November 14 2022

places to go, food to eat

Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for apple, spelt and almond cake

This edition of the Cook’s Edit comes to you live and late from a remote National Trust cottage tucked under Golden Cap in Dorset. There has been much muttering under my breath because of my laptop’s dodgy wi-fi link , and those of you who have met me in real life will know what ‘muttering’ means. By necessity, before I spontaneously combust, it’s a truncated version without all of my initimable comments on the contents. There will, be mote of my adventures in Dorset this week on @cooksdiaries on Instagram.

Travel

General

How to save money on UK train tickets including railcards in the Guardian. Such a useful article.

The six travel mistakes that could ruin your holiday in the Times. My Ryanair tip is: if there are two of you travelling together, then you have to book two fares separately if one wants to take a 10kg bag and the otherjust a small bag that fits under the seat in front.

UK

Climbing Great Gable in the Lake District on Remembrance Day in the Guardian. This is the only big mountain in the Lake District I’ve never been up, so maybe it’s an ambition for next year.

Appian Way cycling from Rome to Brindisi in the Independent.

A city guide to Le Havre in the Independent, a weekend guide to Bucharest in the Sunday Times, to Gdansk in the Telegraph, to Parma in the Guardian, where to find the best seafood in Madrid in the FT as well a visit to Antwerp to see the newly renovated Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Fotomuseum Antwerp, or FOMU, devoted to the history of photography, and M HKA, the Museum of Modern Art, housed in a former grain silo.

Restaurants

In the Independent, Holm where I am going this week for lunch and am very excited at the prospect.

In the Standard, Jimi Faruewa went to to the new St John in Marylebone, (restaurant website here) as did Giles Coren in the Times.

In the Telegraph, William Sitwell went to Market House in Cambridge, (restaurant website here)

There were also reviews of Restaurant Elis by Jay Rayner which is spendy, but so so, Tutto in Brixton by Grace Dent which is rubbish; and Nando’s by Tom Parker-Bowles which we all know about already and can form our own opinions.

Recipes

The theme running through this week’s recipes is the comfort of home cooking using more economical methods of cooking such as the pressure cooker and the stove top instead of the oven. There are recipes from Modern Pressure Cooking by Catherine Phipps in the Times for spiced pumpkin and lentil soup, red lentil soup with greens, buttery tomato soup, braised lamb with apricots and rosemary and chicken, lettuce, leeks and peas, and Rachel Roddy’s recipe in the Guardian for an autumn minestrone.

In the Telegraph, there’s a discussion of whether you can cook pasta for two minutes and then let it sit in the water to save energy. It must be worth trying to see.

There are five energy saving recipes that you can cook without the oven in the Independent including Thai style pork rice bowlwith green beans, coriander and rice, hoisin beef and mixed veg stir-fry with egg noodles and sesame seeds, and korma and mango chutney glazed chicken with green beans, couscous and tomato salsa.

In the Telegraph, Mark Hix has cosy recipes, all inspired by his grandmother, a plate of alliums, tarragon chicken and Gran's apple and prune bread pudding.

We have pastry in two papers, Diana Henry in the Telegraph with recipes for comforting mince and onion plate pie, Lancashire cheese and onion pie and curried lamb pies. And then recipes by Candice Brown from the Sunday Times, including spiced custard and apple creme brulee tart and fig, pistachio and honey tart recipe and a recipe for plum, blackberry and maple pecan tart which are both out of season. I have to say the Thanksgiving sweet tart recipes in the New York Times all seem a lot more exciting than these.

Nigel Slater’s recipes for roast tomatoes with chickpea mash, and orange and poppy seed cake are in the Observer and then there are more recipes in Observer Food Monthly for side dishes for Christmas lunch including roast parsnips, mint and pomegranate raita and pistachio and cardamom custard. I am wondering if everyone just makes the same as they always do for Christmas; there might be riots in our house without Delia’s parmesan parsnips but it’s definitely worth remembering all these recipes for the ‘festive period’.

Florence Knight’s recipes in Observer Food Monthly all look inviting and I like the simplicity of the titles, including duck, lentils, dates and radicchio, parsnip, orange and hazelnut and a quince and almond tart amongst others.

Finally, Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for apple, spelt and almond cake which I made picture, above.

Books

Spice by Mark Diacono

with recipes for caraway and fennel toffee apples, apple, quince and star anise tarte tatin, blueberry and coriander clafoutis, sweet garam masala roast figs

Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things by Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad

Their new book is about adding ‘extra good things’ to make simple dishes luxurious and there are recipes for blackened chicken with caramel and clementine dressing, turmeric fried eggs with tamarind dressing, and brown sugar meringue roulade with burnt honey apples in the Independent.

Food for life by Tim Spector

A review in the Times by David Aaronovitch

I went to hear him speak, have the book and everything he says, makes sense.

Pipers Farm Cookbook: The Sustainable Meat Cookbook by by Abby Allen and Rachel Lovell

Recipes from this are in the Mail on Sunday.