Vineyard August 7 2013, heaven on several plates

Not just any old  coffee but a Vineyard coffee.  This comes in three beautiful layers with three delicious home made biscuits.  The occasion was lunch with my best friend Anne and her barrister son Tom who found out where we were going and wangled an invite.  He was very entertaining and I am trying to persuade me that I am an extra mum as ‘Granny Annie’ shares my grandchildren.  We are a very sharing group and when we are old (er) we are going to mutter and shout and wear purple and poke people with our sticks – just for fun.

This was actually a pre starter as Tom was desperate for a coffee but I had to photograph it for it’s beauty.

Oh look, it’s Tom’s wild mushroom risotto, I think this was his main course, regardless I still managed to wrestle it off his mum who had already wrestled it from him and eat at least half.  Still a winner in my book, chewy choice of wild mushrooms with a huge depth of flavour.  I think God wants me to have this regularly, I cant say why, just a feeling.  Lets call it faith.

Wow oh wow, Anne’s monkfish, black grapes, sweet tramarind and caulflower.  The monkfish was perfect, I am now a Monkfish convert and it worked so well with the tamarind and cauliflower.  Anne is great to eat with as she is such a sharer, I love her to bits, anyone can win me with food I think and she is incredibly unfussy but loves and appreciates quality.  Perfect combintion.

My hand dived Orkney Scallops, heirlom tomato, spring onion and chives.  As always perfectly cooked with a really fresh bite from the tomatoes and spring onions.  Genius

Tom’s starter of orzo with courgettes and lemon verbena.  Very good, Tom is a devout vegetarian (unlike his mother who is a flaky vegetarian) and the wonderful thing about the Vineyard is that you can have really delicious vegetarian courses without missing meat.

Ok I know you have seen this before but it is still amazing, the tomato essence from the Isle of Wight heritage tomatoes is just incredible.

Ah, this was my pudding which was roast lamb with courgettes and heritage tomatoes which made a delightful sauce

Possibly Anne’s putdding although there seemed to be some confusion and plates were swapped.  This was “duck egg” with roasted apricot and jasmine chiboust and looked spectacular

Another angle

Tom (or Annes’s) pudding of almond biscotti, sauteed nectarine and peach puree, very well received

Another angle

The petit fours which I can never remember, there was a pistachio nougat type cube, a red fruit pastille and a citrus marshmallow, they were all divine.

Vineyard – best thing ever – tomato essence

This was such an amazing dish from the Vineyard.  It is pure fresh zingy tomato that wows your taste buds and your brain.  When the delightful Saffron, an incredible member of staff, suggested the tomato essence I knew better than to argue.  What was produced was a plain white bowl with a tablespoon of tapioca, a piece of the juicy inside of a tomato and a piece of the outside accompanied by a couple of tiny flowers.  I was intrigued but in all honesty I was also trying to look enthused whilst not feeling quite so.

Now the drama, Saffron brought over the white jug and poured clear liquid into the white bowl.  It didnt look much, and if you werent me you would be disappointed but my faith is in Daniel Galmiche and the Vineyard.  The liquid poured around the contents of the bowl turning it into a bowl of delight, such a simple look but such a promise of wonderfulness.  I so loved the theatrical nature of the whole dish but the taste was supreme, seriously you must try this.  It is truly amazing and Mr Galmiche is a genius.

I was not disappointed.  BAM the first spoonful hit my beautifully loved and well preserved taste buds, remember, I don’t review rubbish, these taste buds are for gloriousness only. This is what they got, wow, such tomatoeyness, heirloom tomatoes from the Isle of Wight, pure essence, I wanted it in a shot glass again and again.

ok here is what the others had, a very chunky chicken Caesar salad

A delightful haddock and chips with the lightest of batters and the butteriest of peas!  Yum

Oh yes Summer is here and the garden beckons

Despite not having a pizza oven or Green Egg (like L’Ortolan) I still love to eat in the garden whenever I can.  Last week we celebrated Jordan‘s birthday for what seemed the 8th time, she is very similar to my daughter Rachel!  She had some friends and her dad over and we had various friends drifting in and out over the afternoon.

My favourite sort of entertaining is informal, friends popping in, enough food to sink a battleship, home made watermelon juice, so easy and delicious and a jug of Pimms.  The new Blackberry and Elderflower Pimms is wonderful, I am thinking of stockpiling it as I think it is a special edition for the summer and it is lush.  I grow very little, my growing skills (or lack of them) are renowned.  At WBMencap we have a horticultural project called Growing For All and it has a little hidden line that says ‘Not You Leila!’  I have seen Julie, the manager, weep as she puts the plants I buy into the back of my car knowing she is sending them to their death.  My intentions are good, I only grow plants I can eat or smell, mostly herbs.  One year I grew potatoes and onions but got the same out as I put in which seemed a bit pointless, particularly as they were smaller.  Last year I had an operation and in my morphine induced state bought 20 cauliflower plants (I hate cauliflower), 4 watermelon plants, something called chard as well as cucumber, tomatoes and chilli.  I got one chard, two tomatoes (two single tomatoes) and two lacy cabbages (which is what the cauliflower turned out to be).  That would have been one expensive salad if I had had the courage to pick any of it but I couldn’t.  This is a common problem apparently, I have nurtured both tomatoes, how can I pick them and eat them even though I would love to.  It would be like murdering my babies.  Not there yet emotionally.  By the way in the same morphine haze I bought 20 pairs of shoes.  They shouldn’t allow me to have a pc in hospital.

