of a lime

Add a few fresh mint leaves and a thumb size of fresh ginger

Top with some water (for a less sweet version), or apple or pineapple juice

Blend together until smooth; taste and adjust the sweetness and texture; you can also add some cucumber slices

Serve poured over some ice for a refreshing smoothie.

I hope you give avocado a go and find ways to include them in your diet.

This weekend, I am doing three chef demos at Yorkshire Dales Food Festival and I am at Yolk Farm and Minskip Farm shop on Saturday, July 29. Drop by and come say hi if you’re in the area.

Yemi’s Food Stories: Sustainable takeaways from the Great Yorkshire Show

The Great Yorkshire, in its 164^th year, is the crème-de la crème of agricultural shows in the UK. Living in Harrogate means this show is close to my heart and for the past twelve years, I have looked out my window silently welcoming the vehicles travelling to the event.

You know my passion is food, so I wasn’t far from the food hall and cookery stages – the Great Yorkshire theatre and the Game theatre. I wished I could be in two places at the same time.

Tuesday kicked off with the cheese competition and there were many varieties of cheeses from hard to soft, savoury to sweet, butters and creams with award winners in all categories. The hives and honey pavilion was another fascinating place to be with hundreds of varieties of local honeys, shaped beeswax, bee products, honey displays, honey cakes and biscuits and alcoholic honey drinks made from fermenting honey and water with some flavours and spices resulting in really unique drinks.

My time at the Game Theatre introduced me to different game animals and birds as well as fly fishing and cooking trout in multiple ways. There was trout cured with Japanese flavours and finished with finger lime by chef Ben Wright (@that_chef_Ben), pan-cooked trout by Stephanie Moon and roasted loin of venison, served with a fondant potato, sublime parsnip purée, pickled blackberries, heritage carrots and venison jus by chef Mike Baldwin from Provenance Inns. There was also a wonderful venison summer tart by chef Mehdi Boukemach from Fodder.

The highlights from the cookery theatres included seeing the passion Yorkshire chefs have for their produces, their food, sustainable cooking and zero waste with many sharing tips on how they would use what most of us throw in the bin.

Sustainable takeaways I hope you try at home:

Onion skins – I use a lot of onions in my cooking caramelising them, flash frying them, making pepper blend with tomatoes, peppers, ginger and garlic. I always add onion skins to my stock or to my meat when braising them because I realised the skin has a lot of the flavour. Recently I made some onion skin powder by baking the skin in an oven until dried before blending to a fine powder. I use this as additional flavour for my onion-based dishes.

Herb oils – parsley, basil and chilli oils are well known, but you can do more with other herbs like dill tops, chives and spring onions. Most of us will throw away fennel fronds but they can be used to make herb oil.

Beetroot leaves – Fresh beetroots can often come with the green leafy parts but sometimes we only care about the beetroots themselves, so we chuck the leaves in the bin. The leaves are delicious sautéed with peppers and onions with spices.

I tried the smoothest vibrant green purée made from sautéed courgettes cooked in stock and blended with spinach. This was a revelation as many people only steam, pan fry or roast courgettes. It was nice to see courgettes used in a different way.

‘Salt baked turbot, caviar, cabbage, dill and lemon verbena’ by Shaun Rankin

It’s time to grow some our our own food. Farm to table, plot to table and nose to tail approaches to cooking shone through every demo with most restaurants having their own kitchen garden which is an encouragement for us to try and grow some of our own food.

Sustainable approaches to sourcing ingredients came through every chef demo session with most produces coming from local suppliers and only very rarely from outside of Yorkshire.

The variety of Yorkshire produces from cream, milk, cheeses, butter to Game, sea food from the coastlines to locally bred cows, lamb, Pork and chicken show us there are few to no reasons to not eat local. Entire meals can be created using only ingredients from Yorkshire so why not challenge yourself to do just that.

Future Stars

A final highlight for me is seeing young chefs who will be the future of Yorkshire food scene being mentored by chefs including chef Ahmed Abdalla from the Grand Hotel York whose chef, Harry Blades (@harry_blades_) won the Delifresh young chef of the year 2022 and chef Shaun Rankin mentoring young Sarah Szmit who in my opinion has a really promising future in food.

RHS Harlow Carr was well represented by their head gardener, Joe Lofthouse who provided Gilly Robinson (The Cook’s Place, Malton) with produce from the RHS garden and St Aidan’s school was well represented by a group of young ladies who made sweet and savoury dishes.

There is so much to write about so follow my food feature as I have lined up appointments with many chefs, restaurants and food companies and I will be bringing their stories to you. Watch this space.

I am doing chef demos at the Yorkshire Dale Food festivals next Saturday and will share some of my highlights from the event.

Yemi’s Food Stories: A Lamb Affair at Yorkshire Farmers Meat Company

Saturday morning brought a mini disaster as my pair of glasses broke in half and went in two different directions; it was like watching a slow motion movie as it took my brain a moment to figure out what was happening. It was a relief to know that it was my glasses and not my eyes that were moving.

