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….

The Tapa Room

Last Friday, I headed up to Marylebone High Street to meet a couple of people for lunch. We went to The Providores & Tapa Room, the London restaurant of Peter Gordon. The Providores is the upstairs restaurant, really nice, I ate there a few years ago, and the Tapa Room is downstairs and a bit more relaxed. The wine list here is full of gems that you just don't see that often so is well worth an explore. We had the Mount Difficulty Pinot Gris 2007, a lovely lemony drop that you should grab if you have the chance. The food is of the "small plates in the middle of the table to dive into" philosophy - heavenly. We had the Pimientos de Padron - another must in my book, chilli roulette, fabulous! The Tapa Plate, which features grilled chorizo, guindilla chillies, marinated olives, grilled artichoke, spiced fig preserves, babaganoush and Manchego Villarejo cheese, those figs were an explosion of sweet and spice. Watermelon and feta salad with pomegranate dressing, basil and toasted sunflower seeds, the perfect palate cleanser. Deep fried New Zealand baby kumara with sweet chilli sauce, smoked kelp and crème fraiche; kumera is something I hadn't heard of before but is like a cross between sweet potato and plantain, I shall search these out myself again. Smoked Dutch eel and Parmesan croquettes with saffron aioli - my choice and so delicious. There is so much more on the menu that sounds so good, but we were defeated by then and split a dessert to go with coffee. The raspberry bavarois and Oloroso jelly trifle with kaffir lime leaf madelines and vanilla cream was a taste sensation. The Oloroso married so well with the softness of the bavarois. The madelines were very nice but could have been a touch more zesty and the coffee was superb.

Well worth a visit in my book but there is no reservation system so get there early or be prepared to queue for a while. I know I'll be back.

Birthday Dinner

It was my birthday recently and I was taken for dinner by my family - asked for a list of places I'd like to go and then not told where we were going.

We arrived at Ambassade de L'Ile, a new outpost of Auberge de L'Ile, a renowned restaurant on the outskirts of Lyon, somewhere I always wanted to eat at when I was there for university but not possible on a student budget.

Ambassade has received some mixed reviews since it opened, generally seeming to focus on the decor, deemed by most to be terrible. I think that, yes, it is over the top and not what one would have at home but it does fit this interior. We were greeted warmly and offered a drink whilst we perused the menu, glasses of Ruinart Rosé in fact and some tasty amuses. We all decided to go for the tasting menu, it is served to the entire table and at £90 for eight courses, it is priced as you would expect. The wine list is a joy. There are some very expensive bins but go to the slightly esoteric areas and there are some very reasonable listings.
All I can add to previous reviews of this restaurant is that I think you should go and make up your own mind. I had a wonderful birthday dinner there, the food was very good, very little I didn't agree with and the place and people are great. They do a £30 lunch menu which I would be interested in trying too.

Go, enjoy and see what you think.

Holly and Otters

Very happy 30th birthday to Gareth.

Much fun was had at Holly Frindle - a beautiful Lubetkin designed house situated next door to Whipsnade Zoo. Jen and I met for breakfast so we could do the last minute shopping and prep, collect the hire car and recover from St John the night before. We met at Breads etc on Clapham High Street, both a little the worse for wear and had some toast and tea. After about an hour of procrastinating and breakfast we had made our lists and set off to do some shopping - on the grounds that we probably shouldn't drive just yet...

We headed off to Moen's on the Pavement in Clapham. It really is a very good butcher. We bought some côte de boeuf, bacon for breakfasts, pork pie, cheese and asparagus. Then we headed a few doors down to Macaron, a really lovely patisserie, for some bread. We then took a little walk over the common to Clapham South to visit Moxons. I'd ordered a wild sea trout and he was beautiful; we also picked up some scallops for an amuse.

Then we headed back to Jen's to drop off the heavy shopping, get a few bits from the local market and then go and get our vehicle. Having accomplished those tasks, we headed to my house to collect all the bits from there and make a couple Pan Bagnat. Pan Bagnat is a Niçoise sandwich, our version was: take a sourdough loaf, chop off a lid and remove the inside. Moisten the crust with olive oil and some red wine vinegar. Layer in the following ingredients - lettuce, tomato, cucumber, olives, boquerones, tuna (I can't remember if there was anything else) and then put the lid back on. wrap this in cling film and weight it down so that it squishes and all the flavours merge - we put it in a bag under a Le Creuset of sausage pasta sauce. Jen made these so expertky while I rushed around packing up stuff. We then went back and picked up everything else before heading to Paddington to pick up the other four members of the group (we were late).

