An 18th century lunch in pictures. I cooked (with the aid of Robin, head chef) and hosted this lunch at Blacks club, 67 Dean Street, Soho. I spent time with Dr Andrea Tanner, the archivist of Fortnum and Mason, in researching this meal. At the time, a commode would be in the eating room, with…
Archives for June 2011
Masa harina tortillas from scratch
This is a hard core geeky recipe for Mexican food obsessives. I’ve heard that fresh ‘masa’ the ground corn used for corn tortillas is much tastier so I had a go at making them myself. Ingredients: 500g Field corn (hominy) Either order at huge expense from the states as I did or try this: http://www.tropicalsunfoods.com/product/96/white-hominy-corn.html 5g…
A Georgian lunch at Blacks
Here is the compleat menu: I do hope that some of the buggeranti, the macaronis, courtesans and fops from Soho will attend. Broad bean fritters Celery soup Madame de Pompadour with truffle oil Stargazy pie Vermicelli Garden peas Orange flower water profiteroles in a piece montée Brandy syllabub Pineapple Blancmange Sliced strawberry mosaic with black…
For those about to rock: we sauté you!
Morrissey pic by Kerstin Rodgers In July, I’m thrilled to be playing, I mean cooking, the gig at Camp Bestival. I have a long association with music: starting out as a teen rock photographer for the NME. In fact I was so young and ignorant about how to be a proper photographer, I just turned…
Royal Ascot Menu from the Waterside Inn
The formal dining room Royal Ascot’s posh bit, the royal enclosure, asked The Waterside Inn this year to provide the menu for the Panoramic Restaurant. A few bloggers and journalists, including me, came along to sit in on the ‘tasting’ lunch in the private room of the Michelin star restaurant (25 years with three stars!) presided over by…
My Rainbow Cake Recipe
Colourful crumbs… Short stack! Rainbow Cake 530g of sifted plain flour 1 tsp of salt 230g of unsalted butter (room temperature) 600g of caster sugar 4 large eggs A few drops of vanilla extract 480ml of buttermilk or yoghurt mixed with a little creme fraiche 2 tspn white wine vinegar 2 tspn baking soda Food…
Clandestine Cake Club
MsMarmite eating cake Group shot! Woman’s Hour interviewing clandestine cake makers Red Velvet cake with chocolate fudge topping My Rainbow Cake, looks quite normal on the outside. Inside: the amazing 8 layer multi-level technicolour dream cake! Mine, all mine! I’ll have some of that, and that and that! Maria Grist’s pretty chocolate pavlova layers Lynn…
Comedy last night
Stargazy pie, a recipe from my book Robin Ince pondering on the weirdness of doing stand up in someone’s living room Notes on last night: Comics Robin Ince: comic for the scientific/sceptic circuit, a bunch of guys I like to go heckle sometimes. We bickered slightly about Ben Goldacre who he assures me is really…
Magical Elder
The Elder tree grows almost like a weed in London. It’s associated with witches (they use it for their broomsticks), wizards (an Elder wand is the most powerful in Harry Potter), with death (turkey and peacocks will die if they consume the berries) and Judas reputedly hung himself from an Elder tree. It also has…
The Purple One
Blueberry noodles from France with creme fraiche and parmesan. When my daughter was little she was a very fussy eater. One evening I attempted to give her something unusual like say, vegetables, she scrunched up her three year old face and asked, and she could barely talk: “Can I have the green dinner or the…