Soooooo  …….. every year we get the garden razed to the ground and I plant some things in the hope that they wont go brown or worse just burrow back down into the brown earthy stuff in the pot desperately trying to get away from me.  It has taken me years to grow the things that apparently are like weeds, mint and one horseradish, no success with the wild garlic though.  I am a plant graveyard.  I spend months nurturing plants that my green friends sweetly tel me are weeds.  I spent years putting lavender on lamb because I thought it was rosemary (although I noticed Daniel Galmiche from the Vineyard recently copied this recipe so I don’t feel so bad).

Once the garden has been razed and I am not at risk of losing children and animals in the long grass it is time to enjoy the garden and the sunshine.  Time to invite friends, prepare food and fire up the barbecue and spa.  I am a great believer that our life is made up of our memories and we need to create good ones.  Family, friends and new friends, these are the things that make our lives so special, not things (yes yes I know, pizza oven and Green Egg) but good times, happy times, shared laughter and joy.  This is what we will remember in times to come, as will those that share those times with us.

Some of the afternoon session

A spa with only three people in, I think we got enough people in later on to make the water go over the edge.

A boned shoulder of lamb from Two Cocks Farm marinated in yoghurt, garlic and ginger then barbecued.

Same shoulder of lamb resting on rice in the giant hand hewn bowl from Aden that my father gave me.  To be honest it needed a yoghurt sauce but I had made two salad dressings using different vinegars, strawberry and mint was one and lime, black pepper and lavender vinegar from Wolmersly which I had picked up at the fantastic Newbury Food Market and they did the trick.

More food included poached chicken (to keep the moistness) charred off on the barbecue, smoky marinated ribs, burgers and sausages from the local butchers.

A large piece of rib eye steak which was charred then sliced, this came on the bone and was just exceptional and especially for my friend Richard who needs protein.

I haven’t done pictures of my ice cubes but I used 1.5 inch plastic tubs, filled them with water, added borrage and mint and froze.  They lasted for ages and looked lovely.

Oh yes, summer is here, now all I need is a pizza oven or Green Egg!!

San Carlos, Bristol

I was in Bristol on Sunday getting ready for an awayday on the Monday. This gave me the chance to meet up with my daughter Rachel who is studying for her Masters in journalism at uni (if studying also means staying up every night, eating and drinking well and generally jamming around having a good time). I had been recommended San Carlos by the owner of The Newbury Pub so we tried it for it’s starters.

The place looked very glamorous, tarnished only slightly by the many pictures of ‘celebrities’ that covered most free wall space. Several had extremely large bits, more bovine looking than some cows I have seen. I would imagine it is often very busy but we were lucky enough to go on a Sunday evening so it was quiet. On each table was a bowl of very large juicy olives, a whole lemon and whole tomato (?!).

This was an interesting mix of starters. Firstly there were barbecue short ribs in a special San Carlo sauce which seemed a bit odd to have on a very Italian menu, particularly as, whilst the ribs were meaty and tasty, they seemed to be linked to Italy via China, stopping only to pick up a bit of a price tag. The Frittura di Pesce Porto Fino was basically crumbed and fried calamari, prawns, scallops and scampi served with two sauces, tartare or sweet chilli. The fish was all fresh and tasty but a bit samey as they had experienced a family dip. Maybe if the prawns had been naked or wrapped in filo it would have been more exciting. Also the sweet chilli sauce was a bit of a cop out and tasted like it had been shaken out of a bottle. We got bored half way through. The squid was tender, the scallops very fresh but all a bit dull.

The moules mariniere were average. The mussels were small and waiting for their parents to arrive and the cream sauce certainly was that. Cream. We couldnt taste any wine, garlic or onion to the extent that we couldn’t mop up the juice, an unheard of for the hogginess that is me. I also don’t appreciate having to debeard probably a fifth of them myself.

The trio di Bruschette boded well. There was one topped with tomato, one with peppers and one with a spicy sausage and mozzarella. I liked the tomato one but with both that and the pepper one the toppings were very cold, even room temperature would have been better. The nicest one was the spicy sausage and mozzarella one, I could have had more than the one. The bruschette were crisp and warm and the toppings were refreshing although cold, the tomato one had red onion in it, the sausage one had a nice kick of chilli and a light coating of mozzarella.

Ambience was great, the service was wonderful, very entertaining waiters, tap water was given on request although no butter with the bread. I would definitely return though, maybe make some different choices.