After an emergency optician appointment, I made my way to the Yorkshire Farmers Meat Company which was just down the road. They provide high quality and locally sourced meat products. I enjoyed my banter with the butcher and other staff members. I was delighted to hear they read my food feature.

I wanted some chicken sausages which they didn’t have but after looking at their wide range of products, I left with lamb mince and some Barnsley lamb chops.

I was craving a challenge and wondered what I could do with the lamb mince that was more than the usual bolognese, burgers and shepherd’s pie. Lamb is a wonderful meat and minced lamb is very easy and quick to cook. It lends itself to many flavours and spices such as mint, cumin, coriander, curry and pairs well with peas, rice, potatoes and beetroot.

A well made shepherd’s pie is one of the most comforting food you can eat during the cold months and a French trimmed lamb rack is a stunning centrepiece for a dinner party.

After racking my brain for some ideas, and challenged by some recent changes to my diet, I had to get a bit creative. My first dish was inspired by middle Eastern and Indian flavours so I made lamb mince with, caramelised onions, shallots, garlic, peppers, cumin, Aleppo chillies, coriander, curry powder and smoked sea salt.

I served this along with roasted aubergines and some toasted cumin seasoned yogurt dotted with golden caramelised onions, a sprinkle of onion skin powder and some Korean chilli flakes. It was a gorgeous and delightful meal. See picture below.

My second idea for my leftover mince was a simple Yaji inspired meatballs. Yaji is an extremely popular Nigerian spice that is used to season meat grilled on hot coals giving the most amazing aroma.

The cooked meat called Suya is often eaten as a snack with cold drinks. The fiery, smoky and flavoursome Suya, a true culture icon is popular in many other West African countries and around the world.

Making Suya seasoned beef for a food critic was one of the highlights of my MasterChef UK 2022 experience.

Yaji spice is made from peanut powder, bouillon seasoning, smoked paprika, ground ginger, onion powder, garlic powder, ground cayenne pepper, white pepper and kosher salt. Some recipes also include cloves and calabash nutmeg.

The recipe originating from Northern Nigeria is a closely guarded secret and many chefs have tried to recreate it with limited success. The good thing is you can simply buy the Suya spice mix.

My meatballs turned out juicy with a red hue from the smoked paprika and Korean chilli flakes. You can buy Suya spice online so have a go at making the recipe or use the spice on any cut of meat, fish or vegetables before grilling.

**This is not for anyone with a nut allergy.

Here’s my recipe for Suya spiced meatballs

Ingredients

350g Lamb mince

1 Tbs of Suya spice

½ tsp of Onion powder

½ tsp of Ginger powder

½ tsp of Garlic powder

1 tsp of Gochujang (Korean Chilli flakes)

2 tsp of Smoked paprika

1 tsp of kosher Salt (The suya spice has some salt)

Method

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well with a wooden spatula
Make your meatballs into golf ball sizes
Place a non-stick pan onto medium heat stove and when it is hot, add the meatballs; you don’t need any oil as there’s enough fat in the lamb
Cook until golden brown on all sides
Baste constantly with the released oil to keep them moist
Check to make sure they are cooked through (use a meat thermometer or simply cut one in half). Rest for a few minutes
Serve with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and Korean chilli flakes

Tip, you can finish this in a cream based or tomato sauce and serve with potatoes, rice or pasta; alternatively add them to flatbread with some pickled carrots, a side salad and any sauce of your choice.

Next week, I will be bringing you some food highlights from the Great Yorkshire Show.

Staff at the Yorkshire Farmers Meat Company, Beulah St, Harrogate

Yemi’s Food Stories: My highlights of the Harrogate Food and Drink Festival

Summer is always agog with loads of food festivals and I was looking forward to the Harrogate Food and Drink Festival this year. It’s always exciting to see the range of local artisan products from charcuteries, honeys, chilli jams, chutneys, balsamic vinegars to different bakes and cakes.

I got to sample salt from Yorkshire Sea Salt company and was privileged to get my hands on one of their upcoming products. The salt was quite intense in flavour and a little goes a long way; the texture is perfect for crumbling between fingers, adding to salt grinders or used as a finishing salt. Richard explained their process and how it differs from other companies’ processes. I found someone who was as passionate about salt as I am.

I tasted some incredible balsamic vinegars – original flavour, white balsamic, pomegranate balsamic and apple balsamic – and I could immediately see how they could elevate marinades, salad dressings or be used to finish roasted vegetables.

Highlights from the two day event included the food demonstrations by various chefs including Scott Masey from Leeds Cookery School, Stephanie Moon from All Things Food, Owen Diaram from MasterChef UK 2023, Whaheed Rojan from Round Table Dining, Babna from Babna’s Patisserie, Norman Musa who is a chef, author and TV host, award winning Bobby Geetha from Fleur in Leeds and I get to throw myself into that mix as I did a demo on the Saturday.

