Scandinavia, strawberries and melon

July 10 2022

Nigel Slater’s tomato and melon salad.

Introduction

For me, the beauty of this newsletter is that it’s fun to do and it’s free. As I was away for the weekend and I’ve been busy this morning, this is coming later to you. I hope you’ve all been waiting for it to ping over. We had a bar lunch in the Three Horseshoes at Batcombe, which was excellent and I would like to go back to eat properly in the restaurant as long as George Osborne and his wedding ushers aren’t there again.

Travel

UK

The best places to eat along Britain’s coast in the Telegraph and the best hotels, restaurants and things to do in the Lake District in the Times. I know the Lake District well, having stayed over the years in various mountain huts, hostels, cottages. pubs, and hotels and I think it’s difficult to find good quality accommodation of any sort as anything good get booked up miles in advance. I stayed at Another Place mentioned in the article, eighteen months ago, and it has the most amazing swimming pool. I thought no one would take babies and toddlers there in early February; let’s just say I was very wrong.

There’s also what I call the ‘Roganification’ of Cumbrian food. Nothing wrong with his emphasis on provenance but it’s hard to find a decent place for dinner when you want a straightforward meal and not a ten-course tasting menu. The Dog and Gun at Skelton is excellent. I am still gathering intelligence from mountaineering club friends before my next foray, and am at that annoying stage of below-the-line newspaper commenters where I want to keep it a secret and don’t want to share until we’ve booked somewhere. But, of course, if you do know somewhere nice, please tell me in the comments.

England’s answer to the Camino de Santiago, but without the backpackers in the Telegraph is a two-week, 178-mile (286km) walk from London Bridge to Walsingham in north Norfolk. I’m still pondering the Spanish or Portuguese routes for next year but maybe I should practise in the UK.

Europe

The Guardian was all about how to travel in Scandinavia with budget tips here, readers choosing their favourite trips in Nordic countries, and an 85-mile walking route, Sweden’s Biosphere Trail in south-west Sweden. It sounds charming with delicious food. Stockholm on a budget and Gothenburg, Sweden’s second city, and finally, a city guide to Aarhus, Denmark’s second city in the Times.

Moving south to the Mediterranean, there is a list of the last unspoilt islands in Greece in the Telegraph including Anafi, Ikaria, Kythira and Nisyros and over tourism in Santorini in the FT who also advise staying on the ferry to Anafi, which sounds completely different. 

A self-guided walking tour of North West Sicily including pastry shops, incredible buildings, and clear seas to swim in the Guardian 

Algarve for its food behind the main coastline in the Independent

Spain travel guide and a Perpignan city guide which they call the ‘Catalan capital’ of France in the Independent

Restaurants 

In the FT, Tim Hayward went to the Pelican, in Notting Hill, London W11 which he thought was ‘utterly lovely gastropubbery.’ and that ‘they’ve made it so good that people like me can’t forget them, and will willingly return, again and again.’ He mentions how they take a butterhead lettuce apart, dress it and then reassemble it in a bowl like a giant peony which is an idea worth copying.

In the Guardian, Grace Dent was at The Kirkstyle Inn in Slaggyford, Northumberland, but it’s actually on the edge of Cumbria. She loved the food and wrote, ‘Three courses for £30 in this day and age feels like a misprint.’ It’s run by Nick Parkinson, son of Michael. This is one which does not sound ‘Roganified’, see above.

In the Observer, Jay Rayner was at a Malaysian restaurant in Bayswater, Med Salleh Kopitiam,  and surveyed the mess on the table at the end of the meal ‘with the warm sense that good things happened here.’

In the Standard, Jimi Famurewa reviewed 20 Berkeley and ‘thought it was stolid, satisfying Britishness. Not every opening needs to mint an entirely new way of eating, mash two dining cultures together, or boldly move the needle on the broader gastronomic consciousness.’

In the Telegraph, William Sitwell was in Aughton, West Lancashire at sō-lō and said he had found a star, ‘a brand new and sparkling one for 2023’ with ‘food of precision, neatness and exactitude.’

In the Times, Giles Coren liked a new Cretan restaurant Nineteen-O-Five, in London W1 with ‘fresh fish and traditional dishes really well done.’ 

Recipes

At this time of year, I start making lists of books I want to read and recipes I want to make on my summer holiday. Ravinder Bhogal in the FT with cantaloupe melon fattoush and watermelon and tomato with grilled bread (and cherry ricotta tart) from Nigel Slater in the Observer. He says you can also use a cantaloupe as I did, pictured above.

Bouchon Racine Henry Harris’ summer holidays in France sound a lot like my plans with ‘daily trips to the local market and sunny garden lunches.’ He gives recipes for French summer salads, fennel, egg and anchovy, cucumber, mint and harissa, broad bean, pea, green bean and Bayonne ham salad and melon and strawberry salad with Pineau de Charentes in the Guardian.

Sour recipes in the Telegraph with Diana Henry with recipes for steak salad with Thai basil, tomatoes and tamarind dressing, scallops with aguachile and passion fruit, and strawberries with pomegranate and sumac syrup and yogurt sorbet.

Three tomato recipes for summer in the Sunday Times, fusilli with tomatoes, basil and extra virgin olive oil; roasted beef tomatoes with fennel, rosemary and black olives; grilled sea bream with roasted cherry tomatoes and balsamic vinegar which could also all be good for a holiday.

Strawberry recipes in the Times including strawberry salad with sumac, pistachios and za’atar by Fadi Kattan, head chef at Akub, Ben Tish’s strawberry granita and strawberry, blue cheese and spinach salad from Popham’s Bakery.

Mark Hix's signature Italian dishes by way of Dorset with three classics Trofie al pesto genovese, green beans, potatoes and pasta enveloped in a classic basil pesto, a West Country pork tonnato and panna cotta with elderflower and blueberries.

Tomato and bay leaf sauce from Rachel Roddy and Ravneet Gill’s recipe for whipped lemon jelly and finally, Ottolenghi is eating charred summer food off a grill with grilled garam masala prawns with chilli and Thai basil dressing, spicy burnt aubergine flatbreads with tahini and spiced lamb skewers with caper and oregano salsa, all in the Guardian.

Books 

Slimming One Pound Meals by Miguel Barclay,

all under 400 calories in the Times, with recipes including halloumi salad, Greek potato salad, and a ham and mustard tart on filo pastry. 

Borough Market The Knowledge by Angela Clutton featured again in the Independent with her summer recipes for oregano-poached peaches, halloumi and hazelnuts, Niçoise salad bundles and labneh with watermelon, honey and mint.

Sweet Enough by Alison Roman

More recipes from her book extracted in the Guardian including her perfect tangy chocolate tart and raspberry ricotta cake.

Apricot meringue from the Three Horseshoes at Batcombe .