London Supper Club Review - Scandi Supper Club with Signe Johansen

Words by Karen Yates

As everyone knows, all things Scandinavian are super cool right now, a fact (yes, fact) enhanced by the evening’s venue, the Scandinavian furniture showroom Republic of Fritz Hansen in Margaret Street, W1. Just as well there were plenty of beautiful things to look at because what must have seemed a great idea at a PR planning meeting – hosting a photo shoot and supperclub one after the other – meant that the second ran well over an hour late. Hairy trolls with long pointy hats and cruet sets that reminded me of my childhood (I’ve Swedish and Norwegian family) to the rescue, along with glasses of gløgg (mulled wine) to warm the cockles and thaw the heart. 

Signe kept her Scandi cool and offered round her superb canapés: cured salmon on just-baked rye pannekaker (little pancakes) with sour cream and pickled fennel (recipe below), plus sweet Norwegian prawns with wild dill pollen mayonnaise, lumpfish roe and pickled cucumber on sourdough crispbread. As Signe said, in Norway they eat prawns like sweets and these were certainly moreish.

Photo: Tara Fisher

Photo: Tara Fisher

Eventually, we all squeezed around an achingly trendy, retro-style table and the feast began. First Signe, who had specially created the menu using seafood from Norway, explained that this festive food is lettvint (easy), so we should just tuck in an enjoy. Which we did, with seriously good oven-baked organic sourdough bread courtesy of Bridget Hugo from Bread Bread in Brixton, who was named New Best Alchemist of the Oven at this year’s Young British Foodie Awards. 

First up were piping-hot, super-fresh battered cod cheeks with dill, anchovy and pickled cucumber salsa. These melt-in-the-mouth beauties vanished as soon as they appeared.

Photo: Tara Fisher

Next was halibut lightly cured with lemon and elderflower for a slightly sweet flavour, served with thinly sliced pickled cucumber.

Photo: Tara Fisher

The main course was succulent roast haddock with a bacon and rye crisp topping served with salt-baked celeriac plus a spelt and kale salad with pomegranate seeds. All healthy and delicious.

Photo: Tara Fisher

We finished with glasses of Linie aquavit, Signe’s pepperkaker (traditional ginger biscuits) and ekte geitost (sweet, salty, brown goat’s cheese; an acquired taste I happen to love).

Photo: Tara Fisher

Ah, fresh fish followed by pepperkaker and brunost, the taste of a Scandinavian Christmas. All good things come to those who wait… 

Here is a recipe from the evening, specially created by Signe Johansen for the Norwegian Seafood Council. First cure the salmon, then use it to make these fabulous canapés:

Cured Norwegian salmon with a shot of Linie aquavit, rye and sour cream pannekaker and pickled fennel

‘There are endless ways to cure Norwegian salmon. Gravlaks is a classic way to do so across Scandinavia, and I love a little whisky in the cure for a seasonal twist. Norwegian Linie Aquavit can be found at Amathus Drinks. The key to this dish is a very fresh fillet of Norwegian salmon. If in doubt, freeze the fish for 24 hours to kill any bacteria, then defrost. This recipe makes enough for 12 starters or 6-8 larger portions. You can double this for festive occasions – two Norwegian salmon fillets will feed 20-24 people and make a great party standby’

Ingredients:

1.5 kg Norwegian salmon fillet, de-boned and de-scaled, cut in half
2 tbsp pink peppercorns
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp juniper berries
1 tsp allspice berries
100g granulated sugar
75g sea salt
2 shots whisky

Method:

Dry the salmon, check for pinbones and then put both fillet pieces side by side, skin down. Crush the pink pepper, coriander, juniper and allspice berries with a pestle and mortar, then mix in a small bowl with the sugar, salt and whisky. Spread the spiced sugar and salt in a layer on top of a fillet. Sandwich both fillet halves together. Wrap very tightly in two layers of clingfilm and put in a small roasting tin to catch the brine that escapes from the fish as it cures. Refrigerate for a minimum of 48 hours and up to 5 days if you want a stronger cure.
When the salmon has had time to cure, simply take it out of the fridge, remove the clingfilm, wipe the fillet halves clean of the spiced salt with a paper towel, pat dry and put on a board, skin down. Slice on the diagonal from the tail towards the middle of the fillet and serve.