What I love most about the demonstrations is the diverse and eclectic range of dishes from summer spring rolls celebrating the produces from Rudding Park Hotel Gardens by Stephanie, surprising Asian prawn noodle dish from Bobby, spicy Malaysian curry from Norman, cooking with whole chicken and chicken curry from Scott, Turmeric rice, Massaman Curry and Salmon rolled in seaweed dish from Whaheed, Mongolian sweet chilli chicken with sticky Jasmine rice from Owen and my Nigerian Jollof rice, fried plantain and Salmon with a red sauce.

The dishes were a celebration of flavours and cultures with surprising twists.

Desserts included Brioche soaked in berries from Steph and show stopping Paris-Brest, a French dessert made from choux pastry and praline flavoured cream from Babna. She created two flavours including the traditional hazel nut and almond version and a more modern one with pistachios and rose petals.

Taking part in the demo gave me an opportunity to talk about some incredible spices that aren’t commonly used such as Grains of Selim and Grains of Paradise.

Grains of Selim known by many names including African pepper, Negro pepper, Guinea pepper is from the seeds of the shrub Xylopia aethiopica and it has a musky flavour. This is toasted to release the aromas and features in Nigerian Jollof rice, pepper soup and other stews.

Yemi’s demo dish – Jollof rice, fried plantain and pepper sauce

Grains of paradise is an aromatic spice originating from West Africa with notes of cardamom, coriander, citrus, ginger, nutmeg and juniper rolled into one. It looks like black peppercorns but the more complex flavour means it is versatile for both sweet and savoury dishes.

My other highlight was connecting with fellow chefs and foodies whose passions for their crafts have resulted in change of careers, training and competing at the highest levels whilst still being really grounded.

I made some new friends and I can’t wait for next year’s event.

In the meantime, I look forward to sharing some of the recipes, new food ideas and my Jollof rice recipe with you in the coming months.

From left – chef Norman Musa, Babna from Babna’s patisserie, Yemi, and Scot Massey from Leeds School of Cookery at the back.

Yemi’s Food Stories: Making the most of honey

The past couple of weekends have been full of food adventures involving honey which is always a staple in my kitchen, given its many health benefits.

From having lemon-ginger-honey drink to stave off a chest infection, drinking honey and balsamic vinegar water before bed, to replacing sugar in many savoury and sweet dishes.

Louisa’s honey has been a feature in my past two weekends as I got to work with other chefs to create dishes using their many varieties of honey including the Acacia Ginger, Coriander, Lime, Citrus, the award winning Bosco, Acacia and Chestnut honey.

Food allows one to be creative and there’s nothing better than creating on the fly without recipes. The first event required the chefs including Gennaro Contaldo, of ‘Two Hungry Italians’, to create dishes from a range of different vegetables and meat with access to wood fired pizza oven, multiple wood fired grills and stoves.

The beetroot immediately caught my eye. I put some beetroots on the open fire and while they were roasting, I finely sliced some red onions and cooked them in olive oil with grated ginger and some pink Himalayan salt. Once the onions were deeply caramelised, I grated and added the roasted beetroots and finished this with black pepper, whiskey balsamic vinegar and ginger honey.

This is a simple and quick relish to make and goes really well with grilled meat, burgers, hummus and flat bread.

I then cooked a spatchcock quail dish using a simple marinade of Bosco honey which has a woody and intense flavour mixed with fresh oregano and thyme, lemon juice, grated habanero chilli, salt and olive oil. This was a real crowd pleasing dish ( see image below) and all it took on a really hot grill was about 9 minutes depending on the size of the quail.

My final savoury dish was squid cooked with some shallots, roasted peppers, Louisa’s lime honey, chilli, lime juice and fresh herbs. This was a really quick dish and one that I would recommend for a mid week dinner. Squid is a protein that needs to either be flash cooked in 2 – 3 minutes or slow cooked for hours.

This would be perfect as a side dish, topping for salad, couscous, rice, or an appetiser whilst waiting for the main meal. It’s a healthier alternative to battered squid rings.

The following weekend found me and a few other chefs at the BBC Good Food show in Birmingham, where I created a couple of honey inspired savoury canapes – toasted sourdough topped with prosciutto, drizzle of acacia honey, fresh thyme and micro herbs. The second one was toasted sourdough topped with labneh which is a strained cheese, sundried tomatoes, a drizzle of acacia honey and micro basil. I find the saltiness of the tomatoes and the sweetness of the honey make for one of those marriages made in heaven.

My dessert creations included carrot, ginger and coconut cake using Bosco and Ginger honey, strawberries and cream canape with ginger honey and chestnut honey crumb, whiskey balsamic and citrus honey macerated strawberries served with mascarpone on sourdough cracker.

My final creation inspired by middle eastern flavours was sourdough cracker topped with mascarpone, roasted pistachios, citrus honey and rose petals and this was tasted and complimented by Katy Truss from Fabulous Food Finds.

I hope you do more with the honey in your cupboard and you don’t just relegate it to being a drinks sweetener or toast topping. Try some of the amazing honey products that our local shops have to offer and have a go at making marinades, cocktails, sauces and bakes.

If you want to catch Yemi in action she will be giving a demonstration at The Harrogate Food Festival today at 4pm.

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