A Taste of Cornwall

Well well well, this post has certainly been a long time coming! And unfortunately for no good reason! I was trying to make the photos look super impressive and arty but...I’m just not good at that kind of thing, so instead this is going to be a simple “food porn” post with lots of pictures for you to look at, bare and beautiful, with no editing at all.

I’ll intersperse some of the groups of pictures with my comments and anecdotes/reviews from the holiday. Enjoy!

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Cornwall – perhaps my favourite place on the planet! (Though it could be improved greatly by only being 20mins from the centre of London, haha.)

Cornwall has so much to offer and as a result my family and I have been visiting the county for years. I’ve been on almost every beach, and round every national park, I’ve been to Flambards multiple times as well as the Dairy and Cider farms, Poldark mine and much much more! But...I still feel like there’s so much more to explore!

This year for me, unsurprisingly it was all about the food. Despite looking a little bit crazy, I took plenty of pictures of what I scoffed, so here is my holiday, in food. A taste of Cornwall.

Firstly, my family has a rather special little tradition which unsurprisingly involves food, but most excitingly for me, involves breakfast! Now I NEVER eat breakfast, and I mean never, except when I’ve been in a car for 7 hours and have just arrived in Cornwall...

Because my hometown is so far away from Cornwall, our plan of action is always to drive through the night. We leave home at roughly 1:30am, drive for 6-7 hours and arrive in the town of Perranporth sometime after 7:30am a little tired and very hungry.

Perranporth is always our first stopping point, and for one very good reason known as The Dolphin Cafe. Bright blue, and adorned with all sorts of dolphin paraphernalia, the Dolphin open super early so that holiday makers like ourselves can have the best fry up Cornwall has to offer, complete with stunning views of Perranporth beach.

It really is the best way to start a holiday.

 

 

This next batch of photos comes from a rather lovely pub which is perched right on the headland at West Pentire overlooking Crantock beach and out to sea. The pub is steeped in history, with plenty of smugglers stories to tell!

Crantock is by far our favourite part of Cornwall, and it has our favourite beach, so we were extremely excited to be staying just a cliff walk away, right next to the Bowgie Inn. We’ve eaten (and drunk) here many a time, so it seemed fitting we came here for our first nights dinner.

Here you can see the smoked seafood salad I enjoyed. It included mackerel, salmon trout and mussels fresh from the smokehouse at St Mawes alongside salad leaves, beetroot, and a homemade potato salad, coleslaw and vinaigrette!

One of the things I had hoped to do on holiday was go on some sort of foraging walk or even a mini course but unfortunately there was just too much to fit in! However, we did go for a lovely early morning walk along the headland of West Pentire round to Porth Joke (Polly Joke to the locals) where I saw a number of yummy edibles along the way, including blackberries, dandelions and mushrooms!

(Don’t panic, I know nothing about mushrooms and definitely didn’t try any, and I don’t recommend you do unless you are foraging with a professional!)

After feeling rather good about ourselves after our brisk morning walk, we ruined it by indulging in “Breakfast Cream Tea” – something which became all too much of a common occurrence!

 

 

[Healthy Version] Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas and Tartar Sauce

There are some meals, that will always be nostalgic, they will always be comforting, and remind us of happy times. Fish and chips for me, is one of those meals and for two reasons.

Firstly, it reminds me of countless holidays to Cornwall and day trips to the coast – without a doubt, we would end the day watching the sunset tucking into fish and chips on the beach.

It also reminds me of my Nan. Every Friday when we were little her and my Grandad would come round for dinner: one week she would cook, the other we would get fish and chips from the local chippy!

Are ALL happy memories linked to food?

But let’s face it there is enough grease in the average portion of fish and chips to give you heart disease just by looking at them! Ok...maybe that’s an exaggeration. And, if it so concerns you, cod is one of the most overfished fish stocks in the North Sea! So, it’s probably not ideal to be eating too much of it. Instead, for this recipe why not pick something like pollack or coley, both of which are from the cod family! You can check out other Sustainable Tips at the Hugh’s Fish Fight Website.

Now, when most recipes are given a makeover they just leave out all the good bits...you can probably tell my fish won’t be covered in batter, but I’ve also whipped up healthier versions of creamy tartar sauce, and mushy peas, so you can have your fish and chips with all of the trimmings.

I promise you this recipe will be much lighter on your lips and on your hips, and taste delicious, even without all of the grease. I'm particularly proud of the super silky tartar sauce that really packs a punch.

It’s just a shame that you can’t eat this on the beach...