Foodie Things in London: January Edition

January for me is always a refresher. I loathe to say a new start as my mid-year-motivation seems to always occur around October so I'm in full swing of a couple of new habits by January but it is still a wonderfully rejuvenating time. Not least because the days are ever so slightly getting longer but the city seems to be brighter with its gritty determination of just getting on with it, as we do so well.

Although it seems like food festivities would be slowing down after all that fun in December, I've found a few lovely little things that'll keep your tummies going for the next few weeks at least!

New Opening: Kricket, Soho (5th)

A selection of Kricket's finest... www.kricket.co.uk

After all that meat and ten veg business, it will be wonderful to try something new in January and the opening of Brixton stalwart Kricket in Soho will be most welcomed indeed. Using the best of British ingredients fused with their knowledge and history of working in Mumbai and all flavours that India has to offer, Soho is lucky indeed to get them here! Their first permanent location the menu is already up online so you can pick what you'd like before you even get there - top tip - get everything. In particular, the samphire pakoras and the sulla venison rump with burnt onion raita look incredible but what really stands out to me is the Espresso Chaitini... You all know how fond I am of the Martini version and indeed of Dishoom's chai so this has certainly got everything I'm looking for in a drink. I'll be heading down as soon after the 5th as I can and hope to see you all there...

Bread Ahead Courses

Ready for a lesson! @breadaheadboroughmarket

Rather than get specific about which one to sign yourself up for I'd say close your eyes, point at the calendar and head to that! Whatever you learn at Bread Ahead will stay with you for life and with tips and tricks they use themselves, you will be well on your way to baking brilliance. They've recently opened another location for the school so if you're a Westie, the Sloane Square branch means you needn't have to travel so far to get your pillowy doughnut and bakery knowledge fix. The New York lesson with bagels & pretzels (7th or 13th x 2) and the Croissant Workshop (4th, 26th or 27th) are two really good ones. Getting specific and nailing one technique is something I find invaluable when having a professional in front of me giving me all the pointers I may need. The calendar is chock a block for choice so log on to www.breadahead.com/courses to check them out and book yourself on!

The Elmore Jam with Ryan Smith (12th)

The Elmore Jam is father and daughter team Nick and Ro who really know what makes a good night. Fusing an amazing roster of chefs with brilliant live music, they create an atmosphere any dinner party host would envy. This month, it's the turn of New York chef, Ryan Smith, to create a midwinter special menu. Fresh from his executive chef position at NYC's Vintners, Smith is using London as his base for the next year while staging across Europe. For only £66 on the 'Hackney side of Islington', you can sample his 5 courses including wonderful wine pairing throughout with things such as warm bone marrow and house made truffle and porcini ravioli on the menu. To buy tickets and to see the full menu, head to Nick and Ro's GrubClub page here.

La Fromagerie's Burns Night Supper (25th)

At my current 'Place of the Month', it's time to celebrate the famous poet, Robert Burns with a wonderful menu of all these Scottish including a whisky-spiked Cock-a-Leekie soup, haggis two ways and of course some Typsy Laird to finish! With whisky drams and wines included for only £65 this is truly a bargain, not least to sample some of La Fromagerie's own oatcakes and cheeses that'll be sandwiched in there somewhere. Grab your tickets by giving the Marylebone store a call 020 7935 0341 and prepare to address the haggis!

Lemon & Prosecco Pavlova Recipe

Our Boxing Day is to us as important (if not more!) than the big day itself. It's our huge family day with all 3 of my dad's siblings round and their respective families plus usually my grandparents and some family friends for good measure! It all kicks off after our Boxing Day 5K which a few years ago was the biggest boxing day run in the country! While slightly smaller now, we still get a local beer as a congrats at the end and usually wonderful weather so it makes it all worth it (despite my little legs meaning I always come last out of the family entrants...). To refuel all of these hungry runners a huge buffet is of course necessary and ours has quite the reputation. All of the wonderful cold cuts of baked ham, turkey, beef and my dad's famous poached whole salmon with the classic cucumber scales... Add this to pork pies and cheeses to boot and you've quite the feast!