Rye and sour cream pannekaker

The wild fennel pollen, used as a garnish is available at Global Harvest (globalharvestlimited.co.uk)
Makes 30 small pancakes

Ingredients:

150g rye flour
100g wholemeal spelt flour
5g fresh yeast or ½ tsp dried yeast
300ml sour cream
50-100ml whole milk
2 medium eggs, beaten
50g butter, melted
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt

To finish:
75g fructose (fruit sugar) or 100g caster sugar 
150ml white wine vinegar
fennel bulb, thinly sliced or use a mandolin
wild fennel pollen, to garnish 
extra sour cream or crème fraiche, to garnish

Method:

First make the little rye pancakes: in a medium-size bowl mix the flours with the yeast, sour cream and 50ml milk (you may need more milk later as the rye and spelt flours will thicken the mixture over time). Cover and set aside for 1 hour or until the mixture starts to bubble and has doubled in size.  Meanwhile, put the sugar and the vinegar in a small saucepan along with 75ml water and bring to a simmer, allowing the sugar to dissolve. Remove from the heat, cool, add the thinly sliced fennel to this mixture and cover. Set aside to pickle while you finish the pancakes.

Add the beaten eggs, melted butter, baking powder and sea salt to the bowl with the flours, yeast and sour cream, then stir thoroughly. Prepare a skillet with a little oil over a medium heat. Start frying small pancakes for a minute or so before flipping each one over. They should look dry around the edges and bubble slightly in the skillet. If in doubt, test the batter with one small pancake – if the pancake is too liquid you can always add a little more spelt flour; if it’s too dense, simply dilute with a little water or milk.

Once you’ve fried all the pancakes, set them to one side and allow to cool completely before assembling the salmon slices on each piece, followed by a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche, a curl of pickled fennel and a sprinkle of wild fennel pollen. Eat immediately with a shot of Linie aquavit to wash it all down.

Krug Institute of Happiness with Nuno Mendes

Words by Karen Yates

On a cold, dark winter’s night, what a pleasure to be collected by car and driven to Highgate, to a stylish, glass-fronted building that by day overlooks the famous cemetery, to enjoy food cooked by the affable Nuno Mendes of Michelin-starred Viajante in Bethnal Green, matched by Krug champagnes in the company of Olivier Krug, whose great great great grandfather started the company in 1843.

The idea behind the pop-up Krug Institute of Happiness is that everything you taste, see, smell and hear brings you pleasure. So, after being welcomed with a glass of Krug Grande Cuvée and canapés including softest-ever cuttlefish with lardo, we sat down to a final canapé of black olive cake with yeast and crushed potatoes. Between courses, Nuno explained that each endorphin-releasing dish was intended to evoke comforting and joyous memories.

First was cured lobster, spring onion and consommé with spruce bark, enjoyed with a glass of Krug 1998, whose apple, pear and toast notes worked well with the lobster.

Image by Karen Yates

Next was halibut with seaweed sofrito and seafood rice broth, whose intense, Japanese flavours were matched by a bold and slightly citrussy Krug 2000. Safe to say my happiness levels were rising.

Image by Karen Yates

At this point, Olivier Krug joined our table as we tucked into aged pigeon buried under ‘fallen autumn leaves’, enjoyed with Krug Rosé, which has citrus notes, a slight cherry flavour and a fine, silky texture. According to Olivier, this rosé champagne is Madonna’s guilty pleasure. One of his people had told him she’d announced it in a tweet, and that it must be “worth an ’ashtag”. Well, if it’s good enough for her Madgesty…

At that point, there was a collective “aaaah!” and we looked outside to see the first snow of the season. A few cynics among us noticed it was falling in front of only one window, and was clearly designed purely for our happiness.

The final, deeply comforting dish was as delicate as a snowflake and melted in the mouth. It was named simply ‘milk’ and described as ‘a return to the beginning, happy memories of home’, and we were back to where we started with a glass of Krug Grande Cuvée. 

