We ate Wales

Turns out this wasn't the last time I saw Mr Ed. Edward's parents (begrudingly I think) lent us their house in Pembrokeshire for the weekend. We were staying in a tiny village called Mathry. My boss Ben goes to the area on his hols and gave me some really good advice about shopping for food in the nearest town St David's. We found an amazing grocers called Peter's that stocked all sorts of local produce. Loads of varieties of apples:



Huge ugly, knobbled celariac, locally grown potatoes and parsnips, beetroot and shallots; tonnes of lovely stuff. It was all really cheap too. We ferreted around there for ages, and I think Edward nearly fainted with excitment when the girl behind the counter said that we got the canvas 'bag-for-life' free when we bought anything.

'Even these onions? I feel like I'm ripping you off', is in fact what he said. They're very nice though.



The plan was that we would all cook a meal, a veritable feast for eachother back at the house. It had the most amazing kitchen that was fully stocked with REALLY SHARP KNIVES (joy) and brilliant pans. So the menu was as follows:


Edward's French Onion Soup



This was the first time Ed had attempted this dish. It was lovely and he text me the recipe:

(serves 6)

chop eight onions and fry until brown, add two glasses of white wine and reduce by a third. Add two litres of water and beef stock and cook for 25 minutes.

This seems pretty short and sweet. He forgot to say that you also need a baguette which is cut diagonally into slices and placed over the top of the soup. Top this with loads of grated Gruyère cheese and pop under the grill to gratinate.


Laura's Roast Belly of Pork and Shallots with Celariac, Potato & Mustard Gratin dauphinoise



I got my belly of pork from the butchers in St David's and asked him to score the meat for me. I left the meat out to dry out a bit with salt rubbed into it's skin while we went for a walk for a couple of hours. When I got back I popped it into a pre-heated oven at 220 degrees for about 20 minutes, then reduced the heat to about 180 degrees and let it cook for another hour and a half. About 30 mins before the end I whacked in some pealed shallots around the roasting meat. About 3 per person.

A little aside about shallots - I read somewhere (sadly I can't remember where) that the best way to peel shallots is to soak them for 5 min in boiling water. Their skins come away super easy.
The crackling was probably the best I've ever made, and I think I described it as 'pork-air'. Yes.

But anyway, here is the recipe for my Celariac, Potato & Mustard Gratin dauphinoise. It's an adaptation of a Gary Rhodes recipe I found, I've added my own twists.

(serves 6)

25g butter, plus extra for greasing
500g floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper or King Edward
500g celeriac
1 large white onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
568ml carton double cream
2 tbsp whole grain mustard
150g Chedder cheese
Seasoning

Gently fry the onion in some of the butter. Bring the cream to the boil, and add the crushed garlic, seasoning, 50g of the cheese and the mustard.



Thinly slice the potatos and celariac and layer them in a dish with the softened onions, making sure that the top and bottom layers are potato. Pour over the cream mixture ensuring that the celariac, onions and potatos are totally cover. Cover with the rest of the grated cheese.



Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for approximately an hour and a half.

Jaimie's Strawberry and Mascapone Tart



Jaimie hasn't given me the recipe for his tart yet. But as soon as he does, I'm putting it up. He is the master of pastry.

Thanks to Ed's parents for letting us stay. It was brilliant.

Get your Côte, love.

As our good friend Edward was going back to university after spending the summer (essentially squatting) with us, we decided it would be a good idea to rebuff the student image and go out for a nice civilized dinner. Jaimie (m'fella) and I had gone to this place the day before my birthday on a Saturday afternoon; mainly to get out of the rain. But we were suitably impressed, so I suggested Côte as the venue for our soiree.



This branch of Côte is in Soho's Wardour St. I really wanted to talk about this restaurant as I think it is a great place to get something really decent to eat, and appears to have a consistant standard. It's not massively cheap, but neither is it frightenly expensive. It's pitched just about right to make you feel like you're doing something a little bit special without inducing shuddering and silent tears when the bill arrives. They have a pre-fixe menu which is really reasonable and features steak frites. It seems that Côte is the baby of the people who bought us Strada. The interior is nice, and not to 'chain-like' in it's appearance. It's informal, the staff are interested and polite, and the complementary filtered water in oldy-worldy bottles are a nice touch.

Anyway, we all went along to give our little Parky-pants a send off. I had a starter of Bayonne ham with celariac remoulade, followed by a ribeye steak frite with roquefort butter. Was delicious.



Sophie had rillettes and steak with bernaise. She seemed pretty pleased.



So, farewell Edward. We'll miss you. Come back soon.