From my kitchen bookshelf....

My good friend Rami recently posted on his great blog Hummus Boy about his recent clear out of little used or outdated cookbooks. This set me thinking about my own collection....and I warned him that I would shamelessly steal his great idea for my own blog, so here I am! I recommend reading his post first, though, if you haven't already...

I've been collecting cookbooks for years and years. And unlike Rami, I am incapable of thinning out the vast numbers, however sorely it needs doing. I keep them all. From the 1980's decadence (and, lets be honest, ridiculousness) of Antony Worrall-Thompson's Menage a Trois cookbook (yes, it's a signed copy....yes, I ate there...yes, I left hungry, although not poor as my first boss was paying!) to the 1970's splendour of Graham Kerr's Galloping Gourmet...I've never cooked a thing from it, & keep it purely for sentimental reasons as this wonderfully entertaining man was one of my first crushes (blush)....

I have great classics: Robert Carrier, Elizabeth David, Patience Gray, Florence White, Marguerite Costa, Delia (of course).

I have ancient books handed down from my great-great grandfather,Robert, my great-grandfather, Walter & my dear grandad, Keith - all of whom were bakers. These include 'All about Gateaux', German patisserie manuals like 'Praktische Konditorei-Kunst' (Practical Cake & Confectionery Art) printed in 1913 (still useful today for decorating inspiration!) and my treasured copy of 'The Complete Confectioner or The Whole Art of Confectionary, Made Easy with Receipts for liqueures (sic) home-made wines &c' printed in London in 1808.

These jewels sit alongside frankly ridiculous volumes such as Food & Friends by the late, great actress Beryl Reid (?) & the 'No Cook Cook Book' complete with fab 1960's line drawings of useless women opening tins (badly!)

So, you see - my tastes are wide-ranging, eclectic & perhaps not discerning enough in some cases. But keep them I must.

What books do I actually use? Well, setting aside those I've mentioned in this blog already, and obvious ones like early Nigella, Ursula Ferrigno, Susan Branch, Peter Gordon, Madhur Jaffrey, Claudia Roden (well, they're obvious to ME anyway!!) I've picked some other favourites in use a lot of the time:

spending a lot of time in Australia has led me to discover much more about the fabulous Maggie Beer & her sometime collaborator but equally amazing Stephanie Alexander. All of Stephanie's books are great - I particularly like those in diary form for their candid look at the reality behind running a food business. I've picked this one of Maggie's because of it's beauty and the way it's divided into seasons(although, of course, being Australian Summer & Winter are the wrong way around for us in the Northern Hemisphere!) Sumptuous writing and wonderfully Aussie. She & Stephanie are national treasures!

This & 'Real Fast Food' are my favourite of Nigel's books. He has a very strong 'voice' when writing, which is amazingly sensuous & evocative in it's description of food and the experience of eating. Great stuff.

Deborah Madison. An absolute pioneer in the field of interesting, non 'hemp & hessian' vegetarian cooking. The Greens Cookbook & Vegetarian Cooking for All are seminal tomes and I love them both. But The Savoury Way is my favourite!

The Silver Palate books - Julee Rosso & the late, but great, Sheila Lukins brough the USA to my kitchen in the mid 1980's when it was still a mysterious, far away place. Slightly dated but I find it invaluable for basic American recipes, entertaing tips and sheer readability.

Possibly out of print, this one, but still available second hand. Sarah Leah Chase ran a catering business and shop on Nantucket Island in the 80's and this book from 1990 is a seasonal wonder, I find. Packed with unusual and inspiring recipes for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the cold weather each side of the year, I'm looking at it constantly right now. Makes me feel hungry!

I'll finish for now with a recent acquisition. I'm always picking up strange flours when I see them - things like kamut, buckwheat and I use a lot of spelt too. It's hard to know whether it's ok to just substitute them for regular wheatflour and still get good results. This book explains them all - how to keep them and how to use them, with a section specific to each flour. It produces interesting and delicious cake, breads and pastries...wholefood without being too worthy! A good addition to my huge and ever expanding culinary library.

I'd love to know your particular favourite (s) too....such an interesting subject, I think!

have a great weekend xo

Les Deux Salons

On Saturday lunchtime, we tried a newly opened restaurant in Covent Garden that we'd read many good things about....Les Deux Salons ....we weren't disappointed.

