EAT ME DRINK ME SUNDAYS, EALING

I've got some exciting news for you West Londoners - there's a new food market coming to town, and I'm pretty happy about it! I live in between Chiswick, Acton and Ealing. In the nearby area we have 2 food markets at the weekends - there's Ealing Farmers Market which happens on Saturdays from 9-1pm and then Chiswick Farmer's Market on Sundays from 10-2pm. Both are nice, but both are quite some distance from a tube station and the Ealing one in particular finishes way too early for me to get there regularly. By the time I've got up, ready and out the house on a Saturday morning I'm lucky to make it for closing time.

So when I heard about a new Ealing food market, that's going to be championing local producers, I wanted to find out more. Eat Me Drink Me has started a regular street food gathering Food Truck Friday in Ealing Broadway shopping centre. Sadly I work full time so won't be able to go along to the Friday events. However, Eat Me Drink Me are also launching a Sunday market in front of Ealing Town Hall. Eat Me Drink Me Sundays will take place every 3rd Sunday of the month, from 10am - 3pm, with traders selling both hot, ready to eat food, and others selling produce. The perfect place to go to pick up weekly ingredients plus something scrumptious for Sunday brunch.

Food truck traders at this Sundays market include Mama's Jerk - who make THE best jerk chicken and are already a firm favourite of mine; Ruperts Street - a vegan stall serving fresh and bright food; Margo & Rita - Mexican food in the form of burritos and tacos and lots of hot sauces; Guasacaca - a new one to me that I definitely want to try out, they serve Venezuelan street food, pockets of slow cooked meat topped with their special avocado sauce; Churros Garcia - Spanish inspired deep fried batter with thick hot chocolate for dipping; and finally, something to wake you up, local coffee house Monkshood will be there to top up everyone's caffeine levels.

Providing the fresh produce will be Ealing butchers Hook & Cleaver - pick up your Sunday roast, choosing from free-range Norfolk chickens, free-range & GM free Plantation pork, free-range grass-fed West-Country lamb, dry-aged Aberdeen Angus beef or cuts from rare breeds, including Salt Marsh lamb and Gloucester Old-Spot pork; Flavours of Spain - selling cured meats, olive oil and Spanish cheeses; Charlie's Fruit Bowl - another local store who'll be pitching a gazebo for the day, selling all the fruit and veg you could possibly need; Mags Petite Fleur - providing flowers to make your house look and smell beautiful; Cheeky Chutneys - sauces and spices galore, to perk up any homemade curry; and last but not least, Ruben's Bakehouse; who'll have artisan sourdough, pastries, brownies and more.

I can't wait to try out this new market, and will definitely be reporting back to let you know how their first event goes. If you come on Sunday, then look out for me and come and say hi. I'll have my camera round my neck, a burrito in one hand, coffee in the other, and arms full of shopping bags!!

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KERBISHER & MALT

Kerbisher and Malt - the best fish and chip shop in London (?) I know it's a bit of a grand statement, but it's one I've been thinking about a bit recently. You see, I've been to Kerbisher and Malt twice now. The first time I didn't get it - it was good, but it was just fish and chips. But I went back recently and I've changed my mind. I've changed my mind because I've realised, that although there are a couple of places in London that sell excellent fish and chips, that's all they sell, and your arms normally stick to the tables because they're so greasy, and you clean up after yourself, because they're just takeaway shops that happen to have a few seats/tables. But Kerbisher and Malt is different. It really stands out from the rest. It's fish and chips but it's more, it's an actual restaurant for a start, where you pay after your meal, and where the waitresses bring your food to you and take it away when you're done. And they also bring you booze if you so desire. And their food is really, really good.

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LAST A LITTLE LUSCIOUSNESS POP UP in 2014 - SAT 6th DEC

How time flies - I've just posted full details for my final public pop up of 2014! My October date has now all but sold out (there is still 1 ticket available!) so I've put up my final date for this year, on Saturday 6th December, as I'm skipping November in favour of sunning myself on a beach many miles away! So Saturday 6th December will be my last event this year (although I am going to be doing a Christmas fair, with food and drinks, at W7 Emporium in West Ealing on 13th December so look out for details of that one coming soon).

