20th February 2025 • The HERALD • Page 73 v INDEPENDENT, LOCAL AND PROUD v FOOD FOR THOUGHT OPEN SUNDAYS & BANK HOLIDAYS • RINGWOOD ROAD, TOTTON • PLAZA PARADE, ROMSEY • THE PRECINCT, CHANDLERS FORD ALL DAY COD & CHIPS £1 OFF On presentation of this advertisement MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY ONLY Not valid with any other offer. Valid until 12th March 2025 Thai Bluebird Street Food and English Cuisine Telephone: 07598 442718 www.thaibluebirdstreetfood.com ALL MAJOR CARDS ACCEPTED Opening Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday - 1pm - 9.30pm Monday/Sunday - Closed New Road, Blackfield, SO45 1WA Serving the True Taste of Thailand We also cater for Special Events “After being away in Thailand Annie and Colin would like to welcome back all of our loyal customers to the Thai Bluebird Street Food Bus Many thanks for your custom. Colin & Annie” WELCOME BACK WATERCRESS! with salt and pepper. 3. Take a generous tablespoon of the crab mixture and shape it into a small ball in your hand – do this gently as the mixture will be fairly so at this stage. Dip it fully in the beaten egg and straight into the breadcrumbs, turning to ensure it is evenly coated. Repeat with the remaining crab mixture. 4. Put the crab cakes in the fridge to rm up for at least an hour. 5. When ready to cook, heat the oven to Gas 6/200°C. Put the crab cakes on a parchment-lined baking tray and bake for around 15 minutes. ese will be ready when they are lightly browned. 6. Serve with mayonnaise and salad, or new potatoes. To make a watercress mayonnaise, stir 1 tablespoon of chopped watercress into 3 tablespoons of ready-made mayonnaise. Come May, look out for sparkling emerald-green seas of watercress growing in farms mainly around Hampshire and Dorset. e start of the UK watercress season is not just marked by an annual festival in the pretty town of Alresford on Sunday 18th May, it’s welcomed by lovers of the green stu all around the country. Why? What’s the appeal? Well, it’s versatile, it’s delicious, adding a tasty peppery kick to any recipe, and it’s unbelievably good for you! Watercress is a nutritional powerhouse, packed full of over 50 vital vitamins and minerals; gram for gram it contains more calcium than milk, more vitamin C than an orange, more folate than a banana and more vitamin E than broccoli. It’s also a good source of plant iron which, because of the high levels of vitamins A and C it contains, is converted into a form of iron that the body can easily absorb. It does this more readily than other veg that don’t possess such good levels of either vitamin, making watercress a ‘must’ for all vegans and vegetarians. In addition, watercress has been proven to be naturally high in a range of vital antioxidants, called Glucosinolates and Flavonoids. ese protect against cell damage (the precursor to chronic disease and ageing) and are associated with the prevention of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. One of these bio actives, Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC), gives watercress its distinctive peppery taste and is being shown through current scienti c research to be associated with improved outcomes in several types of cancers. ere’s so much more to this historic salad leaf than meets the eye. It was a powerhouse of the British economy back in the Victorian era, necessitating railway lines (eg the Watercress Line in Hampshire) to be built so enough watercress could be transported from the country to cities like London, to cope with demand. Its popularity may have waned compared to its heyday, but watercress is experiencing a renaissance including recognition of its method of production. Unusually for a vegetable, Watercress growers received TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) certi cation, so that only watercress grown on gravel beds in owing Exbury’s hidden treasure, Palais Des Vaches Gallery and Venue are continuing to team up with local caterers to o er pop-up restaurants for their open days so visitors can dine amongst the art in their beautiful gallery. e Gallery is open to the public on 1st, 2nd, 8th, 9th, 22nd, 23rd, 29th and 30th March, 11am to 4pm. Pop-up restaurants so far have included Hythe based Fire and Rocket Catering Company, Hythe based Ginger Catering Company, e Nags Bar & Kitchen and Lyndhurst based e New Forest Tea Company. For details of upcoming Pop-Up Restaurants visit: palaisdesvaches. co.uk/venue/pop-up-restaurant-andgallery or follow @palaisdesvaches on Facebook. Palais Des Vaches is located at Lower Exbury Farm, Inchmery Lane, Exbury. Pop-up Restaurant and Gallery at Palais Des Vaches spring water can be called watercress – beware of land grown imitations! To nd out more about the history and health bene ts of watercress, join the crowds at the Alresford Watercress Festival on Sunday 18th May, or give this light mouth-watering recipe, perfect for spring a go. Crab and Watercress Cakes e joy of simple crab cakes is that they can be made at lightning speed then set in the fridge to rm up ready for cooking as needed. Makes 6 Preparation time: 30 minutes (plus one hour resting in the fridge) Cooking time: 15 minutes Ingredients • 250g brown crab meat • 200g boiled potatoes, peeled and roughly mashed • 100g watercress, chopped nely • 1 tablespoon mayonnaise • Salt and pepper For the crumb coating • 1 egg • 200g breadcrumbs Method 1. Put all the ingredients for the crab cakes in a small bowl and mix well, adding salt and pepper to taste. 2. To prepare the crumb coating, beat the egg in a bowl. Put the breadcrumbs on a plate and season well
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