The Taste East Devon Food Festival begins this weekend with all manner of tastings and other events over the next week across the unique and lovely area which stretches from the Exe Estuary to the Dorset border and north up into the heights of the Blackdown Hills. The whole delicious extravaganza will end in a gala party at the famous PIG At Combe hotel on Sunday 19th - and that is relevant to this article because a while ago when the festival was being put together, someone posed the question: how do you sum up all that is best food and drink-wise when it comes to an area like East Devon?

The clever folk at the Pig have an answer. Ever since the elegant country hotel was opened five years ago, the establishment has featured what it calls its 25-mile-menu. And being highly popular, this menu has won great acclaim - which, surely, must help sum up the capability of an area like East Devon?

If a top chef at an internationally renowned hotel thinks he can keep his kitchens supplied with enough fabulous ingredients to warrant a highly localised menu throughout the year, that must say volumes for what’s on offer locally. 

Well, I know it’s a tough job, but someone had to do it on behalf of the region’s main daily newspaper… I went to The Pig at Combe one day this week to both sample the menu and to speak with the talented chef who has been keeping it varied, delicious and different over the past five years.

Daniel Gavriilidis is a cool-headed but enthusiastic young man who heads up a very busy kitchen where nearly 20 staff turn out the good stuff day-after-day - and he was quite capable of waxing lyrical about the produce to be found in the surrounding hills, dales and seas of East Devon - even when we were forced to run from the fabulous kitchen gardens in a sudden and violent rainstorm.

As we trotted through the productive walled gardens at Combe, Daniel told me: “Depending on what’s here in the garden we base our whole menu around that - whether it’s peppers, or chillis or all the courgettes which you can see - so it’s about what’s coming from the garden and then we turn to local suppliers as well..”

As we reached the elegant Victorian orangery which has been turned into a second restaurant at The Pig, Dan continued: “From the start we had a local menu - but of course we managed to find a lot more local suppliers as time went on. And we still meet more and more people. Of course we have certain items that come right across the menus of all the hotels (there are seven Pigs all based in the south of England) like the smoked salmon - but our menus are completely different because we all have different suppliers, different farms. So each Pig’s menu is not decided by head-office. We all have to make our own decisions and find local suppliers.

“The 25-mile-menu was pioneered at the first Pig in the New Forest - so it’s been ten years since we been doing this and all the Pigs have had it since day-one.”

In this light Dan says he had no problems coming up with a 25-mile-menu at Combe, located just above the beautiful village of Gittisham near Honiton: “Here there are a lot of smaller farms so you can have everything from eggs, organic veg and producers have loads of pigs or lambs - everyone keeps more of a variety - and then we have the coast as well. 

“We have our own licence to buy directly from boats - so we have fishermen who get our hand-dived scallops from Lyme Regis and then in Beer we have a good relationship with two day boats. And we have to be flexible - we take what they get, really. We get a text or some photos and it’s landed and brought to us within 30 minutes.”

Dan’s family had Greek origins and, like many people from that nation, he has a special affinity with fish.  “Around here there are no big (seafood) companies, so we are dealing with people with one or two boats - it’s good to know we are not having to deal through a massive wholesaler. One of the most versatile fish locally is the mackerel - other than that it really depends on what’s around. It might be cuttlefish or squid for a few weeks, we get a lot of sardines around here or, if you are lucky, even anchovies.  The season might only be two or three weeks, so you just have to enjoy it while it lasts.

“So seasonality is really important,” said Dan. “You have to be flexible - the menu changes every day. Things need to change all the time. For example, we have mulberries on our pigeon dish, but depending on how many mulberries we get the next day (from a huge tree in the gardens) we might have to change it - maybe to damsons from the local farm in Oakchurch. You have to be fluid in your decisions…”

I was lucky. There were mulberries on Wednesday, so I enjoyed the pigeon-breast starter crowned with a speckling of mulberries whose sweet juices cut through the slight gaminess of the rare-cooked meat. It was one of the finest entrees to a meal I’ve had in a long time. 

“It can get more difficult in months like January or February,” said Dan. “But you just have to change things you do with the same ingredients. Like with the celeriac we saw in the garden - you can make remoulade or you can roast it. Nobody wants to be the same thing for months, anyway. 

