Ottolenghi, Greek islands and pork and lemongrass meatballs

April 17 2023

Xanthe Clay’s Moroccan-spiced bean soup

I made Xanthe Clay’s Moroccan-spiced bean soup from the Telegraph this week which will now be a favourite as I had everything in the cupboard and a pack of broad beans in the freezer.

This newsletter will always be free, as long as I choose to do it. It’s to inspire me and you to cook new recipes and to go to new places. Please do share with anyone you think would be interested.

Travel

UK

The National Trust garden of Hidcote is in the Telegraph and is where I’m going next week, for the exhibition, Through the Lens: a Gardener’s Photographic Journey, which is on there until 30 May. Don’t forget Kiftsgate opposite. I would also really love to go the Ribble Valley to visit all the wonderful pubs as in the Times.  

North Berwick, once thought of as the Biarritz of Scotland, is now inviting comparisons with Margate in the Guardian, say I with a very straight face. The seafoood sounds excellent but why the need for comparison.?

Europe

There’s a lot of lists this week, 30 classic holidays in France  as well as the best Mediterranean islands according to science, Sicily is the top one. and then the best twenty cities for holidays in Italy all in the Telegraph ranking and rating them twenty . How do you do this? Why would you? Is it all for clickbait? And a guide to Naples in the Times.

Greece’s wilder side and tips on favourite places off the beaten track  both in the Guardian as well as touring Albania by bike.

An excellent article in the Guardian about Picasso travel in France and Spain which is the clearest one I’ve read about where he lived and how the places are linked to him now including Málaga, his birthplace, a childhood in La Coruña, Picasso and Miró in Barcelona, Old Master influences in Madrid, Paris and later years in Antibes

A Zaragoza city guide, Spain’s fifth city, and Ryanair flies straight there. Montenegro is apparently a cat lover’s dream and a green guide to visiting The Hague in the Netherlands, all in the Independent. 

Restaurants 

In the Standard, 14 favourite Thai restaurants in London.

In the FT, Tim Hayward thought Zapote in London EC2,‘a terrific room …….but it fails because of a few ill-judged cheffy flourishes and a communication problem.’

In the Guardian, Grace Dent went to the Oyster Club in Birmingham and said it’s ‘nowhere near the sea, very fancy and pricey, and where you’ll be fed but possibly ignored.’

In the Observer, Jay Rayner returned to the Kolossi/Attica, in London: EC1 , a Greek restaurant near his old office and thought, ‘it’s not revelatory, it’s so much better than that. It’s the essentials done with due care and attention.’

In the Standard, David Ellis went to Archway in Battersea London SW8 and said that ‘novelty is set aside in favour of familiarity with finesse’ and thought ex River Café chef Alex Owens should not be so restrained 

In the Telegraph, William Sitwell went to the Bath Arms, part of the Beckford Group on the Longleat Estate in Wiltshire and was ‘hooked by the friendly, welcoming service and a wholesome menu.’ Last year, I went for a delicious lunch at the Beckford Arms, and now want to try others in the same group which are in Wiltshire and Somerset.

Recipes

From Australia in the Sydney Morning Herald, tips and advice on how to arrange a grazing board. As quite frankly, even my cheeseboards often look a mess, I am going to follow their advice, ‘go big or go home ‘

The recipe that stands out for me and I am going to make tonight is Melissa Thompson’s lemongrass meatballs in a tamarind and coconut sauce and I am so tempted by Rachel Roddy’s double cheese potato croquettes, both in the Guardian. Henry Dimbleby’s £1 meal recipes for edamame falafel and a buruk made with frozen spinach and filo pastyr also sound practical and doable.

Mark Hix's Moroccan menu in the Telegraph for lamb tagine with prunes, and kefir labneh with delicious sounding honey and pistachio biscuits. One to remember if you have egg yolks left over from making a pavlova or meringues. I am wondering if I should take a trip to Goldhawk Road to buy some feuilles de brick to try out the brick à l’oeuf recipe.

Ottolenghi was interviewed on the 20th anniversary by Diana Henry in the Telegraph and included were his recipes for hummus, his chicken marbella inspired by the Silver Palate cook book, and cauliflower, pomegranate and pistachio salad. This week, in the Guardian, he did a Mexican feast with recipes for tortillas with pico de gallo and pineapple salsa, chipotle braised mushrooms and ricotta fritters with hibiscus sugar and cajeta. There was a comment on Twitter by Nicola Miller who said tortillas needed to be made ‘of high quality lard+flour+ baking powder+ salt + hot water. That's all.’

Diana Henry also wrote about on food after school including peanut butter and chocolate chip banana bread and sweet potato and feta muffins which makes me feel faintly inadequate as mine always had a chopped up apple and some raisins or a cake on Friday from the school bake sale.

Prawn rigatoni with tomato, vodka and green olives by Eleanor Steafel in the Telegraph was part of her reliable Friday night series and there was more pasta with Skye McAlpine’s pasta bake recipes in the Sunday Times, gnocchi gratin with spinach, gorgonzola and walnuts; baked pasta with tomato, mozzarella and aubergine; conchiglioni with ricotta, courgette and peas

As it is the week of Observer Food Monthly, Nigel Slater is in the Observer  twice, his regular column with recipes for asparagus with wild garlic hollandaise and lamb with rose harissa and apricot and spring recipes including onion pancakes, crab and avocado, chicken with avocado and wasabi cream, noodles with spring greens and gochujang and lemon sorbet and prosecco amongst others. 

Books

The Pepperpot Diaries: stories from my Caribbean table by Andi Oliver

An interview and recipes here from the Observer including amongst others a puffy bara flatbread with a quick chana dal, cucumber relish and tamarind chutney and a coconut and lime cheesecake.

Albania seen from Corfu.