The menu for 6th December is as follows:

Winter cocktail, made with bubbles and cranberries

 

Gooey smoked salmon kedgeree 'arancini' balls with soft quail's eggs, curry mayonnaise and crispy toasts

 

Cider pot roast guinea fowl with leek gratin, pomegranate roasted carrots, salt baked celeriac & parsnip puree, and Yorkshire puddings

 

Passion fruit posset with winter spiced butter biscuits

 

Montgomery cheeseboard, apple and quince chutney, seeded crackers

 

COFFEE and HERBAL TEAS served with homemade "mince pie" chocolates

 

The event is £30 per ticket, and is bring you own booze so you can bring a bottle (or two!) of your favourite. If beer is more you thing, then you can come empty handed, as Peroni are sponsoring the evening by providing bottles of their new Alta beer.
 

If you'd like to come along and are a vegetarian, or don't like certain elements of the menu, that is no problem - while booking there is a comments section and you can just leave notes there as to what you can/can't eat and I will make an alternative meal for you. I don't think that I've done a pop up so far when I haven't cooked an alternative/veggie/vegan/gluten free main course, starter or pudding!

You can come on your own, bring a date, grab some friends, or book out a whole table for however many of you there are!

Tickets for my past few events have sold out crazily fast, so I do recommend getting in there early if you want to come along! I'm notoriously bad at taking photos at my pop ups (something to do with cooking 4 courses for nearly 20 people!) so I'll leave you with a photo of the table all ready and laid ready for guests to arrive:

 

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A LITTLE LONDON LUSCIOUSNESS - 20th SEP

When I started doing pop up restaurants in November last year, I never once imagined that by August this year I would've done over 18 events already! Although I've stuck to my plan of 1 public pop up a month, I've had so many requests for private catering gigs that I've been cooking most weekends for the last 6 weeks! I absolutely love it - but also have a full time job, so have been exhausting myself a bit recently!! I decided to have a break from public pop ups in August, although ended up catering a hen do and a baby shower last weekend anyway.

So with no more pop ups this month, my next date is Saturday 20th September. I'm teaming up with Urban Food Fortnight to put on a pop up using locally sourced produce. If you follow my pop ups you'll know that they are all about using sustainably produced, seasonal produce, sourced mostly from the West Country, where I grew up. However there's a different challenge with my September date, as all the ingredients I will be using will have been grown in and around London! Now this might not sound so appealing, but what I'm doing is teaming up with various allotment holders to use their lovely home grown fruit and vegetables, all of which are seasonal, and I am souring all of my meat and dairy from farms in Essex and Kent. It's an exciting challenge and one that's made me come up with a menu that I can't wait to cook...

The menu for 20th September is:

Fig and elderflower cocktail - made to order on arrival (non-alcoholic version if requested)

 

Grilled figs with chicory, apple, candied walnut and gorgonzola salad

 

Slow roast pork belly, fennel gratin, mustard creamy mash potato, buttered cabbage & rosemary and crab apple sauce, served with cider gravy

 

Raspberry mousse with shortbread biscuits

 

Cheeseboard with homemade chutney and rosemary and sea salt biscuits

 

Coffee or herbal tea with homemade chocolates

 

As always, dietary requirements can be catered for, so if you'd like to come but there's something  you can't eat or don't like on the menu, then just mention in the comments section when booking and I can email you alternatives to choose from.

 

Tickets for the pop up are £30 and include a welcome drink. It's bring your own booze on the evening so you can bring your preferred drinks with you. I provide soft drinks for those who want them. Tickets are available here - and have already started selling!

The pop up takes place at our lovely house in Acton - which is easily accessible on the Piccadilly line, or via the overground stations South Acton or Kew Bridge, which link to East and South London respectively.

If you're not quite convinced and want to see what other guests have said, you can read all my reviews here. And here's a couple of photos from my last events....

Walnut and cranberry bread for the starter:
 

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THE APPLE TREE - PATISSERIE IN ACTON!

I live in Acton. It's not the most happening place in the world, and the little strip of shops near where I live used to be made up of a few grotty corner shops, an electrics shop, a funeral parlour (!) and not much else. In the last year however we've had a mini Sainsburys open, as well as a really good fish and chip shop, and most recently a great pizza place that does small pizzas for a very reasonable £4 each. And then a few weeks ago I noticed something else had appeared - a tiny café called The Apple Tree. We popped in for a chat with the owners and to see what they were selling, and I was thrilled to find out that they sell fresh juices and patisserie cakes! I would've never thought we could get such nice cakes right at the top of our road, but now we can. I must've been in nearly 10 times since they opened as they are now my go to for cakes to take to parties, or just for a lazy pudding to have at home on the rare occasions I really crave something sweet.

