Christmas – Borough Market

The festive period has been and gone and I hope that you all had a wonderful time. We all did, spent with family and full of good times and, obviously, good food.  I’ve been writing this before posting – disastrous problems with changing broadband suppliers and being without internet for a while – joy – so I know how long it is getting. This will be a few instalments I think, or it will be the longest post in history, am getting a bit carried away by the memories.

 

I got to do a lot of the shopping for it and spent a very happy morning in Borough on Monday the 22^nd. Borough was quite quiet of shoppers but pretty full of tourists so it was nice to see the friendly faces of the stall holders I’ve become familiar with, it is always a pleasure to be in Borough, if not a challenge not to walk away with far too much produce… I had a list of cheeses to buy, carefully given by the brother and the mother (they are well aware of my ability to buy enough cheese to feed 50 rather than five) so did this first. I went to the Stichelton stall – if you like blue cheese and have never tried this then I urge you to if you see it. It is an unpasteurised cheese made close to Stilton and is, in my opinion, creamier and just, well, try it and you’ll see. I then went to get some parmesan, you should never be without it and there is a great stall – The Parmesan Cheese Company – that always has lovely blocks of golden promise to brighten even the dullest day. Only two more cheese stops. There is a stall called Mons Fromagerie in the old market, by the Boston Sausage stand, which specialises in French cheese and the brother had spotted an interesting blue the week before. It is a Malzieu blue and it has a lovely mix of sharp and salty qualities. Then it was off to Neal’s Yard for me. On the way, I got distracted by Monmouth and had to stop in for a coffee and then sip this whilst queuing to get some more beans. Heaven and very reviving. At Neal’s Yard there was a bit of a queue (when isn’t there) but there was a lovely surprise at the front, where you got a sample of cheese, Hafod, a welsh cheddar style cheese very delicious and not as punchy as Montgomery’s, a favourite of mine. I finally made it and started my acquisitions. I got a piece of Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire, a tarragon Perroche and a bit of Caerphilly. I then headed on over to Brindisa to pick up a few essentials for the plan on Christmas Eve and was also picking up a bit of Monte Enebro, a marvellous goat cheese, and this is from someone who was so against goat cheese only a few years ago. Then I had a bit of a thought, the bags were beginning to get a bit heavy and I still had all the meat to collect and the veggies. I figured I would get the meat, drop the bags at the car (I know, bad me driving in but you try carrying all I’ve mentioned, nine kilos of meat and a load of veg back on the tube and train and let me know how you fare…) and then return to peruse the veggies at leisure. So, it was off to the Ginger Pig for a gammon, and I have to say, after the boiling and glazing, that was the best gammon ever, and just to be in the fridge for sandwiches etc, some lamb fillet and a few racks of lamb too. Again, it’s a place where I have to have a list, otherwise I would be tempted by the array on display. Then I popped next door to Sillfield Farm to get our turkey equivalent for this year, more on that later.

I managed to get that load back to the car; I’m not sure how without losing a shoulder but I didn’t. Then I headed back to get the veg, herbs and fruit needed that I hadn’t already got or figured would be more readily available there. I love shopping for food almost as much as cooking it, it’s the anticipation you build up, choosing the ingredients and knowing what you are going to do with them, imagining how it will taste and feel in the mouth, ah….