It was opened less than 3 weeks ago by the team behind Arbutus & our great favourite Wild Honey, and the food is recognisably that of the great Anthony Demetre...

The space looks beautiful, much bigger and less intimate than the other two restaurants -it reminded me of The Wolseley. Smoked glass mirrors, french globe pendant lights, glamorous staircase and wrought iron...plus a beautiful long curved bar, one of my favourite features at Wild Honey.

We changed tables straight away - the first one had a large pillar obscuring our view (very important for nosey people watchers like us!) but this was no problem for the charming Polish waitress who served us so cheerfully and we were very happy after the switch! Beautiful, rough french linen covered the tables....a basket of good bread was brought straight away together with chilled tap water - wonderful when you don't need to ask for that but still, sadly, fairly unusual in London.

My only slight gripe would be with the menu. Not the choices, but the fact that it was printed and laminated. I just have a thing about it. It suggests to me that the same dishes will be on offer next time we visit...I so much prefer a daily changing menu and the excitement it brings.

 However, I had no complaints with the food - a salad of quinoa, broccoli, preserved lemons & bitter leaves was beautifully presented and deep in flavour. I adore preserved lemons and they lifted this dish from a simple composition to something special.

Fresh orecchiette pasta with pecorino, artichokes and pine nuts was delivered to the table in a covered copper pan....and was rich and light all once. I shared a side order of winter greens too, which I stirred in to finish up the rest of the delectable, citrussy sauce.

I also, of course, had room for dessert (I ALWAYS have room for dessert....!) and chose Tarte au Citron (without the chantilly cream, which I  think masks the flavour) which is one of my very favourite puddings. This one was wonderful - so, so lemony, with a crispy and wafer thin base and a slightly crunchy bruleed top. I had to bash the back of Paul's hand with my teaspoon to stop him 'testing' too much!

It was good value too. We always try and guess the bill, and Paul (the champion at this game usually) was over by almost £25...a lovely surprise! We will definitely be back, perhaps with a few friends who we know would enjoy it. Wild Honey is still my favourite in the group, but it's great to see such a beautiful and accomplished opening in these straitened times.

Les Deux Salons - recommended. 7.5/10

mmmmm Melbourne

I arrived home from Australia yesterday with plenty to think about and lots of new inspiration & enthusiasm for baking. My suitcase was so crammed with jars of spices, muffin papers, tubs of lemon myrtle leaves, friand cups and mini loaf tins that I actually had to leave some clothes behind at my sister's house!

I was stopped by the x-ray machine operator at Sydney Airport on Wednesday afternoon. They were concerned by the jars of 'unidentified powder' in my hand luggage...so I removed the offending Jordanian Za'atar and once they'd checked the contents we had a discussion about it and I ended up giving them a recipe for a chicken & preserved lemon dish....we parted friends!

Last weekend, Esther and I flew down to Melbourne for a long weekend. Neither of us had been there before and it was as wonderful as we'd hoped. I didn't really get to experience any restaurants (I'll save that for my next trip with Paul) but Saturday morning was spent at the awesome Prahran Market a short walk from our hotel...

a huge hangar-like building housing the most amazing variety of food stalls...every cuisine under the sun seemed to be represented...plus cheese, fresh pastas, fruits & vegetables, nuts, spices, sweets, chocolates, pastries....a chinese stall captured our attention for a good half hour, the myriad unfamiliar ingredients were mesmerising....I was only sorry that I couldn't buy any of the superb produce as it was so tempting to imagine inventing & cooking all sorts of new dishes. I'll post more about Prahran soon when I've trawled properly through my copious photographs.
Within the market area, there were also world-class coffee shops such as Market Lane

with it's menu of world coffees to choose from, all freshly roasted, ground to order and smelling so gorgeous...it was almost impossible to choose. But my old favourite, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe won - introduced to me years ago by that master Coffee Man, Charlie Massey at Hill & Valley Coffee.

It was smooth, deep and superb with a fat, crusty almond croissant as we rested our weary feet....bliss!

Also within the market complex was Essential Ingredient. I just love food stores like this - similar to New York's Dean & Deluca....

