Our Friends at the Harrow

Look through back numbers of our magazine and the name of the Harrow Inn at Steep near Petersfield keeps cropping up as a regular fund raiser. Quizzes, barbecues and more unusually a share in the proceeds from the sales of the pub’s newspaper The Harrowing Times and The Harrow Poetry Book all add to the total.

However until recently I had never visited the Harrow Inn or met Mine Hosts, Claire, Nisa and Tony.  The pub is rather off the beaten track and in fact it seems to outsiders to resemble “Brigadoon” – you find it one day and the next it is gone.

However Mike English knows the Harrow well and offered to take my wife Chris and I there for lunch while the snow was on the ground. From the centre of Petersfield, over the level crossing at the station, right at the roundabout and right again at the Cricketers Arms. Then just follow the road down the hill until the pub sign is seen in the hedge.

The pub is small but the welcome is warm and the food is superb. We had the most nourishing plate of ham and split pea soup I have ever had. Topped off with some beer from the barrel – super! As the pub newspaper says “… the cooking has earned an enthusiastic recommendation in the prestigious Good Food Guide”, and “… within living memory no one has seen any good reason to change the menu”.

If you are looking for somewhere to go out for lunch – I can recommend the Harrow. And if they are collecting for The Rosemary Foundation – well you know what to do.

 A Delicious Fruit Salad Cinnamon Cake    by Rita Greer

We first published this recipe in our Spring 2008 Newsletter. It proved to be such a success that we are including it here again.

Now Christmas cake is a distant memory you can think about fruit cake again. This is a fruit cake with a difference.  Not only is the taste more delicate but the pale colours of most of the fruit make it very pretty when cut.      

 Ingredients :

4 oz (115g) soft brown sugar   

4 oz (115g) soft margarine

1 tablespoon runny honey        

2 eggs

8 oz (225g) self-raising flour   

1 level teaspoon cinnamon

milk to mix                               

8 oz (225g) dried fruit salad, chopped

finely grated rind of 1 lemon  

  You will need to grease and flour a 7 in (18cm) cake tin and preheat the oven at 350 F/180 C/ Gas 4. 

Method: Put the sugar, margarine, honey, eggs, flour and cinnamon  into a mixing bowl.  Mix well then add enough milk to make a soft-dropping consistency and beat well.  The mixture should drop slowly off the spoon.  Stir in (don’t beat in) the chopped fruit and rind.  Turn into the prepared tin and bake on the middle shelf for about 11/4 hours.  Test with a skewer.  If it comes out clean the cake is baked.  Cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack to cool.  When cold, store in an airtight container.

Notes.  the fruit should be chopped into small pieces the size of a sultana.  De-stone the prunes before weighing.  To make the cake special, sprinkle the top with flaked almonds before putting it into the oven.   A wedge with custard makes a good pudding.

I hope you’ll try this unusual cake.  It makes an excellent birthday cake for those of us who have passed the OAP line.  (Of all the cakes I make, this is my absolute favourite.)

Autumn Vegetable Soup

4 servings

This is a good way of using up odds and ends of vegetables from the fridge that would otherwise be thrown away in the compost bin.  A thin, delicately flavoured, deep orange-coloured soup. It doesn’t require liquidizing or putting through a mouli but you will need a wire sieve to strain it.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped small

2 sticks celery, chopped

handful cauliflower florets, chopped small

1 medium carrot, grated

2 medium mushrooms, chopped

½ small lettuce, shredded

handful spinach leaves, shredded

small piece swede, grated

hot water from the kettle

2-3 teaspoons soy sauce

1 heaped teaspoon tomato puree

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley

Method:  Use a large pan to gently fry the onion in the oil for 2 minutes, while you stir.  Put in the prepared vegetables and enough water to cover plus 2 cupfuls.  Stir, bring to the boil and put the lid partly on.  Reduce heat to simmer for about 30-35 minutes, until the vegetables begin to disintegrate. (You may need to top up with a little more hot water if too much boils away.)  Put a wire sieve over a bowl and transfer the contents of the pan.  Use the back of a tablespoon to press the vegetables against the wire and release all their juices.  Pour the resulting liquid back into the pan.  Discard most of the vegetables left in the sieve except for 2 heaped tablespoons. Snip these with kitchen scissors to make sure all the pieces are small. Stir these into the liquid.  Add 2 teaspoons soy sauce. Taste and add another teaspoon if required.  Put in the tomato puree and salt and pepper to taste.  Stir well and taste, adjusting if necessary. (If it seems a little too sharp, add a pinch of sugar.)  Sprinkle in the parsley and serve hot.

Notes:   As this soup contains cauliflower it doesn’t keep well and should be used on the day it is made.  It is unsuitable for a flask but it does make a good start to a dinner party. Adding double the chopped parsley will make it a little more elegant.  Makes a good simple lunch or supper with bread, cheese and an apple.  Any soup left over can be frozen and used for stock another time.  Waste not, want not – an old saying but very true.

Anyone who has enjoyed this Welsh Tea Bread on holiday will be glad to have a copy of Elspeth's recipe - we can guarantee - it is delicious!

 Bara Brith