We drove up the M1 to Holly Frindle and upon arrival, unpacked and set about making dinner. It was then we found one of the things we'd forgotten to pack - wine glasses, oops! Dinner consisted of pasta, the fennel sausage sauce, bread and salad accompanied by some delicious red wine - very needed! Games ensued.

Saturday was the day of fun. We breakfasted - I'd made some bread and it over rose during our shopping excursion :

Then we packed up lunch - Pan Bagnat x 2, pork pies, piccalilli and cherries, some wine and water, and headed over to Whipsnade. Lots of lovely animals were seen especially the sealions, the noisy, chatty otters and the 16 week old baby elephant and we lunched. Back home, we set up for dinner. The menu was as follows:
Amuses of Scallop on Chicory with Chilli Jam and Proscuitto
Sea Trout baked in Newspaper with mayonnaise
Cote de Boeuf with bearnaise, asparagus, courgettes and jersey royals
Cheese
Jelly (blood orange and cardamon and lime with grapes) and Ice cream (lemon and basil)









Games ensued:


Sunday was more relaxed and a drive back up. More games on the mini table though:

Fabulous weekend, thank you one and all.

St John - Smithfield

Well, went to Smithfield St John to celebrate a 30th birthday. We had the private room and there were 16 of us - much fun and 5 of us are called Jen so mirth ensued.

We started off with lots of bubbles (the birthday boy/lad/man works in the trade so much was there) and then had the Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad and Broad Beans with Berkswell. The beans were delicious, raw, fresh and green with so much flavour; offset beautifully by the Berkswell and some leaves. I have been anticipating trying the bone marrow for many years and it did not disappoint - oh my goodness me, so delicious and creamy and amazing. I implore you to go and try it - astounding. We then had roast lamb with white beans and rabbit fennel and bacon. Both were delicious but I got carried away chatting to people and didn't have much of them. Dessert was Eccles Cakes and Lancashire and Rhubarb, Meringue and Cream - delicious.

A wonderful evening at a marvellous place with great food, delightful company and a huge thank you to the people of St John who made it even better.

The Mojo is back

Well, I think my "cooking for fun" desire took a bit of a back seat ding the preliminary stages of planning the new venture - i.e. "cooking for work". I'm pleased to say, I think it might be back on today.

I went up to Moxon's Fishmongers in Clapham South today. Moxon's is undoubtedly one of the best places to buy fish in London, and you lucky people in East Dulwich now have a branch there too. Robin Moxon started off supplying fish to a large number of the top restaurants, he then opened, many moons ago, Moxon's Restaurant close to Clapham Common. It was a very sad day when this closed, as it was, in my humble opinion, the best place to eat in the environs. I mourned the loss of the place for a long while and then Moxon's returned, as a wonderful wet fish shop, Calloo, Callay! Anyway, sorry, slight ramble, I went up to order a sea trout for next weekend. It is a big birthday for a great friend and we are off, a group of six, to have a weekend of fabulous food, wine and company so more about that later. I decided to get some samphire as there was some outside and wondered in to be dazzled by the dispay. I asked Robin (always the best decision) what would be best, without hesitation he went for Turbot. I now have a couple of fillets of Tommy sitting waiting, some broad beans waiting for me to shell, some samphire, jersey royals, a bottle of white wine reduced to a few tablespoons and a lovely, vibrant chervil plant waiting for its first haircut. (of course there is a gin and ginger in play, try it, marvellous! and some wine cooling down). Join me later for an update and some photos for what came out of it all.
So happy it is back!

It's now 10pm, just finished dinner and it was delish. posting tomorrow.

So, the turbot was lovely, the salad of broad beans matched deliciously. Ahh, the joy is back again!

Good Food and Good Company

On Tuesday, the 6th, I went for lunch at St John Bread & Wine, and had a really lovely lunch, obviously helped along by the company too.

For those who don't know, St John, there are two, are restaurants created by Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver. The original, Smithfield, was opened in 1994, and this one was opened in 2003. Bread & Wine is based on plates that are shared - my favourite way of eating!

We got there on a beautiful day and there were only a few other tables there. we had a bottle of water and I chose a bottle of Irouleguy white. We then set about the difficult task of choosing. Three plates were decided upon: Beetroot, goat's curds and a herb which escapes me at the moment; Quail and Aioli and Blood Cake with Duck Egg (the best name ever). We meandered our way through the dishes with great joy, interspersing with lots of conversation, and then decided to share the Rhubarb Jelly for dessert.

The food was delicious, the wine superb and the meal memorable. Thank you.