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Private Notes
Hugh has been waxing lyrical about the goodness of home grown grub for years and as summer starts in 2009, he's convinced the tide is starting to turn. "Britain's definitely been bitten by the grow your own bug," grins Hugh.
While Hugh's a die hard fan of many a veg patch pleasure, there's one garden goodie that excites him more than most. "If I was only allowed to grow one vegetable to get me through the summer, it would be these guys: peas."
For Hugh, peas symbolise the start of summer so he heads to the kitchen with Tim the chef to rustle up tasty pea recipes. That's if there's any left after Hugh's finished scoffing straight from the bowl.
Tim's cooking a chilled pea soup served as a shooter with shells and shoots used for good measure. Hugh opts for a pea and pork combo with plain boiled, buttered peas with fried chorizo. "All we've been saying is give peas a chance," grins Hugh.
Hugh wants to run a 'Leftovers Night' at the River Cottage Canteen. Together with chef Tim Maddams they make canapes from leftover fish, gnocchi from roast potatoes and puddings from breadcrumbs.
Hugh is particularly keen on the River Cottage garden, so when he discovers slugs have been gauging on his soft cabbages he plans some drastic action. Can Hugh turn slugs into a culinary hit?
River Cottage is celebrating the strawberry this summer with a massive 500-person strawberry fete. In preparation, Hugh and the River Cottage gardeners plant strawberries in every available space.
Hugh shares some of his favourite summer recipes.
Among the delights on offer in this hour of foodie fun is a delicious Bloody Mary burger, complete with vodka, and a mouth watering salad of beetroot, red currant and goats cheese.
There's also plenty of fun with the River Cottage gang, as Hugh throws a sheep shearing party, and opens up Park Farm to hundreds of foodie fans for a day-long strawberry fair, featuring strawberry cocktails made with the sparkling gorse wine he and resident forager John Wright found in the River Cottage gorse bushes.
Winters On The Way as we return to River Cottage to join Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall growing rearing fishing and foraging for an array of winter treats. With his produce he hopes to turn this traditionally chilly season into the warmest of the year. Hugh lives in cider country which presents a problem when it comes to one of his favourite fruits the pear. As well as eating and cooking with pears he would like to enjoy them brewed as an alcohol or Perry. Hugh travels to Gloucestershire where David Kaspar is still making this traditional tipple. Catching fish is one of Hughs great passions. Be it line or fly fishing potting or scuba diving hes tried a whole range of intriguing ways to sustainably gather the fruits of the sea. However there is one technique he has not tried out and that is professional free diving. After a crash course in holding huge breaths underwater he takes to the open sea to try and bag the ultimate of shellfish scallops. Hugh prepares some comforting wintery dishes including a mixed mushroom tart with fungi picked fresh from the forest scallops from the sea with mushy squash and bacon hot ham hock and split pea soup and pot au feu.
Based on the nibbled nature of his vandalised veg, Hugh suspects robbers of the rabbit kind. But in order to get incontrovertible proof he'll have to rely on Pumpkin Cam.
With winter just around the corner, Hugh turns to his garden for inspiration and decides to turn the heat up with a 200 person chilli-and-pumpkin party. Fast food and Hugh do not traditionally go hand in hand, but there is one exception: the Findus Crispy Pancake that he so adored as a youngster. Hugh and River Cottage chefs, Gill Mellow and Tim Maddams, take a nostalgic trip down memory lane to resurrect and refashion a childhood favourite, but with fantastic fresh ingredients including smoked pollack, bacon, cheese and sweetcorn. Hugh travels to Cornwall to join a group of fisherman who have found a sustainable and lucrative market in line caught squid fishing
After an early morning at sea Hugh cooks some deep fried salt and pepper squid, with a sweet chilli dipping sauce, before the rest of their catch travels to London's sushi restaurants
With Christmas around the corner, Hugh has a plan. Instead of giving shop-bought boxes of chocolate goodies this Christmas, he decides to make his own, conjuring up a tray of lip-smacking chocolate brownies that take ten minutes to prepare and two minutes to wrap. Hugh's slaughtered steer has now been hanging for a month. Butcher Ray Smith and Hugh set to work extracting cuts for a party Hugh is throwing: the pair can't resist making beefy canapés of biltong and pastrami. Hugh's valiant attempts to get wild rabbits back on to the British menu continues as he targets the notoriously awkward teenage demographic. Armed with deep fried rabbit legs, a mayonnaise dip and hot rabbit buns he heads to an Exeter nightclub. Hugh also hunts for the blewitt mushroom and tries to catch herring for the first time. Meanwhile, out of the River Cottage garden Hugh harvests a winter salad, to which he adds roasted Jerusalem artichoke, goat's cheese and hazelnuts for a light but mouth-watering lunch.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall rounds up some of his favourite autumnal foods, including passata, chorizo, marshmallows and nettle beer. He also throws a bonfire night party.
To celebrate a bumper year at River Cottage, Hugh has some of his food heroes round for a fabulous four course dinner including rare mushrooms, ten bird spit roast and the ultimate sponge…