Desserts are always welcomed, particularly when everyone's had a little bit too much to drink and we're 4 rounds in to whatever game we've chosen for that year (the classic 3 ball snooker is one I'll have to explain to you another day)! I usually do a super-luxe chocolate log with a filling of chocolate spread, mini marshmallows and vanilla cream but this year I decided to try a pud I've never given a go - a pavlova. We had an honorary Aussie in our midst so it seemed more than fitting and after making the hollandaise for Eggs Royale for Christmas Day brekkie, it was a no brainer with all those whites spare!

A few of you have asked for the recipe since I posted its picture in all its glory on Boxing Day eve so I thought I'd post it! I love Nigella's basic recipe but as it's Christmas it desperately needed some glamour and as it so often does in my life, Prosecco called... This is also perfect for a New Year's Eve/Day spread or indeed any time over the holiday season!

Lemon & Prosecco Pavlova

Serves 10-12

For the meringue:

6 egg whites

375g caster sugar

2 tsp. cornflour

1 lemon, zest and 2 tbsp. juice

2 tbsp. Prosecco

For the topping:

A good slosh / 7 tbsp. / 100ml Prosecco

100g caster sugar

2 lemons, zest and juice

450ml double cream

2-3 tbsp. lemon curd, warm

Couple of handfuls of berries

Recipe:

Draw a 10" circle on a piece of baking parchment and turn it over onto a baking tray and set your oven to 180c. For your pav base, whisk up your eggs whites for 5 minutes or so until they have reached very stiff peaks. Slowly add your caster sugar a spoon at a time and then continue beating for a good few minutes until the meringue is lovely and glossy and holds it shape well.

Add the cornflour, lemon zest and juice and the Prosecco and give a quick whisk to incorporate. Dot a couple of splodges of meringue onto your baking sheet to secure the paper and then spoon the meringue within the circle you've drawn. Pop into the oven and then turn it down straight away to 150c. Bake for an hour and then leave in the oven with the door cracked open with a wooden spoon overnight. It'll probably crack but gosh darnit, it's a beautiful thing when it does so fear not.

About an hour before serving, in a large bowl dissolve the sugar in the Prosecco and lemon juice. Add the cream and then whip until a lovely soft and fluffy texture is achieved. Lay your serving plate gently on top of the meringue and flip over. Dollop the cream lovingly across it in an even layer and scatter the berries atop it too. Warming the curd makes it far easier to scatter across the top so a couple of minutes on the stove should loosen it and with a spoon, you can leave little morsels of delight dotted across the pav to your heart's content! Enjoy with an extra glass of bubbly...

I'll upload my recipe for a yummy curd recipe very soon so keep an eye out!

Place of the Month: La Fromagerie

It seems my places of the month take a mid-month approach but I have to admit I don't mind that at all - many fun things can start and end within the first or last couple of weeks of a month, most notably New Year's Resolutions... It may seem mad to talk about, particularly as I don't ever make them not least stick to them, but as so many people do I want to add another to your list! If you can't go before Christmas to get the most wonderful cheese board imaginable, please head there in the New Year and take a seat for some wonderful food and leave with a bag full of treats. I have to detail my visit recently however as around this time of year, it truly is one of the loveliest places in London to visit.

Marylebone in winter has become my new favourite places to have a wander, both in the day for window shopping and present inspiration and in the evening for stopping for a bite to eat or a lovely glass of wine in many of the cute eateries around. They each know exactly how to decorate their little boutiques with just the right amount of sparkle all while remaining inherently classy. Only a hop, skip and a jump away from Oxford Circus and Bond Street, I feel this little corner is far too overlooked! Paul Rothe & Son is a picture perfect little deli en route from the main drag and is well worth a look round and a purchase of a little jar of something sweet!

