Saving money on summer holidays, Barbara Hepworth and pancakes galore

February 20 2023

Oradour-sur Glane

Oradour-sur-Glane is a village in the Limousin where the inhabitants were massacred by the Nazis on June 10 1944. In the Telegraph,an article explains how it has been left as it was then, as a memorial to all those who died. There is also a moving Centre de la Mémoire which explain how it happened. I visited two years ago and I would urge you all to do the same. The sobering thought is that these atrocities are still happening all over the world as evidenced in Olia Hercules in her sobering article about the War in Ukraine in the Guardian.

Travel

UK

The theme this week was saving money on summer holidays.

The Times gave a list of the best small holiday let agencies to find interesting places to stay, including Premier Cottages, where I have found good places in the past. Telegraph experts shared 50 of the best money-saving ideas as well as ten simple tips on finding good hotels whatever the budget. The Guardian advised how to save money when booking a summer holiday and that Eastern Europe was the place for an affordable beach holiday.

Barbara Hepworth was in the Telegraph with advice to go to Wakefield to see the Hepworth Wakefield which has been on my list for a long time, partially to see the garden designed by Tom Stuart Smith. She was also in the Daily Mail.to go to St Ives to see her work there.

The Telegraph had an article on visiting Essex and its underrated coastline.

Europe

The Times explained what to expect from Finland beyond the northern lights as well as a well researched article on Madrid and another on a weekend break in Valletta. In the FT, Tim Hayward visited Lyon, for exceptional French food without the novelties and in the Guardian, there were 10 of the best food festivals in France.

Restaurants  

30 things we love in the world of food right now in Observer Food Monthly.

In the Guardian, Grace Dent thought Maresco in Soho, London, website here, was ‘a small pocket of sanity on the corner of Berwick Street. She advised sitting at the counter for their Spanish food. One of those places you want to remember. 

In the Independent, Kate Ng went to El Takoy, a Hawaiian restaurantin Covent Garden, London which is fusing Asian and Cuban flavours

In the Observer, Jay Rayner said that ‘Matsudai Ramen in Cardiff, 'the first dedicated ramen shop in Wales comes from an unexpected source, but don’t wrinkle your nose; it’s inventive, geeky and superb.’ Website here.

In the Standard, David Ellis visited Hawthorn in Kew, website here, and thought everyone needed an upscale local like this.

In the Times, Giles Coren went to Akub, in London W8, website here, and was disappointed in the food. 

Recipes

We could not forget that it’s Shrove Tuesday this week as there were pancakes recipes from all over the world in the papers for those who are not opening their Delia, Nigella or Jamie, then making the same recipe as in prevous years and serving it with lemon and sugar.

I am going to branch out to rhubarb and blood orange tomorrow, from this Telegraph article on the best toppings which also includes ideas for Parmesan and spinach and haddock, leek and chive. Pancakes with ricotta and pistachio by Nigel Slater in the Observer, (link to follow), six best pancake recipes and the best recipes from London restaurants in the Telegraph, Ottolenghi’s recipes in the Guardian, including rum and raisin kaiserschmarrn with toasted almonds, lemon, poppyseed and hazelnut pancake cake and qatayef with pistachio and orange syrup and Felicity Cloake’s recipe for a kimchi pancake there as well. Finally, how to make the best pancakes, crêpes and galettes in the Times with tips and recipes from French chefs, and I think we’ve covered all options.

There was a miscellany of other recipes including Sunday roast recipes with a twist in the Sunday Times by Oli Brown from Updown Farmhouse, the new place to go in Kent; roast chicken with thyme and onion pudding and celeriac, pot roast loin of pork with chicory, apple and walnuts and salt-baked cabbage with tomatoes, butter beans and green sauce Another dinner recipe from Gill Meller in the Independent for baked chicken thighs with cider, wholegrain mustard and clotted cream.

Nigel Slater was in the Observer twice as it was the week of Observer Food Monthly with comforting recipes best eaten from a bowl, all very doable, including chicken stew with butternut squash and miso, aromatic sticky rice which you can season how you like. cheese soup with beans and bacon, cannellini, aubergine and labneh and a luxurious rhubarb and ginger trifle. Then his normal column was for roast chicken, orange and berbere spices with labne and grilled red chicory with blood oranges.

There was so much more in this bumper week, but I am going to pick out some very different recipes to illustrate the range, Mark Hix’s easy Italian menu in the Telegraph, gnocchi with sage and butter, pork Milanese and ricotta and honey tart, pimento pork belly with vegetable rice by Melissa Thompson in the Guardian, a Honey and Co recipe for pork meatballs braised in sweet and sour cabbage in the FT and the Mount Street restaurant lobster pie in the Times.

Books

Deliciously simple by Jane Lovett in the Times,

The author says, ‘while speed is the thread running through these recipes, cooking also remains firmly at the heart of them – speed doesn’t have to mean uninventive or uninspiring’ She demonstartes this with six recipes including bacon, blue cheese and spinach gnocchi, chicken, mustard and lemon orzotto and one-pan spicy sausages and beans. I’m going to try some this week.

Gennaro’s Cucina: Hearty Money-Saving Meals From An Italian Kitchen by Gennaro Contaldo in the Independent, recipes here and an interview here for low cost Italina food including fava beans and chicory, parmigiana di zucca and passatelli in brodo

Rice Table: Korean Recipes and Stories to Feed the Soul by Su Scott, in the Observer.

Su Scott won an OFM award for making her mother’s recipes for her daughter and now she has put them in a book, including black bean sauce noodles and curried pot rice.