For those in need of further joy, plates of chocolate truffles appeared with the coffees.

Before this evening, guests were asked as series of questions, including what music makes you happy and what’s your favourite sweet. Throughout the evening, a pianist played people’s chosen songs – one excitable guest joined him at the piano and sang along – and in the car home I felt in my coat pocket and pulled out a bag of liquorice allsorts, tied with a big red ribbon. Little bespoke touches like these certainly upped the happiness factor. 

The next morning, by the way, I woke to the first snow of the year. Perhaps, after all, the institute really had worked its magic.

This pop-up experience was available only until 8 December 2012, but then happiness is always fleeting.

Cocktails and Cake Liquid Afternoon Tea at The Royal Horseguards

Words by Karen Yates

How could a girl resist an invitation to an afternoon of cocktails and cakes at The Royal Horseguards hotel? I couldn’t, which is why I found myself at the Equus bar in this historically fascinating and recently refurbished five-star hotel on the Thames, sipping cocktails named after former residents and locals including Lord Kitchener, Gladstone, Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, George Bernard Shaw and Winston Churchill, who frequented the hotel during the war and even after becoming a Conservative continued to be welcomed into The National Liberal Club, still homed here. What would he have made of today’s coalition, one wonders?

Apropos of nothing but brilliant nonetheless, it was a young Churchill, then a rising politician, who came up with what is arguably the best-ever food review. Asked about his supper the previous night, he said: “It would have been splendid… if the wine had been as cold as the soup, the beef as rare as the service, the brandy as old as the fish, and the maid as willing as the duchess.” 

Indeed one of the highlights of the event was, for me, the Churchill cocktail, made with homemade Cuban cigar tobacco syrup, bourbon and aromatic bitters, which we savoured with a teacup of creamy haddock broth with a pea foam and a potato crisp. “It’s like fish and chips in a cup,” someone said, and so it was, the smoked fish flavours melding beautifully with the deep, dark, peaty smokiness of the cocktail.

But cakes as well as cocktails was the theme of the afternoon and those who like sweet things will love the rainbow of imaginative treats dreamed up here. Spanish pastry chef Jacobo made lollipops using his does-what-it-says-on-the-tin Antigriddle machine, the top of which sets liquid fruits at -2C to create lollipops that instantly melt in the mouth.

Jacobo had also made exquisite strawberry daiquiri macaroons filled with a rum-infused white chocolate ganache, and plain mini cupcakes topped with violet butter cream and passion fruit tapioca. Both tasted as delightful as they looked.

Executive Chef Ben Purton made the savoury bites. As he created very popular canapés – gone as soon as he put them down – from ingredients including Parma ham, rocket, sundried tomatoes, smoked salmon, rye bread, capers and his favourite Sussex Charmer cheese, he told us how the kitchen had been insanely busy during the Olympics. Speaking of heroic performances and busy kitchens, MasterChef fans should keep an eye out for Ben and his team in the next series, the bit where contestants have to work in real kitchens. “I can’t say any more than that,” said Ben, after he’d told us pretty much all we need to know. 

On to the cocktails, let’s face it the real reason most of us were here. Canadian mixologist Adrian Murfin made gin-based cocktails for us (the house is Tanqueray; he also recommends Sipsmith), starting with the apricot cocktail (£12.95), followed by the super-dry, Martini-style Lord Kitchener (£13.50, as are all the signature cocktails). Other eponymous tipples are the previously mentioned Churchill, the Gladstone (four-time prime minister and founder of The National Liberal Club), the Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming (leader of the secret intelligence service, based here during the First World War), and the George Bernard Shaw, who often met fellow scribe HG Wells here. Or try the cavalry cocktail, created by Andy Pearson for Help For Heroes; all profits go to the charity.

The Cocktail and Cake Liquid Afternoon Tea menu is available until 14 October 2012. To book, or to find out about other events at the hotel, visit their website here.

Photographs by Karen Yates and Sophie Draper
Freelance food writer and editor Karen Yates has written numerous features, reviews and interviews for glossy magazines including Country Living, Coast, Food and Travel, Fork and BBC Good Food. See more of her cuttings here.