Essential carries a huge and beautifully presented range of everything foodie...from french copper pans of every size to miniature pastry brushes (yes, I bought 5...) and from imported silver dragees to preserved hibiscus flowers, this store was like a temple to cookery. Often vastly overpriced too...but I forgave it because of it's sheer beauty & size. There is also a cookery school on the first floor, offering myriad courses and special days dedicated to specific techniques and ingredients. Our very own

Yotam Ottolenghi featured there earlier this year, and the very best Australian & world chefs regularly make appearances. Definitely somewhere to visit if you're ever in Melbourne.

We only really scratched the surface of this diverse, vibrant city last week. There's so very much more to see and I know that I'll be back. I miss it already.....have a great weekend!

Delicious Down Under.....

On Wednesday I'm once again making the epic trip across the world to see my beloved sister and her family in Australia...to be honest, I can hardly wait!

I'm baking every minute of the day at the moment in order to fulfil my customers' cake needs while I'm away, and it's hard work. I have to leave shortly to make 40 trays of brownies before we meet friends for lunch (I'm leaving Paul behind, so want to make time for him too!) I will be so pleased to finally get on the plane, get some magazines out, plan my movie-watching schedule and relax for 23 hours...uncontactable & in a bubble of lost hours...

I thought I'd muse on what I'm most looking forward to, foodwise, when I get there . Australia is a fabulous foodie heaven, full of amazing fresh produce and fresh flavours...there's so much to enjoy!

a 'long black' coffee at The Coffee Club on Mooloolaba Beach front is a must in the morning....

perhaps a raspberry friand (or two).....

fish and chips on the beach with my niece and nephews the night before my birthday (a family tradition!)

and lots of new discoveries too....I love the asian foods there and Esther and I are going for a long weekend to Melbourne (a first for both of us) where, knowing us, noodles will feature heavily.

It's going to be fantastic.

Anyone else heading towards or in 'Australia Fair' & visiting Sydney (and who doesn't want to visit Sydney?) should try and drop in on the month long

Sydney Food Festival. There are events all through October, but next weekend (9-10) will be extra special with demonstrations by many amazing international chefs including our own Marcus Wareing, Rick Stein and...my very favourite....Yotam Ottolenghi. It should be fantastic and I'm only sorry that my trip doesn't allow me to be there.

I'll talk to you soon, from 12,500 miles away.....have a great week xo

Wild about Wild Honey...

So last weekend found us in London again. We usually prefer to eat out at lunchtime when we're there...often better value, easier to find a good table and it leaves the evening free for other things...like sipping a world class margarita outside The Providores and watching the world go by, for instance!!

Wild Honey is one of our favourite lunch spots....



it's on the site of the former Drones club, and the panelling makes it look a little 'clubby' still...but it's a polished, beautiful space with a wonderful bar...which is where we always prefer to sit. Paul and I are both people watchers...a polite label for 'nosey'...and always fight about who gets to sit looking at the wall over the other person's shoulder in restaurants and who gets to look out at the room! So sitting side by side, able to see who's coming in & out, who's sitting down and being able to look out of the window at the same time as eating fantastic food is our idea of heaven!
The set price lunch menu (2 choices) at £19 is incredible value for this standard of cooking. Anthony Demetre and his team have perfected the art of simple presentation mixed with incredibly intense flavours and beautiful combinations. On this occasion I had a bowl of white bean soup...I can taste it now! The light broth was so deep and perfectly seasoned that I feel as though I could eat it for every meal a the moment. All I really needed...but I also had a salad of hazelnuts, sheep's curd, syrupy figs and bitter leaves which left me feeling light and virtuous but replete at the same time. Wines are served by the 250ml carafe, so you can choose a different one with each course if you want to...I chose a Gruner Veltliner, sparky & flinty and difficult to find a good one outside Austria. I always jump on it in a restaurant that knows wine well...and Wild Honey is one of those. The staff are always extremely efficient yet friendly, which is my ideal combination. It's somewhere we'll always go back to. A lot is made of their sister restaurant, in Soho, Arbutus. It seems to attract most of the accolades. We've been and it was fine. But for me, it's Wild Honey every time.