Only a little further on down the main street, a quick left takes you to the most magical window in the area. The cheese room's golden glow shines out to the street like only it can, begging you to come inside and try the delights it holds within. Golden towers of joy are piled high, the fast moving cheese maestros with their backs to you rushing around getting everyone as much cheese as they can carry and the produce spilling out of the front door just forces you to walk in. The hustle and bustle of outside continues on inside but with a slightly more serene air - one that vanishes the closer to Christmas you get! - but the service is always impeccable, both in the cafe, the deli and the Cheese Room itself. The menus change every day at both the Marylebone and Highbury outfits so I can't explicitly recommend anything but I've had wonderful salads throughout the year and this month was no exception - a warming winter version peppered with toasted seeds and jewels of dried fruit. If you can manage a soup too then do! Using produce from the shop, they always come up trumps and you'll soon be toasty from the inside out.

So as not to completely overwhelm everyone in the Cheese Room on Christmas Eve, it's advisable to get in early and get your Christmas cheese board all sorted well before the big day. I also love being leisurely about it and taking my time chatting to the ridiculously knowledgeable guys behind the cheese (physically and metaphorically) and using them as a source of inspiration for choosing the best things to go together. I have to have a Comte and a Stichelton but everything else is left to them to have fun with. Marcel was as helpful as ever helping me choose a delightfully fruity goats cheese, a soft and rich textured cows milk cheese and a hard but mellow cheddar-esque one to finish. I'll do a little info-graphic with far more detail once I've got over the inevitable cheese coma that's waiting for me... What's also wonderful about getting your cheese properly is that you can pick exactly how much you want and if you take more notice than I do, can remember your favourites and learn about when they are best in season - something I didn't know was a thing until speaking to the guys here! As you know, I'm a big seasonal gal, so if my cheese can get in on the action, then I'll take it!

La Fromagerie is one of those little nuggets of London I love so much, hideaways from the rest of the city but a magical part of its woven fabric nonetheless. The staff here are amazing (as I had to tell them all the week before Christmas when the Cheese queue was out the door most days all day...) and what they produce is equally as good. Look no further for all your cheesey delights but just don't forget to take your mother, or like mine, they'll be ever so disappointed ('regardless of how bloody good the cheese is...')!

A couple of the images are from La Fromagerie's own site, as I went in the dark and took terrible ones... apologies!

A Rococo Christmas Eve

My forays into West London are, admittedly, few and far between but after my evening with Rococo, it shall become far more regular indeed. Nestled beyond the brash glamour of Sloane Square, down Motcomb Street, lies the most wonderful little chocolate shop. As you'll know, my love for chocolate reaches its peak at Christmas-time and I usually rarely treat myself to it at any other time. This evening may have just changed that and indeed exactly what chocolates I now have to buy myself over the holidays...

The reason? That SNAP. You don't realise just how good properly tempered chocolate is until you have some of the best and Chantal Coady's Rococo Chocolates are just that. We got a little master class in tempering and truffle making and I feel fully ready to tackle some proper chocolate making for gifts but for myself, I'll be in the corner with some chocolate and cheese. Don't freak out. Honestly.

While I'm quite familiar with both of these treats separately, having them together and learning the theory behind it was something I hadn't got a clue about... I'm a big fan of pairings - wine flights with dinner are a match made in heaven for example but these two?! I'm a changed woman. Salty, beautiful, tangy cheese and crisp, sweet, heady chocolate have made me rethink everything I thought I knew. Admittedly I do have one weird food thing; I LOVE having a bar of chocolate in one hand and a bag of salt & vinegar crisps in the other and taking a bite of each at the same time, but this was a sophisticated world of its own. I really really encourage you to give these pairs a go but it has to be with proper chocolate, Rococo if possible. You neeeed the snap of beautifully tempered choc and with anything else the flavours and textures just wouldn't match. Rococo lovingly use all British cheeses in the majority of their tastings - something I can totally get on board with and as I am already quite the fan of Stichelton (the olde English name for Stilton) I couldn't think of anything better to finish the evening with. The other two were equally delicious and have certainly been added to my Christmas cheeseboard list.

