It's not often that I'm blown away by a restaurant, as in really, truly, happily shocked at the whole experience. But that's exactly what happened on Sunday evening when we decided on a very last minute trip to Charlotte's restaurant on Turnham Green terrace. I hadn't been before, but it's been on my radar for a while - I do all my food shopping along Turnham Green terrace (apart from a trip round the corner to Wyndham House butchers) and so I've seen Charlotte's a few times when I've walked past. I've followed them on Twitter for a while and always been intrigued, but have also always felt I need to go more central to find London's really good restaurants - how wrong I was!
We called Charlotte's at 8.45pm on Sunday to see if they could squeeze us in, and were told of course they could, despite normally taking last orders at 9pm, they would wait for us to get there (from Hammersmith). We arrived just after 9 and were greeted by THE friendliest, most helpful waiters and waitresses I've ever come across. They showed us to a table for 2 at the back of the restaurant, under the huge glass skylight that let in the last of the weekend's sunshine. We settled down with the menu, and ordered a "New girlfriend" cocktail for me, which was a delicious combo of Simpsmith vodka, elderflower cordial, rhubarb puree and pink grapefruit, that was actually very similar to the rhubarb and elderflower cocktail I'd served the night before at my pop up! The boy tucked in to a tangy Somerset-made wheat beer, which was really flavoursome but still had that more delicate flavour that comes from wheat beer.
I wasn't actually going to post this recipe up on my blog - it was just something I threw together for a weekday supper for me and the boy, and the title of it's a bit long winded. But the photo I posted on Instagram of our meal went down a treat, so I thought I'd put the recipe up here in case any of you want to make it.
You can substitute any ingredients you don't have for what you do have - my recipe was influenced by the contents of my fridge!
Serves 2:
150g squid ink spaghetti
50g spinach pasta
Handful frozen peas
2 tbsp pesto - I used Pisco pesto (I think that's what it's called, although can't find any info online about them), which was a homemade brand I picked up at Battersea car boot sale at the weekend
Packet of spinach
Lemon juice
Black pepper
2 fillets of sea bass
Get 2 pans of water on to boil - 1 large for the pasta, one smaller for the peas.
Add salt to the larger pan once boiling and add your pasta. This needs to boil for 10 minutes. In the meantime, add the peas to the small pan, and boil for 1 minute, then drain and leave to one side.
Heat a frying pan until hot, rub the sea bass fillets with olive oil and season. Place in the frying pan, skin side down and cook for a couple of minutes, until the skin is golden and crispy, and the fish is cooking through. Flip the fillets and cook for 1 more minute. Remove from the pan and leave to one side.
When the pasta is cooked (taste to check it's to your liking), drain, leaving a tiny amount of the cooking water, and return to the heat. Turn the heat right down and add the bag of spinach, stirring it through the pasta until it has wilted. Add 2 tablespoons of pesto and the peas and continue to stir. I drizzled some really nice olive oil through the pasta at this point as well; just to loosen the whole thing up a bit.
Put the pasta in shallow bowls and the fillet of fish on top. Squeeze a nice amount of lemon juice over the whole thing, and serve. A perfect, quick weekday dinner for 2!
I've posted a chutney recipe before, but as it's getting towards the time of year when we start thinking about Christmas presents I thought I'd put this recipe up, as gifted in jars it's a wonderful present to give.
The main difference between this chutney and the last one I posted is the level of sweetness. The last chutney recipe I put up was made with green tomatoes, raisins and other bits and pieces, and makes quite a sweet chutney. This chutney is a little sharper, and spicier, and is perfect with cheeses and cold meats. As with the other chutney, you can also eat this one straight away, although it does improve with time, so is at its best around 3-4 days after you make it. This version is also redder in colour than the other chutney, so is prettier to look at!
Makes 2 jars of chutney
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp dried chipotle chillies
1 tsp dried ancho chillies
500g ripe cherry tomatoes
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic
Knob of ginger
150ml red wine vinegar
200g golden caster sugar
1 tsp Worcester sauce
Preheat the oven to 60C.