Afterwards, wandering around Soho...which is a favourite Saturday afternoon pastime...we visited the much-talked about new bakery Cox Cookies & Cake in Brewer Street. Opened by the designer Patrick Cox, it's on the site of a former sex shop...now a dark ,hot (they hadn't had air conditioning installed yet!) glittery box of a space...handsome young men in studded leather aprons serve amazingly decorated cupcakes from a perspex topped counter. At a price. A HUGE price (to me, also a professional baker as you know...) A selection of 4 regular sized cupcakes (no prices on display) came to £14.50! But they were a present (I imagine that is what most of them will be, I can't see people buying them to take home themselves..) and therefore it really didn't matter too much!

Good luck to them I say! But I'm not sure that I'll be back....soon, anyway!

Enjoy your week xox

Sloe Cooking

We're coming into the most abundant time of the year...the hedgerows,trees and fields are starting to bow down under the weight of the fruit they hold. I've just come back from a wonderful walk with Alice in our favourite place. We met my parents, sister, nephew and my Mum & Dad's dogs, Jojo & Ivy. My father is the most knowledgeable person I know on all things wild...flora and fauna. He spent the time pointing out edible mushrooms, wild marjoram bushes, the best blackberry places,wild raspberries, hazelnuts...I'll be back with proper collecting bags!

On my way to meet them, I found lots of wonderful sloes, with their vivid blue bloom,all ready for picking:

luckily I had a clean plastic bag in my pocket and I quickly filled it with the gorgeous bounty!

So now, my task is to prick each one with a long pin and pile them into jars to fill with caster sugar and vodka. Then I'll leave the jars in a cool, dark place and turn them over once in a while. By Christmas at the earliest, we'll have a deep ruby red liqueur to sip on frosty nights...and the shrivelled, alcohol-soaked fruit are wonderful stoned and added to brownies (NOT for general consumption!) and served after dinner with coffee. Mother Nature gives us so much for free if we know where to look, I'll be searching out more treasures in the months to come.

The cake I was trying to think of in my last post turned out to be a Spiced Honey Cake...gorgeous. Today I've made a Fresh Lime Drizzle Cake, a Raspberry Vanilla Sponge, Toasted Pecan Brownies, Banana Blueberry Cake and Spelt, Cinnamon,Raisin Muffins. Time for tea and to look forward to the weekend.

In complete contrast, my friend Rami is in Thailand with his family and is posting the most wonderful stories of their meals there....I am enjoying reading them so much as I sit in windblown, autumnal England!

Happy Weekend! xo

Beautiful Soup!

The days are beginning to feel a little Autumnal now. Yesterday was beautifully hot, but there was a cool edge to the wind and the garden is looking a little ragged and faded. Today is overcast and I have to stay in as the attic is being insulated...lots of crashing going on overhead!The Farmer's Market in Marylebone was wonderful on Sunday - stalls piled high with the new season's corn cobs, English plums, bunched ruby beetroot and apples, but still there were late Summer bouquets of old-fashioned deeply scented roses and wonderfully warm-greenhouse-smelling tomatoes, the best of two worlds...it was hard not to buy everything!

Today I've decided to make a soup for lunch, thick with vegetables and pasta and sprinkled with pecorino cheese just before serving.

Cavolo nero cabbage is something I always buy when I see it. Trim the leaves from the tough stalks, wash & chop into thick ribbons and cook immersed in the tomatoey broth of the soup. I also love it cooked in olive oil, chili and garlic and stirred into pasta.

yellow courgettes - just because I adore their sunny cheerfulness against the red and dark green of the soup, cut into dice.

I try not to use tomato puree from a tube in this soup as I find it can be a little metallicand overbearing, but the tomatoes are so ripe and full flavoured that they need little help anyway. I stir in some orzo pasta, the kind that looks like little grains of risotto rice, to thicken the thin broth and add their unique, silky 'mouth feel'.

I have a chunk of Pecorino to grate roughly on top of each bowlful

plenty of ground black pepper, roughly chopped flat leaf parsley - and that's it! Along with the white sourdough loaf that I also bought, which I'll toast and drizzle with some grassy extra virgin oil and sprinkle with a little Maldon salt flakes....absolutely delicious.

I'm also making several batches of Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies today, and then I have to think of a big cake to make for the coffee shop tomorrow....I'll let you know!

Hope you're having a gourmet day too....xo