The Apple Tree is run by a lovely husband and wife team, and the wife's mother makes most of the cakes at her local bakery. They sell a wide range of biscuits, tarts, cream cakes and slices, and also do sandwiches during the week. They've got good, proper coffee, fresh juices, and my favourite, a frozen lemonade which is like a fresh lemon slushy - perfect for the hot weather.

I picked up a few cakes for a friend's baby shower yesterday and they all got eaten, so that can only be a good sign! I snapped a few photos of some of what's on offer, but just with my iPhone so excuse the quality.

Crunchy buttery biscuits - think delicious homemade jammy dodgers:

 

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CHARLOTTE'S W4 - A NEW FAVOURITE

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.

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MY NEXT POP UP - 26th APRIL

Another month, another pop up! I thought I should let you know about my next pop up restaurant, as there are still tickets available, but they do start to sell out around now.

I've got a bumper Spring menu, full of some of my favourite produce for my pop up on Saturday 26th April. The event is at our lovely house in West London, and starts at 7.30pm, and is kind of similar to a dinner party - a large table filled with guests, eating my four course menu, and having a great time. I've had guests from age 11 up to 60+ in the past, from all walks of life, and from all over the world. You can come with a group of friends, in a pair, or on your own, and it's bring your own booze, so you can bring a bottle or 2 of your favourite. I also serve either a welcome cocktail, pudding wine or port to go with the cheese, and there's homemade soft drinks for anyone who wants.

Every component of the food I serve is made from scratch, in my kitchen, with as much as possible being British, seasonal ingredients.

The menu for 26th April is:

 

Hand picked Dorset crab, homemade mayonnaise, remoulade, crusty white bread

 

Slow cooked shoulder of Spring lamb, savoy cabbage, Jersey royal new potatoes, with watercress and wild garlic salsa verde

 

Lemon posset with rhubarb compote and vanilla shortbread biscuits

 

Somerset cheeseboard, tomato chutney and herby salted crackers

 

Coffee/herbal tea served with sticky chocolate balls

If you'd like to come but can't eat or don't like something on the menu, that's fine - when you book there's a comments section where you can mention this. I don't think I've yet done a pop up where I haven't done at least 2 different main courses to cater for everyone's needs.

To find out what my previous guests have thought of the evenings you can see reviews of my last event here or a review written by another of my guests here.

Tickets for my pop up on 26th April are £30 each and can be bought via Grub Club.

And here's a couple of pics of the food my from the last event (although I always forget to take proper photos!)

Crusty white bread:

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NEXT A LITTLE LUSCIOUSNESS POP UPS!

Last October I started doing a monthly pop up restaurant/supper club at our home in Acton Town and I've absolutely loved every minute of menu planning, food sourcing and all the cooking and preparation involved in putting on these events, as well as meeting all the lovely guests who've come to eat my food.  

My next pop up is on Saturday 29th March 2014, at our lovely house, in Acton Town, West London (Piccadilly line). The menu for the night is:

STARTER – Salmon three ways - beetroot cured with capers, sashimi with spring onions and pan fried with soy glaze

MAIN – Bavette steak, dauphinoise potatoes, greens and red wine sauce

PUDDING – Rhubarb hazelnut crumble, homemade stem ginger, hazelnut ice cream (this is the same pudding I served at my February pop up, but it went down so well, and rhubarb season should be made the most of, so I'm serving it again in March!)

CHEESE – Montgomery cheeseboard, spiced chutney and herby salted crackers

COFFEE and HERBAL TEAS served with sticky chocolate balls

If you'd like to come along but there's something on the menu you don't like, just let me know in the comments section of the booking form, and I can make you an alternative.


Tickets are available HERE.

You can come on your own, bring a date, grab some friends, or book out a whole table for however many of you there are! It's £30 a head for the evening, and it's bring your own booze, so feel free to bring a bottle of your favourite!

I do my public pop ups once a month, and the next one after this will be April 26th. Link to tickets and menu is HERE.

