Recipe of the Month

Chef Will Devlin is the founder of Acre, a family of restaurant and hospitality event spaces in Kent and Sussex including The Small Holding and Birchwood. In partnership with Payne & Gunter and inspired by the ethos of The Small Holding, Will Devlin has created a bespoke menu for Garsington Opera that highlights the finest seasonal ingredients. Using produce from his own one-acre farm, along with carefully sourced ingredients from local producers close to Wormsley, the menu captures the true taste of the English countryside.

Leading up to the 2025 Season, Will Devlin has curated a recipe of the month for Garsington Opera. Each recipe is thoughtfully designed to reflect the essence of the changing seasons and celebrate British ingredients. These recipes are designed for you to try and create at home.

February Recipe

Rhubarb and meadowsweet meringues

Meadowsweet, as the name suggests, grows in meadows and damp ditches and is easily identifiable by its long stems with frothy heads of sweet smelling, tiny creamy-white flowers. We use a lot of meadowsweet at both our restaurants as it grows in abundance in the hedges. We pick it fresh in early summer and dry the flowers to use throughout the rest of the year to infuse desserts with its sweet and floral flavour or blitzing the dried flowers with sugar to make shortbread and biscuits. If you can’t find any meadowsweet, use a vanilla pod or extract, instead.

Ingredients:

For the meringue

• 115g egg whites
• 225g caster sugar

For the poached rhubarb

• 200g rhubarb, cut into 1cm dice
• 100g water
• 100g sugar

For the meadowsweet cream

• 250g double cream
• 50g meadowsweet cordial

For the meadowsweet cordial

• Large bunch of meadowsweet, 40-50 heads – don’t rinse as you will wash all the pollen away
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 500g sugar
• 2 litres of water

Method:

1. Put the egg whites and sugar in a bowl over a bain marie or saucepan of simmering water and whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture changes to a pearly light colour. Place in a mixing bowl and whisk until the mix becomes cool and firm. Pipe individual meringue nests onto a lined tray, using an oiled spoon make a divot into each meringue. Bake at 120° for 15 minutes, turning the tray round and baking for another 10 – 15 minutes until the shells are crisp and firm. Leave in the oven to cool for several hours or overnight.
2. To make the meadowsweet cordial, use a fork to pull the flowers off the stems and put to one side. Pour the water, lemon juice and half of the sugar into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Once the sugar has dissolved add the flowers and bring to a gentle simmer. Remove from the heat, cover, and leave to infuse overnight. Strain the flowers from the liquid and bring back to the boil, adding the remaining sugar, stirring until it is dissolved. Decant into a sterilised glass bottle. This will keep for about a month and is delicious used in puddings or topped with sparkling water or wine.
3. Make the poached rhubarb by combining the small dice with the water and sugar and simmering for 5 minutes until just soft. Leave to cool. Whip the cream with 50g of the meadowsweet cordial.
4. Assemble the dessert by spooning the meadowsweet cream into the middle of each meringue nest and topping with the rhubarb compote. Garnish with a few reserved meadowsweet flowers.

January Recipe

Loin of venison with chestnuts, bacon and cabbage

Serves two

Ingredients 

• Two x 200g venison loin pieces, trimmed of any sinew
• 300g winter cabbage such as savoy or cavolo nero, washed and shredded
• 100g chestnuts, either vac packed or roasted and deshelled weight
• 100g smoked belly bacon
• Four cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
• Three sprigs thyme
• 500ml beef or chicken stock
• 250ml red wine
• 150g unsalted butter

Method

1. Prepare the sauce by simmering the stock and wine until reduced by three quarters and intensely flavoured. Keep warm.
2. Season the venison pieces well with salt and pepper and sear in a medium hot pan with a little rapeseed oil, turning often for an even colour all over. Add 50g butter, two lightly crushed garlic cloves and a sprig of thyme. Keep spooning the foaming brown butter over the venison as it pan-roasts, for about four minutes. At this stage it should feel firm to touch and will be medium rare on the inside and caramelised and golden on the outside. Keep warm and leave to rest. 
3. In a small frying pan, add a drizzle of rapeseed oil and the bacon and fry until the fat renders and is crispy. Add the chestnuts and coat in the bacon fat until starting to caramelise and add the reduced stock and wine liquid to deglaze the pan. Stir and keep warm.  
4. In a small saucepan, with a lid, add 100g of butter and the remaining cloves of garlic and thyme. Stir until melted and you can smell the garlic and add the finely chopped cabbage. Stir and replace the lid, moving the pan every so often while the cabbage cooks in its own steam. Remove the garlic cloves and thyme and season with salt.
5. To serve, slice each venison loin into three or four pieces and plate with the cabbage and bacon and chestnut sauce. Delicious served with mashed potato and swede and a glass of the same wine used in the sauce.