A Week on the Estate: Building Beehives, Lush Pasture & Summer Chicken

Our herbage grows tall and creates a haven for moths, butterflies, grasshoppers and bugs galore. Songbirds and mammals abound, and the presence of raptors like barn owls, tawny owls, kestrels, buzzards and red kites is a strong indicator of a healthy food chain. Each of our grazing paddocks will be visited between one and three times per year and our Reds thrive on the long, succulent grass they get every day.

If you haven’t entered already, don’t miss out! Our free competition to win a luxury Gin Lovers Hamper (RRP £85) MUST END on Sunday 18th August. This luxury wicker hamper will include a 70cl bottle of Burrell’s Dry Gin, a 70cl bottle of Marie Jeanne’s Pink Gin and two Massingberd-Mundy glasses with branded coasters. This is a cracking prize for any lover of artisan gin. To be in with a shout, head to our competition page HERE and register your details.

Speaking of fine Massingberd-Mundy produce, we’ve found a delicious summer recipe that really does justice to our intensely flavourful, farm-reared Lincolnshire Buff chicken. We doff our caps to Jamie Oliver for his Lemon Tzatziki Chicken and here’s the simple version. For finishing touches and to see Jamie working his magic, click HERE:

1. Split your bird down the spine and open it up. Score the legs deeply.
2. Mix a generous portion of tzatziki with olive oil and lemon juice. Coat the chicken generously and leave to marinade, ideally overnight.
3. Heat olive oil in a wide pan and fry the bird for five minutes, skin-side down.
4. Quarter four onions and split them into petals. Take the chicken out and put the onions in the pan. Lay the chicken on the onions and place the whole pan in the oven. Cook for one hour at 200C.
5. Remove the chicken and rest it on more tzatziki with onions and lemons then put the pan back on the hob. Add two mugs of basmati rice with one mug of water and toast it in the chicken fat.
6. Serve according to taste.
7. Find someone who owes you a big favour to wash that pan. 😉
8. Let us know how it goes on our Facebook page.

If you haven’t tried a Lincolnshire Buff chicken yet, here’s what one of our poultry team had to say about it: “You really can taste the difference. The meat is more flavourful and intense than intensively reared poultry. This is how chicken would have tasted to our great-grandparents.”

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