When a set menu is topped and tailed with kir and coffee, you should probably sit down and order it – even when you don’t like kir and you can’t drink coffee after 7pm. Especially when the waiter ushers you and a loved one to a small table on the edge of La Place deContinue reading “Kir and coffee”
Author Archives: Alice Mulhearn Williams
Portobello Mushroom Burgers
Something’s telling me I should give up on this whole ‘post a day’ malarkey. Not only have I succumbed to the lurgy, but my website host has deleted my ToTheTable blog (it might have something to do with forgetting to pay them…). But I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED. I’ll post this belated entry here whileContinue reading “Portobello Mushroom Burgers”
Dal and butternut squash soup
Today marks day one of a scheduled week of kitchen diary posts. But I am ill – an aching, sniffing, moaning mess – and I don’t feel like eating much. The aim of these short blog posts was to record my suppers for a week – however unflashy. But as I stared into a fridge offering nothing butContinue reading “Dal and butternut squash soup”
Banana Bread
It was in a cold greengrocers that Jane Grigson first taught me about fruit. Every Saturday morning I would take her book down from a shelf and learn about the the history of the quince or how best to cook medlars. Jane helped me fall in love with ingredients. She also made working in anContinue reading “Banana Bread”
Chicken and beetroot quinoa salad
I’m feeling profoundly inarticulate today, my brain having melted to within an inch of its life. Never have I been so hot and not at a beach. I’ve even given up lusting after picnics and parks. There’s a stretch of boiling tarmac and a sweaty underground transport system between me and the outside world. No. I’ll drink iced teaContinue reading “Chicken and beetroot quinoa salad”
Lentil and Chickpea Stew
Suffolk rolls past the window. Fields and sky and buttercup studded meadows. The clouds are hemmed with pink and a line of cypress trees stand bold against a mottled sky, casting long shadows as dusk approaches. I’m travelling on a train from one home to the other now, wishing that I could stay in the calmer,Continue reading “Lentil and Chickpea Stew”
A new table
I’ve moved! I’m living in a flat with working heating, a clean kitchen and – thank god – no leaky radiators. There’s a balcony and a globe bar (that’s actually stocked with alcohol!) And at the centre of this contentment is a table. A table with tulips and scattered with kirby grips and pens, where IContinue reading “A new table”
Beef and Pak Choi Noodles
I have a leaky radiator. My bed has it’s own little lagoon – if I hang my feet over the edge of the mattress I can paddle in it. I’m sort of used to the damp now, which I’m led to believe is not the right attitude to take when it comes to plumbing. MyContinue reading “Beef and Pak Choi Noodles”
Babotie
For me, there is nothing as alluring as the combination of meat and fruit. Minced beef cooked with banana and grated apple in Chiles en Nogada; lamb studded with pomegranate and sweetened with currants in kefta meatballs; juicy apricots in a tagine. Perhaps I should have been born in Medieval England. Following the Crusade, the European raisin tradeContinue reading “Babotie”
Pulled pork and tabasco
Hot sauce reminds me of almost passing out in New Orleans. Here’s an important lesson for you, kids: when a bottle is ‘XXX-rated’ don’t try dipping a cracker into it. It will only end in chilli-infused tears and heartache. Tabasco is a slightly less dangerous pepper sauce but just as synonymous with Louisiana. The homeContinue reading “Pulled pork and tabasco”
To The Table 