Put the coriander and cumin seeds and dried chillies in a dry frying pan and heat for a couple of minutes until you can smell their aromas. Remove and crush up in a pestle and mortar.
Chop the larger cherry tomatoes in half and leave the smaller ones whole. Dice the onion finely and crush the garlic and ginger. Add all the ingredients to a wide saucepan and heat until bubbling.
You may have seen the recipe I put up for barbecue sauce a couple of months ago. And while that is still my go to recipe for barbecue sauce, I came up with something at the weekend which is quicker and easier to make, but still tastes really good. You can get a batch of this ready in 20 minutes, and it will keep in a sterilised jar in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
I made this to go with our Big Lunch that I hosted yesterday with Grub Club, and it was the perfect accompaniment to the warm and cold meats, and salads that we ate. I've already had a couple of requests for the recipe so thought I'd put it up here.
Beef and beer is pretty much up there with cheese and wine in food and alcohol pairings for me. And this pie is a luxurious, winter warmer combo of the two.
Not only is this pie delicious, but it's not difficult to make, and it's a super supper on a cold day. I have used shop bought puff pastry, which is cheating a little bit, but tastes great all the same!
1 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion
1 red onion
4 cloves garlic
Sprig of thyme
300g closed cup chesnut mushrooms, wiped clean
600g diced free-range beef; braising steak or topside
1 tbsp mushroom ketchup
500ml bottle of Guiness
300ml game or beef stock
1 tbsp grainy mustard
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp flour (if required)
1 pack of shop bought puff pastry
1 egg
Parmesan
Heat a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the oil. Chop the onions finely, along with the garlic and add to the pan. Reduce the heat and sweat the onions for at least 5 minutes, until they become translucent. Add the thyme, stir and add the whole mushrooms. Cook for another couple of minutes, then add the beef. Increase the heat and stir for another 5 minutes. Pour in the mushroom ketchup, bottle of Guiness, half of the game or beef stock and the mustard. Stir, and bring up to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat so that the liquid gently simmers. Add the bay leaf and plenty of salt and pepper. Leave to gently simmer for 90 minutes, until the beef is meltingly tender and the sauce thickened. If the sauce reduces too much, add more stock, and if it's too runny, scoop some sauce out, add flour, mix, and return to the pan.
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Take the pie filling mix off the heat, and allow to cool slightly.
Pour the pie filling into a pie dish. Take your puff pastry and place it over the top, tucking any corners in. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and a sprinkling of grated parmesan. You can also make individual pies in pudding bowls.
Cook for 15-20 minutes until the pastry has puffed up and is golden brown.
Serve with mash and peas, and all the lovely juices from the bottom of the pie dish.
Barbecue sauce goes well with lots of meals. We eat it with this pulled pork recipe, but it's equally as lovely with chicken, prawns or anything straight off the barbecue. It will also keep for a couple of weeks in your fridge, so the recipe below makes enough for more than 1 meal.
Don't let the list of ingredients put you off. This is a one pot sauce and not at all complicated. If you don't have mushroom ketchup, add extra Worcestershire sauce. And if you don't have any tomato passata, you can use ketchup, but if you do this, you need to halve the amount of sugar you use.
2 tbsp butter
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
1 tbsp fennel seeds
200ml rice vinegar
150ml red wine vinegar
600ml tomato passata
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp mushroom ketchup
70g brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
2 bay leaves
Sprig of thyme
1 tbsp english mustard
1 heaped tsp paprika
Salt
Lots of pepper
Heat the butter in a medium sized saucepan, over a medium to low heat. Chop the onion and garlic and add to the pan. They don't need to be chopped with any care, as the whole lot will be blended at the end.
Cook the onion and garlic gently until they become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the fennel seed and fry for 2 more minutes, stirring as you go. Now add the vinegars, tomato passata, Worcestershire sauce, mushroom ketchup, sugar, honey, herbs, mustard, paprika, salt and lots of pepper, and bring up to a simmer.
Stir regularly and leave simmering for around 30 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced by half and starts to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves, and blend the sauce. Serve cold with whatever you like, and enjoy!
