Gloucestershire food with Rob Rees July 2011

From roasting rabbit to finding the perfect fish for the barbecue, The Cotswold Chef Rob Rees gives SoGlos.com readers his very best seasonal food tips for July.

The summer season has really got into full swing here in Gloucestershire, you can tell because it has been raining quite a lot! And while the seasonal weather can’t be relied upon, the tasty food on offer this month most certainly can be.

July, in my view, is the best month to purchase local lamb. From the shank to the breast, prices are stable, the quality is better than anything New Zealand or Australia could ever provide, and the choice locally if you visit our farm shops and markets is fantastic.

Another great buy is fresh rabbit. In years gone by, rabbit may have lost some of its popularity, but I recommend we develop a taste for it again. The saddle roasted with olive oil, thyme and crushed garlic can be served with pan fried mushrooms, bacon and watercress. The flavour is chicken with a hint of game and the meat very tender. The legs of rabbit are also wonderful cooked very slowly with stock.

Take your pick of vegetables in July, with kohlrabi, peas and fennel all at great prices and nutritionally packing a punch. While fruit-wise the first of the fresh apricots are beginning to arrive.

At the Cotswold Chef Food Centre, July is all about summer puddings. Combining the harvest of the early raspberries and mid-summer strawberries with some of last year’s defrosted blackcurrants, cherries and blackberries, simply bring these to the boil with half their weight in caster sugar a generous glug of cassis and then turn of the heat.

Dip neatly cut fresh bread triangles into the syrup and line the base and sides of a basin. Fill the basins with the fresh fruit and pack them tightly with a bread lid. Weigh the basin down for 24 hours in a fridge to chill and then turn out and serve with lots of clotted cream – for summer on a plate.

If you fancy a fishy on a dishy in July, fresh plaice, delicate wild sea trout and bargain-priced mackerel are perfect on the summer barbecue. Sardines for serving on toast with sautéed garden spinach and a grating of single Gloucester, can’t be beat either.

Samphire grass can be found at many of the local fish counters. It is crisp, fresh with a touch of saltiness. I love it mixed in with some of the summer spring salad leaves or to lift a fresh tuna nicoise salad. For me the perfect nicoise is about lightly poached Cotswold Legbar eggs, sweet tomatoes picked early from the vine, crunchy colourful salad leaves dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and gently seared fresh tuna.

Salads can also be fizzed up with loads of seasonal herbs during July. At my own allotment the fresh coriander is thriving, dill is distilling a perfume across the whole patch and sorrel is desperate to be picked shredded and mixed into cream sauces, mayonnaise and yoghurt dips.

July is just a stunning month, and whether you are planning what to do with the kids during the school summer holiday or where to go on vacation, there is no-where better to indulge in a fabulous food culture than Gloucestershire.

Please note, this was the last Gloucestershire food with Rob Rees feature.

Rob Rees
11 July 2011