Food & Drink

In Season: A Collection of Recipes from Sam Buckley

5 minute read min read

Chef Sam Buckley prepares a range of dishes using seasonal ingredients, many of which have been grown locally at The Landing: a collaborative community growing space designed and built by Sam's restaurant Where The Light Gets In, and Manchester Urban Diggers. Just five minutes' walk from the restaurant, the garden provides produce for the restaurant as well as the local community.

The Landing supports both WTLGI and MUD's objectives of promoting food sovereignty, community engagement in local food systems and increased biodiversity in our ever expanding urban environments. It is an oasis for learning, growing and socialising in an unexpected space, to encourage people to grow and share food wherever they can.

Pan fried bread with Welsh cheese & local honey

Firstly, Sam prepares a simple, seasonal dish that balances salty-sweet flavours, using a cheese sourced from a dairy in Wales. In the winter months, Sam and his restaurant team cure the cheese to turn it into a salted ricotta. The dish utilises any bread you might have that is beginning to turn or go a little hard, paired with the softer textures of cheese and the sweetness of honey.

"The crisping of the bread negates any staleness. It absorbs the deliciously floral honey, softening back up the toast, transforming into a perfect base to enjoy the crunchy ground cobnuts and tangy, salty, smooth cheese."

Ingredients
Old rye sourdough bread
Honey (local)
Salted sheep's milk cheese (similar to Ricotta)
Fresh cobnuts (seasonal hazelnuts)

Method

Toast thickly sliced bread until nicely golden brown in a pan with plenty of butter. Chop up and arrange on plate.
Grind cobnuts roughly in a pestle and mortar.
Sprinkle cobnuts over bread. Generously crumble up the sheep's milk cheese over the bread and cobnuts.
Generously drizzle honey over the dish and serve.

Pickled cucumber and plum salad

Pickling is a much used method at WTLGI; a resourceful example of making what is fresh and abundant in the warmer months last well into the winter when ingredients are more scarce. It can also be done quickly to make flash pickles that retain the same tartness and goodness for the health of the gut.

"This is a beautiful, fresh take on a sweet meets savoury summer salad, showcasing two seasonal ingredients that can be easily grown in our back gardens."

Ingredients

Pickling liquid (3:2:1 ratio)
300g vinegar (white wine or red wine)
200g sugar
100g water

Seasoning for the pickling liquid
Fennel seeds, peppercorns, star anise, cloves

Salad
Cucumbers
Seasonal summer produce (e.g. plums)
Flaky salt
Micro herbs and edible flowers (Sam used thai basil, spicy Vietnamese coriander and edible flowers)

Method

Peel cucumbers and deseed if desired. Chop into batons and generously salt. The salt will draw out some of the cucumber's natural water, enabling the pickling liquid to later re-absorb and take with it the tangy, aromatic flavour.
Combine water and vinegar in a pan over a gentle heat, then add sugar and seasonings until sugar has dissolved.
Pour pickling liquid over cucumbers. Add thai basil and spicy Vietnamese coriander as further fresh aromatics.
Store in a jar for at least 1 hour, or indefinitely. The cucumber leaf from the mother plant can be repurposed as a 'lid'.
Slice plums and remove the pit. Can be charred in a griddle pan if desired.
Combine pickled cucumbers and sliced plums into a bowl and toss together. Add a small amount of pickling liquid to bring the two together.
Transfer to plate and dress with micro herbs, edible flowers and more thai basil.
Lightly drizzle with spring onion/chive oil emulsion and serve.

Tomato pressé

A good tomato pressé is a fantastic and easy staple recipe to have on your go-to list. Its versatility and simplicity lends itself to cocktails and dressings, or as a base to sauces for a variety of dishes.

"This liquid is gold, and is best made in summer when the tomato flavours have truly developed from the sunny weather."

Ingredients
Variety of tomatoes
Flaky sea salt
Herbs of choice / pruned leaves

Recipe

Chop a variety of tomatoes into quarters and add to a large jar. These can be tomatoes that may not be most aesthetically pleasing.
Do not forget their stems – these contain so much added flavour and umami depth.
Generously season with flaky salt and leave to marinate until enough pressé has formed at the bottom of the jar.
Leftover 'pressed' tomatoes can be repurposed into a salsa or base of a sauce.