The Bakewell Farmers market is held on the last Saturday of the month and it is an event that is well worth putting in the diary. I have been here three times now since I returned from the states and I am already starting to have a list of favorite vendors and must buy produce. The good thing about this particular market is that some of the stalls feature producers that don’t make it down to my current base in Nottingham, so this is my one chance to get to visit with them.

In no particular order I will let you all in on my days shopping and now bulging larder and fridge contents. For some of the vendors I am going to delve a little deeper in individual posts, but I will map all of those out for you on the MyFoodHunt map so you can find them.

Great North Pies Company

My First stop was to the Great North Pie Company stall which was on the patio area outside the main hall. I have eaten these pies before and was very happy to see them again at the Market. They were selling pies from their summer menu and I walked away with a couple of the “Lamb Curry ‘Keema & Peas” pies which are filled with ‘Minced Yorkshire lamb, homemade Great North curry sauce, garden peas, toasted almonds, sultanas, cumin and black onion seeds’ and one of their pies called “The Great North Meat Pie” which is filled with ‘R & J’s Yorkshire beef, free range pork, Stornoway Black Pudding, crushed Hob Nobs and Gingernuts, nutmeg and pepper’. I haven’t tried them yet they are in the freezer, but I really am intrigued by the addition of Hob Nobs and Gingernuts. The Great North Pies Guys assure me that it works. I will tell you the verdict next week after I have tried the pie.

Staffordshire Scotch Eggs

My next stop was to the Staffordshire Scotch eggs stall. I have learnt from experience that this stall is very popular so you have to get here early if you want your pick of their full range. We were here by 10am, last time out it was 11.30am and some of the ones I would have liked had gone, so as I say make sure you stop here first to avoid disappointment. Read More about it here

 

Cossack Cuisine

The next stall I was hunting down was that of Cossack Cuisine who as you may guess from their name serve “food with a Russian accent.” On the previous two visits to the market they had pretty much sold out, and even at 10.30am this weekend there were people all over the stall trying to get items that they had already sold out of and had sent out for replenishments. I was pretty lucky as I spotted a Chicken and Chorizo slice that would have been my first choice anyway. I bought a piece and it was delicious. more about that later

Chestnut Meats

Ok so now we were heading inside in search of the Chestnut Meats stall to get some goat meat. They have a really good selection of sausage, meatballs, and mince, but I was here looking for some leg meat to make a goat curry with. I was successful in my hunt and bought a couple of pounds for later cooking adventures. I will post about that later on, but in the meantime here is one of the earlier efforts we made using Chestnut Meats read more here

Lomber Hey Farm

The next stop was supposed to be a search for some smoked back bacon at the Lomber Hey Farm stall but somehow we got distracted by rather interesting meatballs. These were called “Zulu Amaqanda” and listed as their ingredients ‘pork, beef, lamb, fresh chillies, mozzarella chesse, cumin seeds, ground coriander, and allspice’. They looked amazing in the packets a dark deep colour that leapt out of the packet screaming meaty spiciness at you. There were just two packs left and as I dived in for one, the lady next to be grabbed the other and we gave each other the triumphant ‘Oh yes we just did!’ look as we then tried to grab the attention of  Ricky the Butcher to pay for our well gotten gains

Port of Lancaster Smokehouse

We grabbed hold of some Dry Cured Smoked Streaky bacon from the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse stall which was next to Ricky the Butcher. They had smoked everything here, a lot of interesting looking smoked trout and salmon, but we were spending hard at this point so just stuck with a pack of streaky bacon. I haven’t opened this bacon yet but I have high hopes as the smokehouse has won great taste awards in the past. In their own words “Our mouth watering Streaky Bacon is slowly cold smoked over blended oak and beech wood to give it our unique and distinctive taste and will make your traditional English breakfast the perfect start to the day.” Sounds good to me.

Peak Buffalo

Ok just a quick diversion trip next over to the Peak Buffalo stall to get a couple of Buffalo Burgers for the BBQ. I have had these before and they are both tasty and healthy, a winning combination in my book, as there own tagline goes “healthy meat at it’s peak”

Oslinc

After all that food hunting around the market it was fast approaching time to get some lunch so we headed back outside of the main hall and converged on the Oslinc Stall. In addition to selling their products at the market they were also cooking up some of their more exotic meat burgers. I had to take the opportunity to sample one of their Zebra burgers and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Oslinc is one of those vendors that we do get to see quite a bit of in Nottinghamshire and I have bought meat from them at the Nottingham Farmers Market, The West Bridgford Farmers Market, and the one at the Sutton Bonington School of Agriculture on many occasions.

Sage Green Cuisine

I quite pleasantly surprised when I found some rather nice little savoury tartlets on the Sage Green Cuisine stall, especially since they sell Vegetarian and Vegan cuisine and I am a self confessed lover of my meats and meat related products. I was looking down at the stall and spotted a tart that even a few months back I would have turned my nose up at.

This tart was the ‘Broad Bean, Pea & Mint Tartlet with Lemon & Crème Fraiche for just £2. Recently I have started to enjoy my broad beans, especially the young freshly picked ones, but only when the bitter outer skin is peeled off. This combination is really quite excellent, sweet and tart at the same time. It made an excellent supper.

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OK enough already? time to get this lot back to the car and head off for some more Food Hunting

I think that it is pretty clear that we probably spent too much at the Bakewell Farmer’s Market, but the thing is that there is so much good produce on offer that it is so hard not too! The only downside or in all actuality the saving grace is that the market is just held once a month on that last Saturday. If it was any more frequent then I really would fear for my bank balance, never mind the burgeoning waistline. Having said that, It’s worth every penny and every pound! – Roll on the next one!

Don’t forget to check back on the blog to find out more about some of the vendors we visited at the Market.