Good afternoon everybody,
After the relative verbosity of the last two entries, this week's journal will be, perforce, short and hopefully sweet. Our guiding light, Kate, is celebrating a significant birthday this weekend and sad to report some of the preparations have been left a little late. So, to business. Highlights on the pastry counter this week as follows:
- Blackcurrant Thumbprints - chewy, almondy biscuits with a central dimple filled with blackcurrant jam
- Poached Pear Galette - flaky puff pastry, frangipane made with the best almonds from Food and Forest, and gently poached, new season Conference Pears from Herefordshire
- Apple & Cinnamon Muffin - essentially a mini apple crumble perched atop a fluffy muffin
- For weekend visitors, there will also be some Viennese Whirls
- If the cheese scones have an orange tint it's because they're packed with Appleby's Cheshire. Yum.
Cheese news:
- Corra Linn - made by Errington Cheese in South Lanarkshire, this is a sheep's milk cheese in a cheddar style. The milk comes from Lacaune ewes in spring and early summer. The curds are pressed overnight before being rubbed with locally produced rapeseed oil, wrapped in muslin and matured for a minimum of four months and sometimes as long as two years. This week's batch is brothy and warming with a bright citrus note.
- Karst - ash-rinded oat's cheese from County Clare. Tangy and yoghurty with notes of pine nuts, apparently.
With the Autumn equinox approaching, it would only be right to whip through a few seasonally appropriate bottles before I take my leave:
- Pinot Blanc Amzelle - a fabulous Alsace white, aged for two years in barrel, that is rich and decadent with honeyed, ripe fruit but bags of freshness. Fills the mouth pleasingly. Great match for spicy food or perhaps a soft cheese.
- François Dumas Gamay and Syrah - a young winemaker based in the northern Rhône, these are rustic, earthy reds that bring just enough heft to stave off the first signs of chill in the air without being heavy at all. The Gamay is a little fruitier whilst the Syrah is more on the black-olive-savoury side.
- If it's power you're after, we've also restocked the Roucas Toumba old vine Vacqueyras, Les Restanques de Cabbasole
Okay, that's a wrap for this week. Thank you as always for sticking with us, we wish you the very best Sunday afternoon and hope to see you soon,
Hugo and Kate