Sunday Supper Club – Big Event for a Big Weekend

It’s not often that you will pass a driving test, have your last day at work, found a new flatmate, do your first supper club and witness the birth of your first niece over the course of one weekend... So you can imagine that last weekend was rather a special one.

The driving test proved the old adage third time lucky to be true and I’m now the proud aunt of one very cute niece Summer, whom I hope to influence in ways good and bad in the years to come. She’ll definitely have to put up with old aunty Julianna butting into her life fairly frequently, because after watching the closing stages of my sister’s labour, I’m fairly confident that I will not be running to do that anytime soon myself. The horror....

Moving swiftly on, the 19th of September proved to be a big day – not only was it the day Summer was born, but it was also the day I held my first not so secret Crumbs and Dirty Dishes Sunday Supper Club.

I’ve been toying with the idea of a supper club for a while... some of the most enjoyable nights out I’ve recently had have been eating in other people’s homes or random factories in Dalston (see Shacklewell Nights). And so, after dithering and dithering I bit the bullet, sent out the emails and started plotting the menu.

The experience proved to be a fun one... I can’t say that waking up at 9am in Dalston after a rather heavy party on Friday night and having to hare my way back to Brixton to do some market shopping pre-flat viewings was quite the way I would have planned it. Neither was waking up at 5am on the Sunday to start the cooking.

A call from my sister at 11am, just as everything was ticking along nicely to say that her labour had started kept things nice and spicy (especially as I was one of the birth partners) – the afternoon was punctuated by progress reports and I had fingers and toes crossed that I’d make it in time for the birth.

By the time people rolled into Brixton at two, we were merrily doling out the Bellinis and trying to stop ourselves scoffing the Brie, Pancetta and Mussel Tartlets that smelt so tempting in the oven.


These were followed by braised lamb shanks with parsnip gratin and wild mushroom gravy, which went down particularly well and the blackberry and clotted cream shortcake appeared to have found a few fans.

As someone who is frequently tormented by the choice between cheese or pudding (a choice between cheese and anything is always particularly unfair) I’d decided to serve both... the cheeseboard consisted of a ripe Brie, Cambozola, Dolcelatte, Cheddar, goat’s cheese and herbed Feta sourced from a new love, the Portuguese delicatessan under the Brixton railway arches.

But essentially a supper club is about the people. Our crowd was fantastic – so I’d like to say a big thank you to them and my very helpful sous-chef Natalie for making it such a special afternoon. And Nadine for the wonderful photos.



Dates for October/ November’s supper clubs are as follows:
10th October
7th November
28th November
Price: Twenty pounds including four courses and a welcome drink. BYO booze.
Email crumbsanddirtydishes@gmail.com to sign up or to be added to the email update list.

Hix Oyster & Chop House

"Quail's egg shooters with bacon and chives?" My dining partner, Joe raised an eyebrow. "That sounds rather exciting".

Exciting could have been a euphemism for sickeningly gross or plain weird. But to give him his dues, he went in all guns blazing for the first one. "Wow". That one word made me anxious to finish of the next little eggy delight so I could tip it down and knock it back. And when I did, I understood exactly what Joe meant.

Think about it, it's nothing groundbreaking. Eggs, bacon and chives are not the most unusual pairing, but I'd never had them in this way before: the quails eggs seductively runny and contrasting beautifully with the texture of the crunchy bacon and the freshness of the chives.

"By Jove, this Hix is a genius", I cried. Or I would of if plunged in the depths of the 19th century. As it was, I was as enthusiastic as my 21st century self would allow and promptly munched down the next three eggs whilst reluctantly giving Joe his allotted share.

It was only going to get better... the second dish we tried that night was Lamb chops with cucumber - another undisputed culinary winner. Truth be told, we were left nibbling the bones and licking our fingers in an attempt to relive those glorious lamb-y moments of greed and stomach satisfaction.

The pattern has continued over the last few weeks. I've tried the Mutton Chop Curry, chicken and lobster pie and a rather elusive dish called Heaven and Earth, which marries black pudding with apples and mashed potato.

Hix Oyster & Chop House cookbook is unashamedly a book for meat eaters. There are vegetarian recipes floating about but if you are of a herbivore persuasion, you'd be better off with another book.

Meat lovers, however, will delight in the simple explanations and photographs of rarer cuts of meat that are often overlooked in modern kitchens - the basis of a very fulfilling trip to the butchers last week.

I've seen criticism that this book is for those unafraid to spend a lot of money on their dinners and to some degree, this is true. But there are a lot of dishes using cheaper ingredients that aren't in any way overpriced for a weeknight dinner. If you are looking to treat yourself to a full out feast, there's definitely scope to do that too...

Hix Oyster & Chop House
9/10
Love it: For those who appreciate the beauty of meat and want to try Hix's flavoursome dishes at home.
Hate it: Vegetarians. All those pictures of steaks will have them crying into their carrot soups.

