Spring menus: Peggy's pick of the products
Simon Martin Farms rare breed free-range pork products
We keep a couple of porkers in the pub. They snuffle around in the dirt for scraps of food and sniff each other's parts. They're called our regulars. The pig farmers at Simon Martin Farms, though, put a lot more care into looking after their pigs. Unlike ours, they are fed on a natural diet and live a healthy lifestyle outdoors - until they are turned into free-range sausages, that is. The sausages come in a range of flavours including traditional English, pork and apple, pork and stilton, spicy pork, and pork and apricot. They are delivered directly from the farm in Hampshire.
Simon Martin Farms: 01329 220 341, www.simonmartinfarms.co.uk
3G seafood starters
We haven't done seafood since that lobster escaped the tank in 1986 and attached itself to one of our posher lady diner's frocks. However, I'm told that fruits de mer is back in fashion this spring, so we're doing these chilled starters. They include Atlantic queen scallops in juniper marinade, crayfish tails in sweet chilli marinade and salmon rolls in honey, mustard and dill mayonnaise. Each is available in 1kg tubs, containing 10 3oz portions.
3G Food Service: 0870 850 521, www.3gfoodservice.co.uk
McDougalls Pancake and Waffle Mix
Ah, pancake day! We like it so much here that there are still a few of the stickier ones plastered on to our ceiling from last year. Needless to say, there will be some equally vigorous tossing going on in our kitchen this time around. It's all made much easier by this ready-prepared mix. With the time freed up from not whisking the mixture, we've come up with some new pancake ideas. My customers will be able to get cheese and mushroom crêpes, and chocolate chip pancakes, made simply by stirring choccie chips into the mixture.
McDougalls: 0800 328 4246, www.rhmfoodservice.co.uk
Pidy pastry
Canapés are a bit old hat, aren't they? At least, that's what I thought until our supplier turned up with these ready-to-fill pastry cases that retain their crunch. They're perfect for filling with all the seasonal fruit and veg we've got in stock and flogging as a springtime starter. The 4cm-deep cases are available in a variety of pack sizes, and they keep their crunch for hours after being filled. My memories of soggy vol-au-vents filled with that mushroom slime have gone up in smoke.
Pidy: 01604 705 666, www.pidygourmet.com
Knorr spring vegetable soup
Honestly, if it's not one thing with these fussy customers, it's another. One day, they've read in their papers that they should be eating less salt, the next that they should go gluten free. Let's just hope they're not reading the Daily Mail, otherwise they'll be told to cut pubs out of their diet altogether. Anyway, nobody can accuse us of being unhealthy this spring after we got in these reduced- salt soups. The spring vegetable variety is one of a Knorr range that has been revamped to meet the Government's salt reduction targets. It is also gluten free.
Knorr: 0800 783 3728, www.unileverfoodsolutions.co.uk