Hope to see some of you at one of my pop ups soon!!

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WEEKEND WONDERS - SALMON and LENTIL SALAD / POPPY BREAD / HONEY WALNUT CHEESE

We're about to have our house refurbished (floors, carpets, bathrooms, kitchen - yey! etc), and have to move out to do so, so spent the whole weekend packing, boxing things up, trying to work out what should go to recycling, and getting the house as empty as possible (again, I'm less than helpful with a broken hand, but I did try!)

Lifting might not be my forte for another few weeks, but I am now able to whip up a few basics in the kitchen as the strength of my thumb/finger grip is getting better. I therefore decided to do my part to help with the weekend move by keeping everyone well fed. The move also forced me to empty the freezer, which is what inspired the first dish I cooked, as I found half a side of salmon in the freezer which I'd got when it was on special offer at Ocado.

It still feels like summer to me, so I made a huge, healthy salad to keep everyone going on Saturday.

LENTIL AND BAKED VERDE SALMON SALAD

Makes enough for 6-8 people

Salmon:

1 half side of Scottish salmon

2 lemons

Handful basil leaves

Tablespoon of capers

Couple of anchovy fillets

Olive oil

Salad:

300g puy lentils

1 cube vegetable stock

1 tsp garlic granules

Basil stalks

3 carrots

2 spring onions

Handful of tomatoes

1 cucumber

Basil

Salt and pepper

Dressing:

1 part lemon juice

2 parts olive oil

Large pinch sea salt

1 crushed clove of garlic

I actually made this in 2 parts - I cooked the salmon on Friday evening and cut off a fillet each for me and the boy, which we had warm with green beans, new potatoes and homemade hollandaise sauce. Then on Saturday I made this salad.

To cook the salmon, preheat the oven to 220C (200C fan).

Slice 2 lemons thinly to create discs. Put the lemon discs onto some tin foil on a baking tray. Sprinkle the capers over the lemons, and add the basil and anchovy fillets. Drizzle with oil and a good grind of pepper. Place the side of salmon skin side up on top of the sliced lemons. Rub the salmon fillet on both sides with olive oil and another good grind of pepper. Put the salmon in the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes (I did ours for just over 10 minutes and it was perfect). Gently peel off the skin when you take the fish out of the oven.

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HOMEMADE ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL

Elderflower cordial is one of my favorite soft drinks. I've never been one to drink fizzy drinks and occasionally have a Ribena, but I always make sure we have a bottle of elderflower cordial at home. So last year, when the elderflowers were out and blooming I was determined to make some cordial. Unfortunately it rained and rained and rained during their flowering season, so the flowers didn't seem as fragrant as they normally do, and I left it, promising myself I would make some this year. Which is exactly what I've done.

Elderflowers are best picked on a sunny late May/early June day, when the flowers are creamy white.

Elderflower cordial is pretty easy to make. Other than the initial mixing process, all it then involves is the patience to let the flowers stew in the syrup for 48 hours - our fridge smells delicious when I open the door!

You want your flowers as fresh

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A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS....

If you fly with RyanAir this month, you might see me in their inflight magazine talking about the lovely Princess of Wales pub in Primrose Hill.

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EALING'S HIDDEN TREASURE

The Bollo in Chiswick is one of my favorite local eat-outs. Their menu offers good hearty meals, with meat and fish, as well as vegetarian, all living up to their own. So, I was  very happy to discover that the owners have a few more gastropubs, the other one nearest to me is the Ealing Park Tavern. Located a walk through the park away from me, it couldn't be better. I booked in for dinner recently and was not disappointed.

I have a small obsession with reading restaurant's menus online before I visit them, and noted that the Ealing Park Tavern had less options on the menu than The Bollo, but seemed to be a slightly more upmarket version, with higher priced dishes - the choice of ingredient dictating the value. I love the food at The Bollo so was excited for the EPT, despite it's unassuming exterior.

The restaurant was quiet when we visited, but beautifully furnished and with a welcoming fire blazing. The service was brilliant throughout, attentive but not intrusive. Our starters of pork, pistachio & apricot terrine, apple chutney, toasted brioche and baked pecan & thyme crusted goats cheese, pickled beetroot, baby pousse, balsamic dressing were very good.

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