The Fentiman Arms

God bless Forrest Gump. Of all the movies I saw when I was a child, Forrest Gump is one of the most beloved. Let's see - you had the quirky love story, the simple outlook on life, but best of all, you had the one liners. What could be more true than 'Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get'? Nothing.

That saying gets to the heart of why I love eating, writing and thinking about food - because you never know what you are going to get. The first time you try a new recipe, or a newly discovered restaurant, there's that frission of excitement... Is this going to be the best dish of your life? Or is it going to leave you wishing you'd stayed at home with a bowl of rice krispies? Only time and your tastebuds can tell. And there is nothing better than when it all comes together and works - which is exactly what happened at The Fentiman Arms last week.

I can't say I've ever thought of the area surrounding The Oval as the gastronomic destination du jour. There are a few gastropubs, normal pubs and local restaurants but, for the most part, it is a local area for local people. This is probably why The Fentiman Arms has stayed off the radar for so long, those selfish people in Vauxhall decided that they didnt want to share. Tough luck cookies, it's been found and has been firmly placed on beacon alert.

The equation is simple - food comes in the form of lip smackingly tempting dishes such as Ham hock terrine with homemade picallili, lamb skewers with garlic, slow roasted lamb with potato dauphinoise and braised red cabbage. Prices are decent and extremely good value for money considering that the portions are on the gargantuan side of things. The wine list too is comprehensive enough to satisfy all but the most pernickity of oenophiles and covers a range of prices.





Next time I'm planning to have a three course meal there, I might consider cracking out the old stomach stretching exercises a few hours in advance. This time I barely made it to the dessert, which was a perfectly flirty little poached spiced pear with vanilla ice cream. As for Natalie's chocolate brownie with hazlenut and chocolate ice cream, well the picture says it all really...



Finally add the soupcon of pretty brilliant staff, who it turns out I met months ago in a random jaunt to Bar 55 in Camden and there you have it, the best possible total of the never know what you are going to get equation.

Waiting rating: Best we’ve come across in a long time, friendly, quick and chatty - definitely helped make the evening so fun
Scoffing potential: Astronomical, I dare you not to try
Wallet buddy: Standard – portions are huge too
The crowd: As it was mid World Cup there were the obligatory footie fans dotted around, locals hanging out on the outdoors terrace with a cold bevvie

64 Fentiman Road
Oval,SW8 1LA
020 7793 9796

Mad about millet?

Never in my life did I think I would become a fan of millet. As a fairly adventurous eater, every time I've tried it, I've realised where exactly the line needs to be drawn. That's at bland, flavourless grain that's bleaker than England's chances of winning the world cup this year.

Until Tuesday when Kristina of Conscious Food whipped up a batch of gorgeous dishes in which millet played one of the starring roles. Just thinking about that meal makes my stomach rumble. We started with a range of millet crackers (believe me when I say that these are actually very very good) and a lentil dip, along with a healthier version of Masala Mix.



It's always good to meet other food bloggers and put some names to faces and the blogs that continually distract me from working throughout the day (in this case Catalan Cooking, Tasty Diaries, Huma Qureshi and Slow Food Kitchen) so the conversation was pretty lively. But for such talkative ladies, I can tell you that there wasn't much chat for the first few minutes after the mains were served up. There was a spicy lentil daal,a millet tabbouleh, raita and a meltingly tender spiced shoulder of lamb.

I'll happily eat my words if it means I can eat more of that tabbouleh. Apparently the secret is to toast the mustard seeds, cumin and cardamom, add some butter then add millet and cinnamon powder, coat in the spicy butter then add the water, cook, steam and fluff. After that, just mix it with some freshly chopped coriander, tomatoes and grilled aubergine. It sounds so simple but tasted so delicious...

Dessert was one of the strangest but yummy dishes.



I know in the pictures it might not look like much, but it was a spiced sweet millett pudding. On first taste I wasn't too sure but about two bites in, I decided that it was a real winner. If I can lure the recipe out of Kris I will. But for now, here's the lamb shoulder recipe - enjoy!




Slow roasted spiced lamb shoulder
1tsp mustard seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek, black pepper, coriander seeds,
5 green cardamom and 2 black cardamom,
a piece of cinnammon bark,
5 cloves
5 cloves garlic
2 or 3 red chillis
organic greek yoghurt
lamb shoulder

First make garam masala - toast the following seeds/spices in a frying pan a teaspoon each of mustard, fennel, cumin, fenugreek, black pepper and coriander seeds
5 green cardamom and 2 black cardomoms, a piece cinnamon bark and 5 cloves
Then grind in pestle n mortar or use a coffee grinder
Make paste of good knob of ginger, 5 cloves garlic and 2 or 3 red chillis (depending on how hot you like it)
Add all of garam masala and chilli, garlic, ginger paste to a tub of organic greek yoghurt.
Take a 3 kg shoulder of lamb and make some piercings with a knife. Smother marinade all over and leave overnight (or min 5 hours).
Set oven on to 160c and bake for 2 hours then reduce to 150 for next 3 hours.