Double helpings

20 January 2024

Ravinder Bhogal’s roast carrot and lentil fatteh

Introduction

Apologies for the hiatus last week and here’s a double helping and we all like those. My husband has just finished a course of radiotherapy after two operations last year and I have accompanied him on the drive from Putney to the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton each day. He’s recovering well. If you’ve met him in real life but didn’t know he had cancer, I appreciate this might be a weird way of finding out. True to form, he hasn’t lost his appetite, and I’ve been sticking to my resolution of using what food I had in the cupboards and planning meals.

vanderlyle restaurant in Cambridge calls this approach ‘January survivor’ and they have to do a presentation if they want to buy anything new. I haven’t gone that far but here are some of the things I’ve made.

The afternoon tea cake by Nigel Slater from the Observer which was excellent on the car drives for a snack in a box.

Butter beans with roasted cherry tomatoes by Ottolenghi

Peanut and tamarind curry with mint and dates by Sue Quinn from her book on leftovers, Second Helpings. I did roasted carrot, parsnips and celeriac one night and thought I’d made enough to make this the next day but we’d eaten it all so I actually cooked more veg to make it. I would recommend it

A coleslaw of celeriac, carrot and apple mixed with Greek yoghurt and mayonnaise with hazelnuts

A salad of avocado, feta, blood oranges and walnuts

and spiced beet dip with goats cheese and hazelnuts from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

There has also been quite a bit of scrambled egg on toast but we all know what that looks like.

To celebrate the end of the 20 days of radiotherapy, we went to Portland Restaurant who, throughout January, are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their first service in January 2015 with a special tasting menu at £55. It was amazing and I recommend it, although after cocktails and a bottle of Beaujolais, my photos do not do the food justice.

I’ve also made the lentil with roast carrot fatteh by Ravinder Bhogal from the Guardian and like the sound of the lentil fritters with quick coconut chutney, and the lentil, anchovy and fennel ragu with spaghetti too.

I had to make buttered ricotta dumplings with leeks, peas and bacon by Eleanor Steafel in the Telegraph and used up a pot of ricotta I’d had in the fridge since November when I went to Westcombe Dairy and some pancetta from last year.

Eleanor Steafel’s buttered ricotta dumplings with leeks, peas and bacon

To book

At this time of year, its good to have things to look forward to and I’ve booked tickets for

Horizon 22, the skyscraper in the City of London which is free to go up

Here We Are, Stephen Sondheim's final musical is on at the National Theatre, one of my favourite places in London, from April to June.

Sarah Raven’s Garden Open Days at Perch Hill Farm, East Sussex for a Spring Open Day. You can have lunch but we decided not to this time as there are also snacks you can buy and if everybody else is at lunch, then the garden is quieter.

I have missed the film Lee, about Lee Miller and starring Kate Winslet at the cinema but want to watch it via Sky or Now on a trial subscription, and then this week, go to see the exhibition Lee & Lee which runs from January 13-24 at Bonhams New Bond Street, London.

Restaurants

This is the sort of January content I want: 10 top meals out in London for under £20 in the Standard including Guacamoles in Peckham and Breadstall in Soho. I have never been to Bocca di Lupo, which I would like to rectify. although often to Gelupo opposite for ice cream after a trip to the theatre.

In the FT, Tim Hayward went to Permit Room, a new restaurant chain from the Dishoom founders. It’s in Brighton, Cambridge and Oxford and he likes it.

Also, what he’s learnt from a decade ‘reviewing’ McDonalds.’

In the Guardian, Grace Dent went to Anglo Thai which ’may have been a long time coming, but it certainly feels set to stick around.’

and to Toum, where, as the rotisserie wasn’t working, it made her spit feathers.

In the Observer, Jay Rayner went to Fonda in London W1.

‘This is conversation-stopping stuff. We mutter simple sentences that demand no reply like, “This is good” and “Oh my”.

and the Blue Stoops, a pub in Kensington, London W8.

‘a group of seriously experienced hospitality professionals, who like both their food and their beer, have come together to create their version of a welcoming pub, while attempting not to look like they’ve been trying too hard to get it right, even though they have.’

In the Standard, David Ellis went to Nipotina in London, W1.

‘The staff, unusually accommodating, will fit a meal around the table’s wants. There is no prescribed way to do Nipotina; take it as you please, direct the meal as you like.

and to Books for Cooks, in Notting Hill, London W11.

‘Food is offered four days a week, and always in three courses. Everyone pays just £8. These are undoubtedly the best value meals in London .’

I would add that you have to be there at 11.45am to be sure of a table

In the Sunday Times, Charlotte Ivers went to Cornus in London SW1 which made her angry as she thought people might save to go there for a treat and it was bad and poor value.

and to Josephine Bouchon

‘Is this not, when it comes down to it, what every meal should be? Pure and simple. The French got it right centuries ago and we’ve been fiddling in the margins ever since.’

In the Telegraph, William Sitwell went to the Touring Club in Penarth, near Cardiff.

‘in hospitality you can labour all you like with concepts, but if your guiding principle is that it works and tastes good you’ll be on to a winner. Especially if you add the discipline of a tight menu.

and to the River Café Café which is on the River Thames just opposite the River Café itself

‘Situated opposite the famous mothership, this smaller café manifests the same quality servéce, top chefs and accomplished flavours.’

In the Times, Giles Coren went to Babbo in St John’s wood NW8 which he liked

and the Chinese Cricket Club in London EC4 which he didn’t.

Travel

Grasmere

UK

Grasmere in the Telegraph, one of my absolute favourite places. Roll on May when I’ll be there.

The best pub in each of England’s 48 ceremonial counties in the Telegraph

Going to the Surrey Hills in the Guardian

The Isle of Arran in the Sunday Times

Europe

In the Guardian, travelling on the train from Amsterdam to Berlin and 8 of the best small cities to visit in the Netherlands in the Times which are not Amsterdam. ‘These lesser-known cities offer the best bits of Dutch culture, food and history, but without the crowds.’

17 of the best affordable hotels in Paris in the Times under £150 ‘from design-led boutique hotels to authentic family-run addresses’.

Other accommodation websites apart from AirBnB in the Guardian. I’m a fan of Sawdays.

The Man in Seat 61 (a railway advice website) love affair with Interrail in the Sunday Times

A culinary adventure on the Lisbon coast in the Observer visiting Cascais, Estoril and Sintra in the Guardian

Reading the papers

People ask me how I read all the papers. I believe in paying for quality journalism and my husband and I have digital subscriptions to the Times and to the Telegraph.

The Times gives you two free articles a week as a registered user and the Telegraph gives you access to one free article each week if you register an account. The FT gives a certain number of free articles

Local public libraries often have Pressreader which gives access to over 7,000 newspapers world wide for free or you can subscribe to it.