Remember Cool Britannia? I always wondered why the tourist authorities chose pop stars and Brit Art to promote Britain to prospective visitors, when they could have truly shocked the world by marketing us as a great food destination.

But now, VisitBritain’s new Taste England campaign gets to the heart of good food in England, and each region and its produce is promoted by a different celebrity chef.

The East Midlands, proud home of the Melton Mowbray pork pie, the noble Stilton and the humble Bakewell tart, is proudly represented by Rachel Green, star of the ITV Yorkshire series The Flying Cook.

Green, a Lincolnshire farmer’s daughter, says: “Lincolnshire is famous for its outstanding pork and game, and I am close enough to Grimsby for a great supply of fish and seafood and wonderful smokeries for haddock, kippers and eel.”

This enthusiastic chef and caterer knows the local food like the back of her Aga. “There is also chine, a special sort of ham stuffed with parsley, which my father used to eat with a little sugar and vinegar,” she says. “And in Derbyshire they have a wonderful traditional oatcake that you can eat gently warmed with butter and jam, or cheese.”

With such passionate defenders of our good food, we should all renew our faith in the validity of great British regional produce. Use it or lose it, as they say.

Besides, it’s far too good for the visitors to these shores. We should be eating it all ourselves.

Ingredients
Serves 6

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 10 min

Recipe of Rachel Green, Yorkshire Television’s The Flying Cook

600g smoked eel fillet
6 thin rashers smoked streaky bacon
250g crème fraiche
1 tbsp strong horseradish sauce

Potato pancakes:

500g potato, cold plain, mashed 1 large egg
60g plain flour
100ml double cream
Salt and black pepper
Butter and vegetable oil for frying

METHOD

Heat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Place the bacon rashers on a baking tray and bake until crisp, then remove and keep warm. Mix the horseradish into the crème fraiche. To make the potato pancakes, mix together the mashed potato and egg until smooth. Fold in the double cream until well mixed, then add the flour. The mixture should resemble thick porridge.

Heat enough butter and oil to cover the bottom of a heavy-based frying pan, divide the mixture into patties and fry for 1 or 2 minutes on a moderate heat until the pancakes are golden-brown. Turn and cook for a further 1 to 2 minutes until firm to the touch in the centre.

Slice the smoked eel and arrange it on top of the warm potato pancakes. Top with the horseradish crème fraiche, crisp bacon and sprigs of parsley or dill.

TIMESONLINE www.timesonline.co.uk/foodandwine — for previous recipes from T2

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