Party of 4 followed by a raucous party of 5 (mentioning no names, Maureen.) By far the most relaxed evening to date. It's all about prep. Tomato tarts followed by baked salmon; both easily baked in 15 minutes. The only risk was a classic beurre blanc that accompanied the fish (and went well with the pan fried French beans) but that cooperated all evening, happily sitting in a bowl above a pan of simmering water. It didn't even pretend to split. I found I was looking for things to do, rather than run around swearing under my breath.
The chicory was baked for an hour (180) following a stern rub down with butter, honey and orange juice. It's a complex flavour of contrasting sweet and bitter, cutting well with the soft fish and unctuous butter sauce.
The dessert was a vanilla cheesecake. Another recipe from Anthony Demetre. I love his sophisticated bistro style cooking. This was my first ever baked cheesecake (set with egg yolks and not gelatine) but it was wonderful (most of the credit goes to his recipe), smooth, light and very creamy. The only trick is to be brave enough to de-oven it when it still wobbles and allow the residual heat to set it. This was served with local raspberries picked with son-number-one on Friday.
Some heritage toms from Borough Market.
Chicory shimmering with butter, honey and OJ.
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