lavish mushroom breakfast bap with toasted cheese

by hannah williams


quantities per single portion

1 large field mushroom
Stilton cheese
50 g butter
1/2 lemon
a handful of fresh parsley chopped
a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 clove of garlic (optional)
a hot brown bap to serve

My friend first cooked me this for lunch and I’ve used it both as an entree – wrapping it in Parma ham for a hearty start to a dinner party and, stripped to its garlic-free bare essentials for a lavish breakfast in bed. The latter version makes my mouth water the most as there are few things more lavish than feeling stilton, butter and mushroom juice dribble down your chin while you’re still in your pyjamas.

Anyway, first things first take a big beefy field mushroom, wash it, pull out the stork and pat the inside dry.

Next mix approx 50g of butter, the juice of half a lemon, a handful of chopped parsley, salt and black pepper and dependent on whether you can face garlic before 11am half a clove crushed.

Spread the mixture in side the mushroom so it’s just level with the lip and place in a slightly oiled baking dish (preferably transparent). Put the dish in a preheated oven (180 degrees) and leave for about 15 minutes.

Cut a few slices of Stilton, (for the less mature palate that can’t cope with blue cheese for breakfast I recommend an applewood smoked replacement ) and when the mushroom base has began to turn a murky grey colour place the cheese on top.

Cook for a further 5 minutes until the cheese is bubbling to perfection and serve the mushroom in a hot brown bap drizzled with any juice left at the bottom of the dish and a few sprigs of fresh parsley.

If you are after extreme decadence you can add a slice of cooked bacon into the affair at this stage but for me the sandwich then becomes all about the bacon, stealing the mushroom’s glorious thunder.

Either way it’s a perfect hangover remedy that tastes amazing and shouldn’t take more than 30mins all in.

a word about picnics

by hannah williams

Anyone struggling for picnic inspiration should turn to the culinary bible that is Kenneth Graham’s Wind in the Willows.

The simple descriptions of hot buttered crumpets and warm bacon rolls make me long for a rainy afternoon just so I can stoke up a big fire and wrap myself in a tartan rug.

But it’s the depictions of picnics that really get me going.

Indulging the portly little mole in his first taste of bank side fare Rat produces a bulging wicker basket and begins:

There’s cold chicken inside it, coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkins saladfrenchrolls cressandwidgespottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater

I have a lot of empathy for the greedy little mole with his clumsy enthusiasm for all things in a hamper and I think few descriptions in literary history make me want to whip some bread and cheese into a gingham hanky and make for the river quite as readily.

With a picnic, as both Ratty and Mole perfectly demonstrate, simplicity is key.

No one wants to be lugging intricately laden bruscetta toppings around Hampstead Heath on a roasting Sunday in July. However, nor does the average day-tripper want to celebrate the solstice by digging into a sweaty Spar porkpie and washing it down with KP’s finest roasted nuts.

As a rule of thumb I suggest avoiding all things beige on the picnic blanket (hummus and bread being the notable exceptions) and instead plumping for anything bright, beautiful and easy to construct.

Chilled soups are brilliant additions, refreshing and satisfying in equal measure, with the obvious classics gazpacho and vichyssoise, being both easier to cook and carry than they are to spell.

Gazpacho Recipe

Struggling to survive a summer in Seville in baking 45 degree heat, I would guzzle bowls full of gazpacho straight from the fridge on returning to my flat and feel my parched throat regain the ambition to live and swallow another day within minutes.

There’s a lot of discrepancy about how gazpacho should taste and feel but my favourite version would be heavy on the garlic easy on the cucumber and thoroughly sieved to give it a smooth, silky consistency.

• 4 plump gloves of garlic
• 50g finely grated breadcrumbs
• 50ml red wine vinegar
• a good glug of olive oil
• 900g ripe tomatoes peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cucumbers peeled and finely chopped
• 2 red and 2 yellow peppers diced
• 200g spring onions sliced
• a handful of chopped parsley or basil if preferred
• a pint of iced water
• a good splash of Tabasco
• salt and pepper

Blitz up the garlic, breadcrumbs, vinegar and oil and place in a large bowl.

Stir in all the veg with the parsley, the iced water and the Tabasco.

Blitz once more till smooth – some people like to separate some of the soup out before the second blitz to give it a chunky texture but I like mine to taste clean and silky so use a sieve to make sure no chunks of pepper escape.

Season the chill well.
Serve in small bowls but forget the spoons, I think Gazpacho tastes best gulped straight from the bowl.

Vichyssoise Recipe

• 50g butter
• 4 leeks
• 4 potatoes
• 1 pint of water
• ½ pint of milk
• 100ml single cream
• salt and ground white pepper
• ¼ pint natural yoghurt

Melt the butter and cook the leeks with the potatoes for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add the water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
Blitz with a blender then stir in the milk and cream.

Season and chill well.
Add the yoghurt just before serving.

fish!

by hannah williams

There’s not a lot to shout about the restaurant Fish! which is saying something given you struggle to pronounce the brand name without succumbing to the demands of punctuation and upping your voice an octave.

But enforced exclamations aside the Pizza Express of oceanic cuisine finds itself stranded in an awkward place somewhere between slick city eatery with slick city prices, and substandard burger joint serving all things aquatic with a thick breaded coating and a side order of chips.

Now don’t get me wrong I am a bastion of no frills food and would willingly forego an elaborate parsley garnish in favour of good, staple marine fare.

It’s just that Fish! seems unsure of its chosen culinary destination.

Instead of doling out chunky potato chips and fluffy cod cakes for a budget price worthy of its canteen chain status or wowing the foody crowd with delicately marinated tuna and swordfish steaks it has opted to be both in a disastrous ill thought out hybrid that serves up inadequate fish burger- in- a- bun combinations at £15 a pop.

The location (in an open side street just off Borough market with a spacious outdoor seating area and light glass structure) gives it a massive leg up, pulling in an easy mix of passing tourist trade and office workers out to lunch.

And its A4 paper menus complete with tick box options, which seem to double up as table mats, give it a nice nostalgic feel – kind of like an adult version of Wimpy.

 

But it’s this all things to all men attitude that lets it down.

 

I plumped for a well grounded tuna burger and chips and my companion a medium rare swordfish steak with salsa Verde accompaniment and a side order of fries.

 

The tuna when it came, while adequate in size had been burnt black around the edges in an over zealous attempt to char grill the infamously dry fish, with the conciliatory moisture coming in the form of a rather sloppy mayonnaise interspersed with what looked like half a shredded iceberg.

 

The swordfish was cooked well by comparison though leaning more towards the medium/well end of the cooking spectrum than was ordered. But for a dish that started out at £12.95 (before the highly priced side orders were added on our helpful waiter’s insistence that a bucket of chips was necessary to ensure the meal offered sufficient sustenance) there was no justification for serving the salsa accompaniment in a black, plastic container a kin to the like you’d expect to see alongside a Ryanair hotdog on a return flight to Malaga.

 

The service was faultless, the staff efficient, friendly and helpful. But with a host of Young’s chain bars offering similar standard pub grub right around the corner and for half the price Fish! fails to meet the demands of or even identify its target market.

 

For high brow lobster and delicately poached sole, nearby rival Roast has already hooked both punters and critics a like or for those in search of a quick battered cod there’s an array of great chippies on Borough High Street.