By Laura Jean
We partnered up with Streatham Food Festival and hosted our very first pop-up VegBox dinner at our Streatham pick-up point – The White Lion. Farm friend and Hix Restaurant senior sous-chef Joe Fox headed up the cooking (you can read an in depth interview with him here) and guests were treated to an elderflower champagne reception, crudités with Sticky Mitts bread followed by a three-course meal, prepared using the contents of our weekly VegBoxes.
Upon arrival, guests enjoyed a glass of elderflower champagne that was delicately decorated with flower heads, foraged from the farm and served in art-deco patterned champagne coupes. The farm’s head grower, Joris, concocted this delicious brew in practice for his wedding next year and we weren’t afraid to let the event play guinea pig – it was delicious! The tables were set with hessian runners, flowering tomato plants straight from our poly tunnels, edible flowers from our companion beds and terracotta pots filled with fresh beetroot, white and wholemeal bread, plus radish, carrot and asparagus crudités alongside a garlic and herb mayonnaise.
We kicked off with a broad bean and salad burnet starter which incorporated not only the beans themselves but the shoots and the flowers from the plant too, as well as pickled cucumber, cucumber flowers, home-made ricotta and Sticky Mitts bread croutons. All this, dressed with organic, English rapeseed oil. Next up, we were treated to chargrilled asparagus and stewed romano peppers which sat a-top an attractive pile of hand crushed charlotte potatoes, laced with herbs from Kev’s mandala. The creaminess of the charlotte potatoes worked brilliantly with the tang of the stewed peppers and the crunch of the asparagus – something we’ll all be trying to replicate at home.
Finally, we rounded off the evening with what we called Sutton Community Farm Foraged Mess. This delectable dish combined baked meringue and whipped cream with farm-foraged elderflower and gooseberry compote all topped off with decadent white chocolate shavings. A brilliant end to a brilliant evening.
The event was truly wonderful but it couldn’t have happened without the kindness of those who supported us and donated their time, skills, advice or produce to the table. We can’t thank Joe Fox enough for the enthusiasm and expertise he brought to our very first Pop-Up VegBox Dinner and we hope to work with him again soon in the future on similar events.
Many thanks to Streatham Food Festival who helped us promote our event – selling it out! – and The White Lion pub who donated us their venue. We’d also like to thank our farm’s baker Gaye Whitwam for the delicious bread she donated and Malsar Kest Ltd. for donating the hire of the crockery and glassware.
Let’s not forget our volunteers on the night either – Asa for photographing and filming the event, Jess, Helen and Rayna for their reliable waitressing (we only broke one glass!) and Joris for fixing the barbecue and stepping in as Joe’s wing man with the plating-up duties.
L-R: Joe, Jess, Laura Jean, Helen, Rayna and Joris
Photographs / Film Stills by Asa Taulbut (Triple A Films)