Foraging Weekend at Bailiffscourt Hotel & Spa, Sussex

Words & Photographs by Karen Yates

Pull on your wellies and head for the nearest outdoor space, whether it’s a garden, park, playground or common. October is the perfect time to forage, and even the tiniest green space can be home to mushrooms and other edible foods, according to those in the know at Bailiffscourt Hotel & Spa in Sussex, just 1 hour 40 minutes from London.

What appears to be a medieval manor with outbuildings was, in fact, built in late 1920s and early 1930s using materials salvaged from historic buildings. The result is a luxurious hotel frequented, for those in need of a celeb fix, by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson before their split, Russell Crowe and David Jason, who I’m told arrives by helicopter. Even Charlie Chaplin has stayed here. My room, Sheeplands, was the size of a suite and charmingly old-fashioned with 15th-century beams, four-poster bed, bath and shower, all mod cons (internet access, TV), fluffy white towels and gorgeous-smelling spa goodies. So far, so luxe. 

A stroll across the grounds, past wandering resident peacocks and cages of hams curing in the trees (not to be confused), for canapés including little glasses of nutty-tasting warm nettle soup and Barkham Blue cheese and pear chutney on toasts, with homemade elderflower sparkling wine or local Ridgeview sparkling wine.

Next was a talk by Debra Wood, otherwise known as the Sussex forager, before a supper of, where possible, foraged and local produce. “I started foraging as a child with my mother,” explained Debra. “I have scars on my forehead after falling out of trees picking mistletoe.” Debra is clearly a passionate forager, but she stresses the importance of knowing what you are doing. “Eat a death cap or panther cap and you’ll be on dialysis for the rest of your life. Or worse,” she added ominously. To avoid eating killer a mushroom, you’ll need a good book, with photographs rather than illustrations. Roger Phillips is Debra’s favourite, and she also recommends the River Cottage series and Food for Free by Richard Mabey (Collins, £4.99).

Debra’s foraging year starts in March, when she finds wild garlic in damp woodlands; eat the long leaves and white flowers, not the bulbs. Next she sources sea kale, which is protected so never help yourself from a site of scientific interest and then take only a little from each plant to allow regrowth. Next she collects marsh samphire; cut with kitchen scissors and never pull from the ground. A little later in the year, Debra finds wild fennel (again, eat the fronds, not the bulb), followed by sea purslane, which is salty and crunchy, a bit like samphire. “If you have a garden,” she continued, “young dandelion leaves are delicious in a mixed salad with vinaigrette. Peppery ground elder, loathed by gardeners, is also great tossed in a salad – it tastes like celery.”

As for mushrooms, these have arrived very late this year (but now, the first weekend October, a week after I visited Bailiffscourt, is set to be the best mushrooming weekend of 2012). Mushrooming is legal only if you are a mushroom-picker, which you can prove by having a mushroom knife – look for one with a blade at one end (always cut, never pull the stems) and a brush at the other. Debra’s remaining kit comprises a broom handle with a nail through the top used for hooking elderberries in trees, and washing-up gloves for picking nettles. I suspect this lady is fairly low-maintenance. 

Our table of serious foodies was enjoying her talk, but other tables were becoming rowdy with hunger. So Debra decided to quit while she was ahead – no matter, we had her to ourselves for our foraging tomorrow morning, and could learn more then. 

Our starter was Ashdown-forest-foraged mushrooms on toasted brioche with wood sorrel and crème fraiche, accompanied by Blandy’s Sercial 10-Year-Old Dry Madeira. The meaty-tasting mushrooms worked well with the Madeira.

Next up was fillet of south coast sea bream with marsh samphire and seaweed tempura, served with a glass of La Segreta Bianco 2011, Planeta, Sicily. This peachy white was a good match for the fish.

The main course was fabulous local venison Wellington with roasted crab apples and elderberry with a port sauce, accompanied by Los Caminos Merlot 2010, Chile. A delight, and everyone agreed the dish of the night.

