The Peloponnese, Frank's Bar and pizza by the slice and upside down
February 18 2024
Introduction
This is going to be the last Cook’s Edit until after Easter as I’m doing something else on Monday mornings. That’s why this is coming to you on a Sunday evening. But do stick around as I’ve enjoyed your company each week and I will be back in one form or another.
This week, I haven’t cooked from the newspapers but I did make Rosie Sykes’ ‘pizza by any other name’ which will be in her book, Every Last Bite: Save Money, Time and Waste with 70 Recipes that Make the Most of Mealtimes out on the 22 February. Delicious like all of Rosie’s recipes.
Observer Food Monthly did its annual 30 things we love in the world of food. Read through the whole thing as you might like something different. Sustainable crab from Câry Môr which is used to make Mountain’s spider crab omelette, York as a food destination and cooking with local produce at Croft 3 on the Isle of Mull stood out for me.Â
I went to Frank’s, the wine bar under Maison François in London W1 this week for drinks and something to eat before seeing the Hills of California at the Harold Pinter theatre. Wine is at retail prices on a Monday evening and three of us ate bavette, sauce bordelaise and frites while the fourth had a crab salad with puntarelle and monks beard. We forgot to offer him any of our chips until we’d finished. Expert, attentive and friendly service and we all said we’d go back there.
Recipes
How to cook the Le Caprice classics by Mark Hix in the Telegraph with eggs Arlington which is a kind of eggs Benedict but with cold smoked trout instead of bacon, a chopped steak Americain, a crispy duck and watercress salad and a banana sticky toffee pudding.
Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for pizza by the slice with a pizza al taglio base and then specifics for a kale, taleggio and hot honey pizza and a fennel and chilli-spiced mushroom, basil and ricotta pizza in the Guardian.
Spicy tempeh spaghetti by Meera Sodha, masala omelette by Rukmini Iyer, veg based Sri Lankan curries by Cynthia Shanmugalingam, sausage and winter greens soup by Rachel Roddy and vegan hazelnut financiers by Phil Koury all in the Guardian.
Oxtail and chickpea stew by Honey & Co in the FT
Nigel Slater’s recipes for roast roots and cannellini cream, and spiced rice pudding, apple and maple syrup in the Observer and then and then more recipes on pasta and noodles in Observer Food Monthly including pappardelle with artichokes and lemon and pork broth with noodles and greens.
Sam and Sam Clark of Restaurant Moro have recipes for chicken in Observer Food Monthly including chicken thighs braised with leeks, peas, mint, and sour cream and stir fried mini chicken fillets with fresh ginger, green chilli, coriander and tomatoes.
 (all links to be added later when they come online later in the week)
Books
Big Zuu’s Big Eats by Big Zuu
with recipes for French taco, fried chicken and Swedish cinnamon buns which use ready made croissant dough and an interview here on his new travel show, in the Independent.
The Tinned Tomatoes Cookbook by Samuel GoldsmithÂ
with recipes for tinned cherry tomato orzo, garlic and tinned tomato roast chicken and spinach and tomato strata in the TelegraphÂ
Kitchen Sanctuary Quick & Easy: Delicious 30-minute Dinners by Nicky Corbishley
in the Sunday Times with recipes for chicken in creamy honey mustard sauce, black pepper chicken and chicken salsa bake
Restaurants
In the FT, Tim Hayward was at Everyday People, a ramen restaurant in Nottingham and ‘was delighted’. In the Observer, Jay Rayner was also there and said ‘ramen is all about attention to detail, and these Japanese food enthusiasts are truly meticulous.’
In the Guardian, Grace Dent was at Kokum, in London SE22 and thought that ‘the cooking brims with ambition and pride. It’s run by the same people who own Gymkhana, Daastaan and Black Salt and that it ‘served Gymkhana-style experimentation at about half the price’.
In the Standard, Jimi Famurewa went to Hainan House in Islington, London N1 and hoped that ‘this quietly confident restaurant gets the chance to become a roaring success.’
In the Sunday Times, Charlotte Ivers was at Food Leigh-on-Sea for a Sunday roast and said there was ‘good food and generous hospitality.’
In the Telegraph, William Sitwell was at a pub, the Black Horse, in the tiny village of Salford, near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire and wrote, ‘with kindly, informed service, this is one hell of a perfect pub.’
In the Times, Giles Coren went to the German Doner Kebab which are apparently everywhere and he hated and Cafe Kitty in London W1 which he liked.Â
Travel
UK
28 of the best places for brunch in the UK, chosen by top chefs in the Times
Europe
The ultimate food tour of Greece’s Peloponnese, the southern peninsula in the Independent with the best restaurants, traditional dishes and rural gastronomy as well as Clare Hargreaves’ earlier article on following in the footsteps of Pan along the Menalon Trail.
The FT tells you where to go to taste fastelavnsboller, a creamy bun made in Copenhagen which is is now a huge thing apparently.
How to spend the perfect holiday in the Algarve in the Telegraph from golden beaches to local seafood specialities.
25 of the most majestic Spanish parador hotels in the Times. ‘They are state-owned hotels, are all in heritage buildings or amazing locations, and they’re often under £100 a night.’
Why spring is the best time to visit Rome in the Guardian as it’s warm enough to sit outside cafes and bars, and visiting before the crowds arrive in summer means that the queues are short.
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. Sometimes my husband buys the Times on Saturdays or I buy a Guardian and I buy the Observer when it’s Observer Food Monthly. Otherwise I rely on what’s online, and on Twitter and Instagram. And occasionally, I ask a friend to save an article for me.
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.
Sometimes, I use the recipes for inspiration. If they are from a cookbook, they may be in other publications as well for publicity, and you may find them or a similar version through a quick Google.
Thanks for the introduction to Spring with your marvelous flower displays.