Fresh air, fresh food

So remember a couple of blog posts ago, we were egging you on to sign up for market garden goodness? Well, if you did, well done you! And if you didn't, what a day you missed!


It was an amazing and truly inspirational day, and, alongside Adam, Charlotte, Ed and Sally (wearing the aprons), who run coop growers Glebelands, we picked all the ingredients there and then fresh from the market garden. Above are the gorgeous yellow courgette flowers we made fritters from.


We then cooked (and ate): spicy courgette bhajis (see below); fried courgette flowers in tempura batter; basil and cashew pesto; tabbouleh, and squash and kale soup. Yum!

Food for free

On Sunday 5 September 2010, local herbalist and wild food expert Jesper Launder led a group of Cracking Good Foodies on a forage along Chorlton Brook and in the meadows and woods of Chorlton Ees. After learning to identify a whole host of different edible fruit and veg, the group got cooking in the great outdoors, making a freebie feast of garlic mushrooms, cider funghi fritters, and elderberries with ice cream. For more photos, see the special Ees album on our Facebook site.


Thanks to the workshop's popularity and resounding success, Cracking Good Food is giving you a second opportunity to join Jesper on Chorlton Ees for another wild food forage on Wednesday 22 September 5pm-8pm.


The event is the usual £15 (or £10 concessions), and booking is essential - see our website for full details. The food forage sets off from Ivygreen carpark on Brookburn Road (opposite the Bowling Green pub) at 5pm.

Sign up now for market garden goodness

Join us for a special foraging and cooking session with the Glebelands City Growers this Sunday (12 September) between 2pm and 5pm.


Glebelands City Growers are Adam, Charlotte, Ed and Sally. They say: "We grow vegetables at our three-acre site on the banks of the River Mersey in Sale where market gardens were once common. Our location on the outskirts of Manchester means we can get fresh food to the city within hours of picking. Crops include salads and herbs, leafy greens, beans, squash and cucumbers, all of which are grown organically. Glebelands is a unique example of small scale, sustainable farming in an urban environment; we aim to challenge perceptions about how food is produced and inspire people towards positive change."


We'll be picking fresh seasonal produce from the flourishing market garden then turning it into a delicious meal which we'll eat alfresco. Payment is on the day (a small contribution only), but please note that booking is essential so we know numbers: email fiona@crackinggoodfood.org. See the Cracking Good Food website for directions and transport details.

The great outdoors

After having to cancel our Cooks On The Hop at Plover Terrace on Tuesday 17 August, we were really worried when it was incredibly windy with torrential rain the day before our rescheduled second Hop on Tuesday 24 August. We even resorted to borrowing an ultra-strong gazebo from the local police station for more shelter - just as well, as ours was blown over in a particularly strong gust!

Still, at least the rain held off and Cracking Cook Avril managed to dish up loads more of our by now famous homemade pasta sauces, hopefully providing inspiration for people to give it a go for themselves. Healthier and loads cheaper than from a jar - what's not to like?


Tina Murphy, Customer Involvement Officer for Southway Housing Trust, which manages many of the properties on Arrowfield Road Estate, popped along to see what we were up to. She dropped us an email afterwards to let us know how enjoyable and useful she found it.

"I attended the cooking session recently organised by Cracking Good Food on Arrowfield Road Estate, and I was amazed by how easy it is to create such wonderful tasty food with such little effort or expense. The event was very well organised and the methods of cooking were very well explained by Avril. She knows her stuff! I can highly recommend that you get yourself to one of these events. I'm looking forward to the next event where pizza is on the menu."


The pizza-making session took place on Tuesday (31 August), a week later. You can see more photos from the day on our Facebook page. It was (finally!) glorious weather when residents of the Estate came down to the community allotment run by Action For Sustainable Living. Everyone got stuck in making pizza bases from scratch, kneading and rolling out the dough, then adding tasty homemade tomato sauce and wholesome veg picked straight off the plants on the plot. The pizzas were then baked in the special cob oven that was built in 2008 and served with a freshly harvested salad. Result: smiles all round!

Another food forage special!

On Sunday 12 September, Cracking Good Food are running another forage special! This time, we have arranged a hop at the pioneering Glebelands City Growers on the banks of the River Mersey in Sale. Glebelands operates under Soil Association organic standards to grow healthy fruit and veg without the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, and sells its produce within five miles of the site to minimise carbon emissions: you can buy Glebelands grown vegetables in Chorlton's Unicorn Grocery, for example.


