A Pied-à-Terre in London Overlooking Elizabeth David’s House
Some time ago the Dégustatuer came to me with an announcement: we have to live in London.
Live? I felt like I didn’t really know the meaning of this word anymore, out of fear. Fear of relocating but mostly fear of not living in Italy.
I felt that I had settled in Italy already, despite the fact we moved around a little, first Rome, then Venice and Florence to follow. I had started to feel that this adopted country has become a home to me, which was about to collapse and the entire world to fall apart. But the world didn’t fall apart and instead of relocating we have had to come to terms with sharing our time between London and Florence, with myself being, at least initially, mainly in Florence making a fairly smooth transition, with a few bumps on the road, to spending more time together in London.
Our „little” pied-à-terre, is a mews house, when we collected the keys it needed some love.
All the beautiful plants climbing on one side of the house had died during the abnormally dry and warm English summer (over a year ago by now). Sadly nobody took care of them in the meantime and there wasn’t a lot we could do to save them.
The unfurnished property needed to be turned into a liveable space almost immediately: we had found online a French antique dining table from a dealer based in London, which couldn’t be any easier; the very big and super comfortable bed came on the first day too (perfect, no need for a hotel), which found its way to the top floor and the largest bedroom in the house.
We made our first trip to London by car bringing lots of little necessary items and utensils for the kitchen, a few cookbooks and some clothes. After a couple of months we also shipped more of our belongings from Florence and the rest we’ve been buying gradually. We may not furnish our pied-à-terre completely, there is no such need for it as yet, but the kitchen however, is very well stocked up and fully equipped. Each time when we make a road trip from Italy to the UK I bring so many specific ingredients like taralli from my favourite shop, vinegars, hazelnuts, anchovy sauce „la colatura di alici” and different kinds of flour. From our latest adventure and drive through various places in Tuscany and Alba I managed to get a whole year’s supply of olive oil (also a very young one, not filtered and extremely fragrant) and wine, mainly from the Langhe region, always red.
The usual scene after a trip to The Pimlico Road Market
Before our life changing Italian adventure which started in Rome, we both had lived in London and it’s where we met. It should feel more natural being back, especially to the same area and on a relatively temporary basis, but somehow, it isn’t. A lot has changed in the meantime. There was Brexit to begin with, followed by Covid. The demographics, the choice of produce (I mean food here) and its availability, the restaurant scene has changed. In some ways I had to rediscover London again. We eat at home a lot, by choice, a lot more than we had envisaged. I thought I’d cook more non Italian food here, like French or experiment more Oriental and spicy cuisines, but that hasn’t fully worked out. Our taste buds have shifted and got used to the Italian culture of eating and preparing meals. Moreover, I’d always find a new recipe to try out, which in turns becomes our latest favourite, so we stay close to what we like best.
In London I’ve always enjoyed going to the Pimlico Road Farmer’s Market, which opens only on Saturdays. There is this one particular stand where I manage to find delicious and crisp apples, colourful bunches of fresh Swiss chard (so hard to find otherwise in central London), crunchy spinach leaves, wonderful cauliflower and carrots.
At the very beginning of our new living situation, before I found my proper way around the old and new grocery shops, when mainly root and cabbage family vegetables were in season,
the St John’s „Beyond Nose to Tail” cookbook came to my rescue. All of a sudden everything got better with a dollop of crème fraîche, mustard and a handful of capers. Now, when St John restaurant opened its doors in Marylebone, it’s much easier for us to hop on the tube or even walk to dine there. I immediately shared with you two recipes: for a thinly sliced beetroot salad and roast pumpkin (or squash) with beans and a dollop of greek yogurt. Surely there will be more to come.
The top floor bedroom in our mews house with eaves has two sets of opposite windows.
Along one of them (with a nicer view) I organised my desk where very often I’d write and edit the recipes for the blog, and occasionally get distracted watching the world go by.
From the left corner of my window I can see a short polished street lined with terraced white properties on both sides, just like a mirror image. In London it’s a custom to elegantly display on buildings blue plaques containing the information with the relevant years when a famous person (an actor, artist, musician, writer and so forth) had lived at a given address.
I take Halsey Street most often than not when I stroll to my fishmonger. One day when I suddenly looked up at the number 24 I noticed a blue plaque commemorating Elizabeth David (1913-1992), a cookery writer, who lived and worked at this II grade listed house between 1947-1992. I can see her house each time I approach the window or simply work at my desk. A destiny? Call it as you wish, but since that day I’ve been a happier person in London, more creative and relaxed about sharing our living situation between two countries.
I own two Elizabeth David’s cookbooks. The first one I bought had to be „Italian Food” of course, and the second one „Is There a Nutmeg in the House?” the Dègustateur gave me a couple of years ago whilst living in Venice. It was one of the very few items he got left by his late mother. This is the book that I, fully unaware of the Elizabeth David’s house across our future London base, packed and shipped from Italy to my new kitchen.
In early September, upon returning from our annual summer family holidays in Poland, I decided to get reacquainted with the „Is There a Nutmeg in the House?” book and chose a few recipes that caught my attention. This particular book is a direct sequel to „An Omelette and a Glass of Whine”, it contains a selection of the author’s journalistic and occasional writing as well as material from her files, notes and letters, none of which has appeared in any of Elizabeth’s nine previous books.
My initial intention was to build a whole menu (and cook a big dinner for us) out of the selected recipes: a starter, maybe a mid course, main course, some vegetables and a dessert. But instead I settled on choosing a few dishes that I really wanted to try out and prepared them all on separate occasions, adapting the recipes ever so slightly as the quantities of the ingredients were not always indicated.
My very first dish was: pork chops, spiced and grilled, and this is what the author says about them: „This is an effortless and delicious lunch or supper. It does however presuppose a supply of the home-made Italian spice (white peppercorns, juniper berries, nutmeg and cloves)…”. I served the spiced chops with a crunchy green salad and a potato and onion frittata (something new that I wanted to give a go at the same time).
On the following weekend I made us a spinach and potato tian (there are anchovies involved too which truly elevate this potato, spinach and egg bake onto another level), which coincided perfectly with warm weather in London. It’s meant to be eaten once it’s cooled down enough (it needs to set before slicing) and works a dream for a picnic. I had watched a video by Elizabeth’s editor, Jill Norman (link here), which helped me a lot to put this recipe together. We absolutely loved it and I can’t wait to bake the tian again.
Finding new pasta recipes is always a winner for me and I didn’t have to force myself much here either. The minute I saw „Tagliatelle al Mascarpone” with walnuts and parmesan I said to myself: I just have to make it. I used tagliolini instead, and worked with the ingredients and their amounts to my liking. This mascarpone pasta recipe is the easiest and the quickest dish to make, and extremely enjoyable indeed.
Speaking about quick, easy and effortless; years back whilst visiting one of my favourite kitchen stores in London, David Mellor, I found a wonderful book on the shelves by Caroline Conran: „Sud de France. The food and Cooking of Languedoc”. One of the puddings I’ve always wanted to make from the book are chocolate pots with chestnut cream. You literally just have to melt some dark chocolate, stir in some cream, fill little pots or tea cups with the chocolate and drop a dollop of chestnut cream or puree in each. Since we are on a sweet note now and I haven’t decided yet what to make from the Elizabeth David’s book, I’m leaving you with this simple and indulgent chocolate recipe, which you can always modify, if you wish.
Buon appetito xx
