Nick’s blog

It’s no surprise that I settled on the Isle of Purbeck. I have a passion for the great outdoors by the sea, whether it be foraging, fishing or boating and in my younger days, windsurfing. Although being brought up near Stockport my parents always holidayed on Anglesey, so I grew up spending a lot of time by the sea. I had a little dinghy and a seagull 40+ outboard and was always out of the water catching flatties and setting my three lobster pots. A lot has changed since then; the fishing boat is bigger and the engine a world apart from a 1965 Seagull outboard but I still love to go to sea to set a few pots and to catch fish.

I forage through the seasons from the seashore and at places that I have found whilst walking in Purbeck. Through summer and autumn I collect a variety of mushrooms and a very kind French neighbour near us gives me chanterelles because he finds a lot more than I do! I repay his generosity with freshly picked marsh samphire (also known as sea asparagus). At home we eat this delightful green in salads or lightly steamed. A favourite breakfast in our house is a pile of freshly steamed samphire on a thick slice of toast, topped with a poached egg and a twist of pepper. I also cold smoke cheeses, nuts and fish, particularly salmon. I really should start smoking paprika as well as this goes well on a poached egg! Cold smoking is done in a wonderful old calvados oak barrel; it’s perfect for the job.

Hot smoking is also a favourite way to cook outdoors and a whole different ball game. Vegetables meats and fish top the priority list. My ‘go to’ vegetable is hot smoked whole garlic bulbs, especially if I have grown them myself. If not, Swanage market early on a Friday morning is a great place to get my garlic (plus all our veg!) whilst catching up with a few of the locals. Fresh mackerel and pollack are filleted and cured before hot smoking. The smoked mackerel is a real winner by itself or made into paté whilst the pollack is excellent in kedgeree. I learned from a chef in Poole that a great way to hot smoke salmon is in a wok over a charcoal fire. The smoking mix is made with an aromatic tea, like oolong, mixed with some sugar to caramelise the smoke and a handful of rice to keep hotspots in the smoke mix. A simple foil umbrella sits over the salmon whilst one relaxes with friends over a bottle of homemade cider.  Amusingly and maybe a little mockingly of self, I call it Knitson Old Knobbler. It’s good enough to share with friends, but probably no more! We have a number of apple trees in the garden and they are the main supply for cider making in autumn.  

Today breakfast is a cockle omelette. The east wind pushes cockles up onto the shore in Studland Bay and rich pickings can be shared with the many sea birds. I head for the cockles and they feed on the clams as the tide drops.  As the saying goes, “never eat a mussel in a month without an ‘r’ in it” and I apply the same rule to cockle collecting. Razor clams can also be foraged at low tide, although this is more of a practiced art!  

Still on the culinary front and of a dairy nature, I have recently been making soft cheeses like ricottas, curds and mascarpone. Crumbly goat cheese also features high on the favourite list. I am also trying my hand at cheddar cheeses and hope to be smoking my own cheese soon. I have a good old butter churner but often just prefer to make my butter simply by hand. I have found that making your own butter is a real game changer!

I have a very good friend who keeps us in a ready supply of honey from bees that feed on the heather around Poole Harbour. The taste is absolutely wonderful and it arrives in any manner of forms from purified to straight out of the hive. We use honey in so many ways because we are very lucky to have such a good supply. Perhaps I should put a few hives in the garden. Deer are an ecological problem in Dorset because the population is increasing too fast and they can be a real crop pest. Venison is at the very top of my favourite food list. If you eat red meat there can be no finer or healthier option. Similarly wild duck can over populate water bodies and their numbers need to be kept in control. When I do get wild duck these are a super alternative to venison and who can beat confit du canard. Duck breast is wonderful and also very healthy, whilst the confit is an entirely different and rather decadent affair! 

My background is in Biology and Seashore Ecology is a speciality. Culinary practice is an acquired art, some by trial and error and some by talking or swapping notes with fellow foodies.  This post is a whistle stop tour of interests that have developed and evolved over the last 35 years on The Isle of Purbeck. In good time I will return to each of these and share more about my experiences.   

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