Gloucestershire food with Rob Rees September 2009

The Cotswold Chef, Rob Rees, comes over all autumnal in Gloucestershire this September. And proves he knows his onions.

The first month of autumn brings us British Food Fortnight, starting on the 19 September 2009, with the opportunity to have fun with great tasting, healthy and local food of the variety in abundance across the British Isles.

In Gloucestershire, for a touch of green on the dinner plates, make the most of good quality broccoli in September, when it’s a staple for a stir-fry.

Look out for wild tree spinach and silver sorrel both beautiful in appearance and with a taste so sublime and illusive to describe. While the leaves of oak leaf and lollo rosso will also be adding bite to salads in September.

The heads of fennel so rich in nutrients are also ready for picking now. Look for plump specimens with a vibrant dark green leaf still attached for an unbelievably pungent aroma that is very distinct. Lightly roasted with honey, ginger and olive oil and served with Foragers pork perhaps, or use in a salad by par boiling and tossing with Mayhill cheese, rosemary sprigs and lime zest.

Chards are back on the menu with a traffic light spectrum available in September. Ruby chard offers sweetness in its stems, with the leaves favouring being spiced with a touch of nutmeg, and being served alongside new season grouse or Barbary duck.

And watch out for the geese that start to appear at the end of the month - roasted slowly and dished-up with an apple sauce that combines a few Pearmain varieties with the first harvest of crab apples as well as a handful of hazelnuts.

Red onions will be all the rage in September too. Roasted on the last barbeques of the year, confit slowly with oregano and red wine or just finely chopped into a risotto, they are sweet and juicy and reflect great value with so many uses.

And for onion-lovers, who can forget to give the new season shallots a shout-out, brilliant baked in their skins in a hot oven with a touch of white wine, cinnamon, honey and cracked pepper, they will stand nobly besides a fine roast dinner.

Enjoy the start to autumn and see you again in October for hauntingly good Gloucestershire food highlights for Halloween and beyond.

Rob Rees
19 September 2009