A Smitten Kitchen Lunch

A few months ago I was asked to photograph and write a feature for a magazine. Sadly the feature idea as a whole has now been dropped but it seemed a shame to waste the work. Instead, I thought I'd share a few highlights and outtakes with you as a little extra - I'll be back on Thursday with a recipe.

The idea was that I cooked a three course lunch from Deb Perelman's wonderful Smitten Kitchen Cookbook at home for my friends. I rounded up a few people from university who were in town for Emily's birthday and we had Sunday lunch (say hello to Mike and Sam, l-r above, and Emily, below). Emily's the uni friend who lived with me last year.

I was pretty terrified about photographing people and savoury food - both are definitely a step outside my comfort zone. Having said that, I was also really excited and in the end I learnt a lot from the whole experience of doing the piece.

To start, I made tiny versions of the leek fritters with garlic and lemon (p.129), which I served on a platter with the dip. For our main course we had the flat roasted chicken with tiny potatoes (p.173) - though I forgot to serve the extra veg to go with it in the chaos. Finally, I made the whole lemon bars (p.217) for pudding. We really enjoyed all of the recipes (and they worked consistently well both times I tried them). The lemon bar base mingled with the topping more than I expected from pictures of other recipes but they were delicious.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos - we certainly had a lovely time (it was the weekend I wrote about here).



{Lots of leeks}



{Steamed leeks}



{Wringing them out}



{Boys being silly}



{Roast chicken}



{On the table. My mum had the table and benches made when I was eight from wood that came from a Lebanese Cedar tree that stood on my grandparents' front lawn (she could see it from her bedroom window as a child). It fell down in the gales a few months before I was born and my grandpa milled the wood. Now it doesn't fit in mum's home in Switzerland so I get to look after it. It's very special (and don't worry, there's a trivet hidden beneath the hot tray).}



{Eating}



{Dusting the lemon bars}



{Trying to get a photo of me with a straight face - I'm much happier behind the camera.}



{We lit the candles just before pudding. I realised when I looked back that (surprise surprise) they'd changed the light. But they were pretty.}



{In the midst of my photoshoot planning, I'd decided I could highlight the birthday element to the piece by giving Emily a lemon bar with a candle in it. I was so preoccupied with my plan that I completely forgot the fact that Emily is mildly allergic to citrus. I was mortified when I realised what I'd done, especially as she'd already eaten the slightly-lemony chicken because she didn't want to upset me halfway through the shoot I was so nervous about.}



{Pulling faces}

Note: though I normally never accept review copies of books, a copy of SKC was sent to me as it was meant to be for a non-blog piece. I wasn't sure I should post this for that reason but I decided to bend my rules.






Finally, my short anonymous survey about Poires is still open. It's just 10 questions, 8 of which are multiple choice. I'm really chuffed with the response so far - over 600 replies and counting! I'll put together a post (or part of a post) soon answering questions and suggestions that have come up and maybe telling you a few of the key statistics.

Edit: The survey is now closed! Thank you so much for your helpful responses.

*

Spinach Omelette

Spinach omelette is for me one of those family dishes that you've grown up with, and somewhere in the years and years of making it, it's origins or the subtle changes in method are lost. It's a failsafe, the dish you come home from university to, a 'home' dish you won't get anywhere else. It's one of those things that most people, on it being described are a little unsure, but when they actually taste it are usually converted.


It's never quite the same when it's not cooked on an Aga. All the family houses - my grandparents, the houses in Cornwall, the houses I grew up in, my aunts and uncles and so on - have Agas (except our Swiss flat). It took me a few years to realise people cooked on 'normal' stoves! There's something incredibly homey and lovely about the Aga - perhaps it radiates with the warmth.

We had all the beautiful fresh vegetables from the farm shop I mentioned in Bacon, Red Pepper and Mushroom Spaghetti. My favourite thing we got from there was the fresh eggs - we used to have over 40 hens when we lived in Devon and one of the things I miss most is really fresh farm eggs, with that rich orange yolk you can't find in the shops.

The house had one of my Grandmother's old spinning whisks - as demonstrated by my mum above. I used to love playing with them as a child in big tubs of soapy water creating havoc. They're pretty effective - if you don't have an electric whisk, it makes much lighter work of whipping cream and things than just a bulb whisk.

Spinach Omelette

(serves 2)

3 eggs

50g cheese (I used cheddar, but we often use gruyere)

250g spinach

dash of milk

chunk of butter

salt and pepper

Melt a chunk of butter in a frying pan, then toss in the spinach. Wait until in beds down before removing it to a warm dish. Meanwhile beat the eggs with the milk and salt and pepper and grate the cheese. Add a little more butter to the pan, then tip in the egg mix. Leave for minute before scattering in the grated cheese. Leave for another minute then arrange the spinach (without any spare juices) on top. Cook to your preference for omelette - I like mine nearly cooked through - then fold in half and serve hot.