Cracking Good Food and Glebelands are inviting you over to forage, cook and eat fresh seasonal produce from the flourishing market garden. The hop takes place between 2pm and 5pm at Glebelands City Growers (between 94 and 96 Glebelands Road, Sale, M33 6JR): please come by bus or cycle if you can. We will ask for a small contribution on the day, but BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL! See our website for booking information.

GUEST BLOG: Cracking good forage

By guest blogger SARAH-CLARE CONLON

Back in April, I was all geared up for making Sunday lunch for my brother-in-law's family, but they cancelled at the last minute, so I decided to take advantage of the early summer warmth and go on an organised forage on Fletcher Moss in Didsbury instead. I'm so glad the plans changed - the herb hunt was brilliant, the sun shone brightly throughout and I met some really lovely folk, including Jesper Launder, the local herbalist who was running the event. We spent a good three hours rummaging around under bushes and alongside boardwalks, and came out clutching all manner of food, including aniseed-tinged Sweet Cicely, tangy three-cornered leeks, pungent ramsons (wild garlic) and even some meaty St George's mushrooms. We were taught how to identify the correct species and shown some failsafe doublechecking procedures, and, after our wander, I was pleased to source my own plentiful supply of fungi friends a bit closer to home, giving me a free and flavoursome addition to risotto and pasta well into May.


Cracking Good Food is giving you the chance to join Jesper in Chorlton for a wild food workshop and cook-up. The special cracking good forage on Chorlton Ees takes place on Sunday 5 September 2pm-5pm, and you can expect to find mushrooms as well as other edible plants.

Jesper has been collecting wild plants to eat for more than 25 years and this workshop will give you the chance to benefit from his vast identification experience and knowledge of local growing places, and will help you spot the first free bounty of autumn. The amble through the Ees will last about two and half hours and will be capped off with some wild food tasting using the results of your foraging.

The event is the usual £15 or £10 concessions, and full details on booking can be found on the Cracking Good Food website. BOOK EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT! The food forage sets off from Ivygreen carpark (opposite the Bowling Green pub) at 2pm. Don't forget to dress for the weather, although we will have shelter for when we get cooking!

GUEST BLOG: Volunteering with the picnic in the park

By guest blogger MARY LUNDQUIST

On Saturday 5 June, Cracking Good Food set up in Manley Park, Whalley Range, for a wonderful community picnic in honour of World Environment Day. Various other local groups were involved, including Manchester Friends Of The Earth, Eat Your Streets, Adopt A Tree, Celebrate Your Alley Gates and Meat Free Monday.

Kim from the the Cafe at Islington Mill was the lead chef and, together with Adele, coordinated the cooking of four main dishes. On the menu was Egyptian Falafels (pictured below), Turkish Couscous, Butterbean and Sun-dried Tomato Pate (also pictured below), and Warm Potato Salad.


Kim picked up most of the ingredients at independently owned shops, which were very local (just across the street!), and Kat from Friends of the Earth and I pitched in with setting up the stall. The cooking was a real group effort and the work of many helping hands, and it was wonderful to see so many people getting involved, making for loads of cooking and conversation. We even sent everyone off with recipes, so they can make it all again at home!

All those who participated had a great time making then eating the food, and everything was delicious. People also came with their own lunch, and some provided music, and soon we had a grand picnic spread out over the grass. Even the sun came out!


There are loads more photographs from the day on our Facebook page.

Mary Lundquist is a Cracking Good Food volunteer. As well as the picnic in the park, Mary has helped with the Chorlton Arts Festival Street Feast and will be on hand to assist during our second session for the general public this Saturday. If you would like to volunteer to help with Cracking Good Food events, email adele@crackinggoodfood.org

Picnic in the park

Join us on Saturday (5 June) to bring World Environment Day to Whalley Range at a community picnic in Manley Park. Cracking coordinator Adele and Cracking Cook Kim will be helping picnickers rustle up some tasty nosh (for a small fee) from 11am, with the picnic running from noon until 4pm. On the menu are felafels, couscous with nuts and fruit, raita, potato salad with maple syrup, sesame seeds and torn parsley... all kinds of yummy veggie fayre.


Loads of other local groups will be there as well as Cracking Good Food, including Friends Of The Earth, Meat Free Monday, Eat Your Streets, Celebrate Your Alley Gates and Adopt-A-Tree, and there will even be some planting taking place from 2.30pm.