Inchivala...

Melinda Lovells 60th Birthday gathering brought the legs of lamb together for the first tme in months in the unlikely region of Cantal in the Auvergne.

I say unlikely but it is home of Cantal cheese and also Aligot one of our favourite cheesy potato dishes so it was inevitably on a long list of places we'd like to visit. It is also home to Sanchias parents and their wonderful 'Potage' which we spent the weekend raping and pillaging . Well it is after all Harvest time and we did have 25 people to cook for! We had a guest leg of lamb for the weekend too, in the guise of Oliver Rowe chef patron of Konstam at the Prince Albert.... and there were arguments either!

Onions, Beetroots, pumpkins, purple runner beans, carrots, apples and quinces .... and a leg of ham from a local butcher.... There are a few things to fill you in on but I will have to wait until next week when I have photos.

I will leave it to Pippa and Sanchia to add to this escapades tales. More from me next week!

The Eagle (cookbook) has (re)landed!

The Eagle had its 18th Birthday earlier this year and its coming of age has brought with it a reprint of the original Eagle Cookbook with additions from chefs past and present...like David Eyre, Tom Norrington-Davies, Sam & Sam Clarke, Margot Henderson, Trish Hilferty and Ed Mottershaw, the present head chef, to name a few.

The unlikely pair who started it all are Mike Belben (on the left) and David Eyre (on the right) and the forward of the new edition, which is written by Fay Maschler, summarises how it all started and where it stands now amongst all the spin offs and copy cats ... and all of us who learnt a thing or two from working there.

You can buy this book on amazon for a steal and probably buy it in Borders or Waterstones too, however I recommend buying your copy in the eagle after sampling something from the book so that you can see for yourself where the Gastro Pub began!

The Eagle, 159 Farringdon Road EC1R 3AL, 020 7837 1353

What a busy Summer!

WOW what a busy summer we've had!

Venice for the Biennale in June ... and the delights of the rialto market and this lovely market on a boat that I spotted!

July brought us Bastille Day (a drizzly one) but there was sunshine in our food with Grand Aioli, Ratatouille, Merguez Galletes, Provencal fish stew, Gateau Breton (see piccy!) and much more...

Later that month a visit to Sablet ... home to Wine,the Mistral, Tour de France .... and Pippa and Pascals wonderful holiday cottage where the afternoons were spent cooking and baking indoors as it was too hot outdoors! (see piccy of Hobby and Claudette helping make a "Tarte Reine Claude")...

Last week Ferragosto was celebrated at the Bar with No Name at 69 Colebrooke Row ...

We had a lovely buffet that included

Fennel, Mozzerella and black olives and orange salad

Fregola and Pine nut and pepper, basil tomato salad

Caponata

Gorganzola and spinach Frittata

Affettati (ventricina, speck, finochiona, prosciutto cotto )

Sardines in soar (pickled in vinegar red onions and sultanas)

Orange almond and polenta cake

Tiramisu

and Americanino cocktails all round kindly sponsered by Martini (see photo of Tony C on Martini Vespa that he didn't want to give back!)

The summer isn't over yet so we'll try and fill you in on a few new ideas and discoveries in the next couple of weeks!

The Porky Pie...

Last Tuesday I arrived at the Charles Lamb to find a veritable plethora of pork goods. This isn't an unusual occurence, but notably they were all too small and annoying to become a main course so I was a bit flummoxed and contemplated eating them all throughout the day and thus disposing of them without waste.

There was pork mince, (probably a surplus from the weekend's scotch eggs), 3 slices of roast pork belly, some insignificant scraps of bacon, and a few confit pig cheeks.

Soon, there were shallots, celery, thyme, garlic and red wine, and some spectacular looking porky jellied stock/gravy all getting up close in a big vat with the pork goods, suet pastry happening in a large quantity, and pie on my mind.

It apparently didn't last long. It sat on the bar with its golden crust and Camille's porcelain blackbird still seated in the middle letting the steam out and people ravaged it. One man had it as a starter, followed by a smoked pork belly main, and then, as an afterthought, took an extra slice home with him for breakfast. That man has my great respect.

Fruit de Mer Supper

Grand Aioli as only Sanchia can do it!!!

Globe artichokes, duck eggs, chicory, carrots , celery, radishes, brown shrimp and winkles. This was our starter ... our vegetables before the seafood feast ahead! It was accompanied with a delicate Provence Rose from Boutinot wines I think Sanchia's ration of garlic cloves to egg yolks in her aioli is 3 to 1 but she may want to correct me if I'm wrong.

Whilst I was was plating up the platters, Papa challenged Laura to an Oyster (from Maldon) shuck off. I wasn't present but on my return from the Kitchen it seemed that Laura had won but both had a sweaty brow. I think its safe to say that although Laura opened more, Papa definately ate more!!!

The Fruit de Mer was amazingly fresh and was simply accompanied by a dry and minerally Muscadet sur lie and Sanchia's lemon mayonnaise.

The dessert was Gateaux Breton, Mamans almond and apple cake and apple sorbet with a Corsican  desert wine, Muscadeu, a light, dusty red dessert wine which went down a storm.

The night ended with desert wine over Papa's crotch, Joyeaux Anniversaire being chanted to Maman sending her into a slight dizz! A wonderful night was had by all and a special thank you to Chris Michel from Boutinot wines for supporting us and Laura from Clerkenwell Kitchen for the use of the kitchen for prep and her expertise on all things live and snappy!!!

Fruit de Mer ... preperation...

We had a Fruit de Mer Supper on Saturday at the Charles Lamb. Langoustines, Crabs, Crevettes, Winkles, Brown Shrimp. First we had to cook it all up.

It a arrived live and snappy Saturday morning and I transported it to Clerkenwell Kitchen and the awaiting expert on all things live and snappy, Laura.

Massive pans of rolling boiling salted pans of water awaited the catch. The Langoustines (scottish) got 2 minutes before being thrown into an icy cold bath. The crabs got 1 minute per 100g (approx 15 minutes each for the monsters we got).

We then made an apple sorbet to go with the Gateau Breton that Sanchia made and the apple and almond cake my mum made.

Bramley apples, peeled , cored and drenched in lemon juice then put in the freezer for 45 mins (to intensify flavour and colour) wizzed up in blender with a splash of juice and some sugar syrup. We popped it into the ice cream machine and after a while grated in some more apple into the mix. Perfect green apple sorbet!

Prudence's Garden ...

We started planting this week. We don't have a garden at the Charles Lamb, but our neighbour Prudence (78 years young!) has one that she is willing to share with us.

We have dug up some woody shrubs (with the help of her grandson) and planted in lots of garden herbs for use in our kitchen! This way Prudence is the envy of many with 3 lunches a week from the Charles Lamb and a visit from myself and Claudette every other night to water and have a bottle of rose before going home for tea! How very civilised!

Above you can see Claudette planting sunflower seeds with Prudence's grand daughter Hannah.