Dessert was quince crème brûlée with blackberry sorbet and rosehip cordial ‘bellini’. Refreshingly good, and despite everyone saying they couldn’t possibly eat dessert we all did a marvellous job.

The following morning, our group headed off with executive chef Martin Hadden and Debra (pictured below, with foraged leaves) to seek out our lunch. “I’ve got back-up, just in case,” said Martin reassuringly. In the forest, which you can spot from the road by looking out for leather-clad bikers tucking into bacon sarnies outside their favourite local cafe, we walked on fern-carpeted ground, the sun streaming through leaves above our head, and soon found some pied de mouton, or hedgehog mushrooms, a much-coveted edible mushroom that hadn’t been munched by squirrels, slugs or snails. We also found several edible but not so delicious mushrooms, which Debra tasted but Martin rejected. “If it’s not great to eat, don’t bother,” he said. So we didn’t.

Back to the hotel and while Martin prepared lunch, we walked 100 or so metres though a wooded path to the beach, tasting hogweed, described by Debra as “poor man’s asparagus”, and elderberries, which had paired so well with last night’s venison, as we walked. On the pebble beach, we found seaweed galore, none of which is poisonous in the UK according to Debra, sea beet (also know as sea spinach), ground elder and sea kale (pictured below).

Back to the hotel, and for the final part of the foraging weekend Martin showed us how to create a dish from our foraged finds, with a little help from his back-up supplies.

As we tucked into smoked salmon – Martin smokes his own salmon in a shed in the hotel’s vast grounds – and cucumber sandwiches, he made a cep and sea spinach tart, with an accompanying cep sauce by the celebrated Nico Ladenis, with whom Martin trained in the early 1990s.

Martin Hadden’s cep and sea spinach tart with a fried egg and cep sauce 
Serves 6 

450g rough puff pastry 
450g sea (or normal) spinach 
garlic butter 
12 ceps (or porcini mushrooms; you can also use foraged, fresh or frozen ones)
6 eggs 
cep sauce 
wood sorrel, to garnish (optional)

Roll out the pastry into discs and prick with a fork. Preheat the oven to 180C. Gently cook the spinach in garlic butter and set aside. Fry the ceps in garlic butter. Arrange the spinach and ceps on the pastry and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. 
In a large saucepan, gently fry all the eggs in garlic butter and put one on top of each tart. To finish, spoon a little warm cep sauce over the top of each tart, garnish with wood sorrel if using and serve immediately. 

For the rough puff pastry 
(Shop bought is fine, but choose one made with butter)
500g strong white flour 
500g butter 
150ml cold water

Sift the flour with a pinch of salt, chop the butter into small chunks and loosely run them into the flour. Add the water and mix to a rough dough, then refrigerate for 20 minutes. Roll out into a rectangle and put in one puff paste turn, give a quarter turn and then another puff paste turn. Chill for 20 minutes, then use.

For the cep sauce
100g very finely chopped ceps 
1 shallot, very finely chopped 
50g butter 
1 tsp tomato purée 
1 bay leaf 
125ml Noilly Prat 
125ml Madeira 
100ml jus (reduced stock, optional) 
250ml double cream 
250ml water

Gently fry the ceps and shallot in the butter until completely caramelised. Add the tomato purée, bay leaf, Noilly Prat, Madeira and jus. Allow to reduce by two thirds.
Add the cream, bring to the boil, add the water and check the seasoning. Cover the pan with clingfilm and leave to infuse until cool. Pass through a double muslin cloth. Serve warm with the cep tarts.

Travel Essentials

Rooms start at £210 per night for two people sharing a standard room, including breakfast and full use of spa facilities. For more information visit www.hshotels.co.uk, or call 01903 723511.

To arrange foraging outings in Sussex, email Debra at debra-wood@hotmail.co.uk

The London Foodie travelled from London Victoria to Littlehampton on Southern Trains; www.southernrailway.com

Words and photographs by Karen Yates
Freelance food writer and editor Karen Yates has written numerous features, reviews and interviews for glossy magazines including Country Living, Coast, Food and Travel, Fork and BBC Good Food. See more of her cuttings at here.