Kitchen confidential: Down on the farm

Before we left the UK for the land of deep dish pizzas, Thanksgiving turkeys and no - I repeat no - Marmite (any visitors from the UK will be required to bring a jar in exchange for board and lodging), I had a few great food experiences. One of the most notable was when in early September we went to River Cottage in Dorset for the River Cottage Autumn Fair. It was a fantastic celebration of growing your own fruit and veg and raising your own meat, while treading as lightly as possible on the earth.

Suffice to say I loved every second of it, particularly the lamb butchery demonstration which was a fantastic display of skill that produced some very tasty results - especially the neck fillets I was given at the end which made a wonderful rich stew a few days later.

Everything that we ate during the weekend whilst staying on nearby Trill Farm, dinner at the River Cottage Canteen in Axminster, and on the day of the fair itself was fresh and incredibly tasty. Fine dining it wasn't, but smoked mackerel sandwiches with home made mayonnaise and peppery salad leaves, or a creamy, rich courgette frittata take some beating.

It's Thanksgiving here next week, so we're going out for a traditional turkey lunch after watching the parade - I'll report back on the day soon. I'm also going to be trying out a few 'traditional' American foods and ingredients in the next few weeks, and I'm planning on jumping in at the deep end with spray on cheese. Yummy.

River Cottage HQ - aka Park Farm. I don't think Hugh actually lives here, but even for the end of the growing season, the kitchen garden looked great