“Now, towards the end of the tomato season, we do loads of dried tomatoes in oil with peppers - and all that sort of stuff. Soon we will be getting apples and we will be making our own cider to turn into cider vinegar. We’ll also be doing loads of chutneys if we have a lot of courgettes. You definitely have to make the most of it.

“We buy in local jams and things like that, because we get through a lot of breakfast jam. And then you have an amazing variety of cheeses - we go out and visit some of those cheesemakers locally. That sort of thing needs changing all the time. 

“You can get very good meat in the area - with pork especially people are very proud of what they do. The pork is really top-notch. The lamb too. And we get a lot of our beef from Darts Farm who raise their own Red Rubies. 

“Even if you can’t get something in 25 miles you can still source it sustainably,” Dan added. “For example, we always convert the 25-litre drums which our Cotswold extra virgin rapeseed oil comes in, into something else. 

“But this is a brilliant area,” Dan concluded. “Especially where we are here - the beach is only 20 minutes away, so you can do all your sea-veg’ foraging over there. We have a large estate so we can do all the mushroom foraging here. I’ve been looking forward to this rain - we have not been getting a lot of mushrooms recently because it’s been too dry - this will bring them on. Ceps are good here but we also get chicken-of-the-woods, cauliflower mushrooms, chanterelles, girolles… Not many - just enough for ten portions or something like that..

“Whoever gets it, gets it. We do that here,” said Daniel. “It’s better than buying wild fungi in from a Scottish supplier. I’d rather just have ten portions and see who gets it - if not: maybe see you next week…”

Okay Dan, I might have to take you up on that! If only… 

But East Devon and all its edible glories are there 27/7, all year, every year for us all to enjoy. Why not find out more by taking a look at what is on offer at the Taste East Devon Festival - details of which can be found at  https://www.tasteeastdevon.co.uk/events

For more about The Pig Hotels visit https://www.thepighotel.com

RECIPE

Beetroot & Devon Blue Salad from Daniel Gavriilidis, head chef at The Pig at Combe

“As we come into autumn, the earthy sweet flavour of our home-grown beetroot is a staple on our 25-mile menus at THE PIG-at Combe. Not only are they packed with nutrients, but they brighten up any salad dish with their beautiful golden and candy colours,” says Dan.

This dish uses two varieties of beetroot, Combe garden Golden and Chioggia – a striking globe variety with orange-pink skins with eye catching red and white rings on the inside, that fade to a soft pink when cooked. It is sweet, tender and succulent with dark green leaves and ruby-red stems.

This dish makes the perfect starter for a family meal or as a quick alfresco lunch soaking up the last of the Indian summer sun.

You’ll need (serves 4-6):

250g golden beetroot 

250g Chioggia (candy beetroot)

2 sprigs of rosemary (1 in each pan)

2 sprigs of thyme (1 in each pan)

2 cloves garlic (1 in each pan)

2 pinches black peppercorns (1 in each pan)

2 pinches coriander seeds (1 in each pan)

Salt and pepper

Watercress to garnish

For the whipped cheese:

125g Devon blue cheese 

75ml water

190ml Sutton Lucy double cream

Lemon juice, a squeeze

Salt and pepper

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (or fruit vinegar)

6 tablespoons rapeseed oil 

Gather your beetroot - we use Golden Beetroot straight from our walled Kitchen Garden over at THE PIG-at Combe. If you can’t get these beetroot varieties, any old beetroot will do. We use Combe garden Golden Beetroot straight from our walled Kitchen Garden. Boil the beetroot in separate pans of salted water along with the rosemary, thyme, garlic, peppercorns, and coriander seeds, until just cooked – roughly 45 minutes.

Drain and, using a pair of tongs, carefully roast each beetroot over an open flame on the gas hob – just enough to nicely char the skin. If you don’t have a gas hob, season and oil the beetroot and put it under the grill at a high temperature until it starts to blister.

Rub the charred skin off the beetroot, then cut the flesh into 2.5–5cm (1–2 inch) pieces.

To make the whipped cheese, combine the Devon Blue and the water and blitz in a blender, until smooth. Whisk the double cream with a squeeze of lemon juice until it forms soft peaks.

Fold the whipped cream into the smooth Devon Blue, season to taste and decant into a bowl.

Place 3 tablespoons of the whipped Devon Blue on each plate as neatly as possible with the beetroot. Lightly mix together the balsamic or fruit vinegar and rapeseed oil and drizzle over the salad.

Garnish with the watercress, serve and enjoy!