Around The World In Eighty Bakes: Devon!!!!!

Hello again!!! I have been away on holiday to the beautiful harbour town of Dartmouth in Devon, where I have been going on holiday since I was a little tiny baby! This year I went looking for inspiration for my blog, and I can truly say that if you want food ideas, pack your bags and get down to Dartmouth pronto, its fit to burst with the most amazing produce, food and drink! I'm going to share to you some of my highlights and also recreate something that I tried for the first time and really stood out for me on my trip!

Little me in devon!!!

When I arrived in Devon, one of the first places I visited was the Dartington Cider Press, which consists of little shops and cafes including the most amazing farmers shop, which sold an amazing collection of cheeses, pies, chocolates and local produce including South Devon Chilli Farm products and Burts Crisps. I decided to buy a local fudge brand called the Wonky Fudge Kitchen and my dad brought a local beer called Shingle beach, which for my taste was a little too strong, but my dad and brother certainly enjoyed it!

On the sunday, my family and a friend that I took with me, all went to the harbour and did some crabbing and ate some ice cream from the local ice cream shop, The South Devon Ice Cream Shop, which was the first ice cream of many that week. (The ice creams I had that week were mint choc chip, Pistachio, Rum and raisin and baileys).

On the tuesday Me, my mum and dad and my friend Clara, went to the Oyster Shack, where we ate mussels, prawns and oysters. The seafood was so fresh it felt like I had just dived in and pulled them straight out the ocean and ate them. It was also the first time Clara had eaten an oyster, we all sat there and waited for her response, it was intense, would she spit it out, would she love it and eat them all before my dad had the opportunity to eat them. She looked back up and replied " they're weird, I don't think I'll have another one." For pudding, me and Clara tucked into a brownie with a mocha sauce and honey and yogurt ice cream, which is basically all my favorite things on a plate, when I tried it I felt like I had died and gone to heaven, the incredibly rich brownie which oozed was then cut through with a slight bitterness from the mocha sauce and then the sweetness from the honey and yogurt filled my soul with yumminess. My dad also got a good deal as they had his favorite pudding on the menu, affogato, which is espresso and ice cream. This restaurant is a defo recommendation!!

On the Wednesday, we all visited the South Devon Chilli Farm, where they grow all types of chilli and turn them into the most amazing products in the middle of the "sunny" south devon! Whilst there, I looked at all the amazing varieties of chillies that they grew. My favorite chilli was one called cherry bomb as I loved the vibrant red and the song "Cherry Bomb" by the Runaways is one of my favorite songs. I also brought some delicious chilli jam and some chilli chocolate for a chilli loving friend of mine! I also sat down to have a cream tea, but not a traditional cream tea with sweet scones, jam and clotted cream, oh no, this was a chilli cream tea with cheese scones, chilli jam and cream cheese. I loved it! The sweet jam with a nice hearty kick at the end, with cheese chunks and cooling cream cheese. YUM YUM!!! Oh and also, my brother Tom, considers himself as a hardcore chilli eater and also a "lad", decided to eat the hottest chilli item there, Ghost chilli, his girl friend tells me that he ate only a small amount and before he even swallowed it, he was crying, sweating, coughing and going bright red. Tom was rescued by one of the lovely staff members who gave him a glass of milk... lets just say his lad image was ruined!!!

On the second to last day, me and Clara went and did a little shopping in Dartmouth where I visited one of my favorite shops in the entire world, the Smith Street Deli. If you want to get the best of local produce, this is where you need to go! They sell the most amazing selection of meats, cheeses, pickles, jams, pretty much anything you want!! They also do the most gorgeous sandwiches using produce from the shop, I brought some Burts Crisps, blackcurrant jam and pickled beetroot chutney. I then went to Rockfish, which is a local fish and chip shop, where they catch only local fish and make the most wonderful dishes, I had scallops to start, which were cooked to perfection, then fish and chips, which was cooked perfectly (oh and a quick note, they have bottomless chips, which means it doesn't how many chips you eat they are free!) and then a crisp and torte lemon tart to finish off, I highly recommend this restaurant, if you want to get the best of local fish then this is the place to go. I also paid a visit to the local fudge kitchen, Edward's fudge kitchen, so I could compare it to the fudge I brought from Wonky Fudge Kitchen. If you want to get good fudge, go to Edward's Fudge kitchen, not too sweet and nice chunks of fudge with some many lovely flavours, the Wonky fudge kitchen was too soft and had a texture of mush and left me feeling very very poorly. Also the Edward's fudge kitchen also allows you to post fudge which is a nice surprise to those at home!

The recipe that I chose to recreate for you is the savoury cream tea from the chilli farm as I loved the combination of flavours, the modern twist on the classic cream tea and it also gave me a good excuse to eat some of the yummy chilli jam I brought!!

Chilli farm cream tea:

Ingredients:

225 grams of self raising flour
a little salt
55 grams of butter
25 grams of mature cheddar cheese, grated
150 milliliters of milk

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degree celsius/ 425 F/ Gas mark 7 and line a baking sheet.

2. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl and then rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Grate the cheese and add to mixture and stir in until combined, then add the milk and stir until the mixture is a soft dough.

4. Tip the mixture out onto a floured surface and knead lightly, then pat or roll to 2cm thick (it has to be thick so you can cut the scone in half). Then get a 5 cm cutter and cut out parts of the dough and place on the baking sheet. Grate a little more cheese and sprinkle on and then brush the scone with a little milk. Place in the oven for 12-15, or until golden brown. Once cooked leave on a wired rack to cool.