My takeaway obsession however, has to be the award-winning Cardamom White bar. Winning gold in the World Finals of the International Chocolate Awards in 2013, this little beauty combines two things I never thought would work. White chocolate has such a distinctive flavour, often filled with rubbishly high levels of cocoa butter but Rococo's has at least a 30% cocoa solids content making all the difference - this paired with organic, ethically sourced cardamom makes a beautifully fragrant bar that's perfect for any occasion. I'm totally happy to admit I've had some for breakfast before (but what's Christmas for?!)

Their new shop is now open in Seven Dials so pop down (check here for details) to see their typically gorgeous shop front and keep an eye on the site for my chat with owner Chantal Cody OBE coming in the new year!

Katherine Frelon & Christmas At Borough Market

It is well and truly Christmas time by the river as Borough Market's lights are switched on, the tinsel is up and the shopping hours are longer... what a dream! A couple of week's ago I popped along to an evening of all things festive (after a mega day at the bakery) and met Katherine Frelon, the self-confessed 'scatty chef' to see what she was up to for Christmas. The smells that joined us as we entered the cookshop were of the most seasonal kind and we were handed a deliciously hot mug of mulled cider to welcome us in. What better way to greet guests than to hand them a yummy mug of warmth?!

Warm pans bubbling away on the stove and a stunning table decoration really set the scene for our evening. We started with a demo in edible gifts- personally my favourite kind. With all sorts of little plates of deliciousness adorning the table we couldn't wait to get stuck in and soon were adding them to our lovely marbled chocolate slabs that we'd so carefully smushed together... I say smush as mine was a one handed effort, in order to capture everything going on! My favourite addition was the Turkish delight from the wonderful Turkish Deli downstairs in the market. The pistachios from Oliveology were some of the greenest I've ever seen and looked so beautiful with everything else on the marbled chocolate, I'm definitely going to be giving this a go for my own gifts! I reckon I'd probably temper the chocolate and do little puddles instead however as the bar was yummy but I think would be prettier as little pieces in a bag rather than a chunky one - I still enjoyed eating it one sitting a few evenings later however...

This year I've been doing loads of late nights book editing or recipe writing and to keep me going in the evenings I've been trying all sorts of different decaf drinks to get me through. Katherine had the perfect solution with her little bags of joy! Packed full of anything we liked, added to apple or cranberry juice and warmed through, or indeed any spirit of choice, they make the perfect winter warmer. I chose cranberries, cinnamon and orange for mine and have used them each about 4 or 5 times in apple juice to great success! I've dried them thoroughly on the radiator between uses though to make sure they haven't started to go off.

Our last little treat was a run through of Katherine's making process of her delicious Christmas Chutney. I'll be making a batch this week so keep an eye out for the recipe! We paired it with some insanely good cheeses. The aged gouda was from Borough Cheeses, the Lord London cheese (rumoured to have been served at the Wills & Kate wedding breakfast!) was from Alsop & Walker and Bianca e Mora provided the Truffle Cows cheese - all of which we piled high on bread and smothered in the chutney. It was the perfect blend of sweet and spiced and would make any cheeseboard sing!

Katherine's Big Plan for Christmas is that you can spend only 60 minutes in the kitchen on Christmas Day! She'll be testing this theory by showing you how in her demo's at the Borough Market Demo Kitchen on Thursdays between 12.30 and 14.00. Pop along to see her do her thing each Thursday in December, finishing with a total run through on the 15th! If you're a planner like me, this sounds like the ultimate dream so come down and see me scribbling away on the front row - also perfect distance for tasting anything Katherine creates on the days!