Spring Restaurant - Somerset House

It says it all in the name 'Spring' - the interiors, the food, and the atmosphere are all spring-like, very appropriate for this time of year. Spring restaurant is situated in one corner of London's Somerset House, a magnificent building that provides a great space to house an amazing restaurant. The chef behind it all is Skye Gyngell, an Australian who was formerly head chef at Petersham nurseries. 

Her vision when creating the restaurant was to create a feminine space, she wanted her restaurant to be different from many west end restaurants which are frequently dominated by male energy. Skye's sister designed the interiors, as she felt that Briony understood her vision most clearly. 

Skye's focus is on using fresh and seasonal ingredients, this was certainly reflected in the set menu that both my friend Lylie and I chose our dishes from. Skye sources all her ingredients from Fern Verrow farm in Hertfordshire - they harvest their crops based on the seasonal menu that Skye has written, so the food could not be fresher!

There was no doubt that the seasonal ingredients shone through in all three courses we tried… 

To Start with I had the Puntarelle a la Romana. Putarelle, I discovered, is a cousin of Chicory which gave this dish an underlying bitterness contrasting nicely with a minty sauce. This was a light and refreshing starter with a nice crunch. 

Lylie had the Salt Cod Croquettes with Camone Tomatoes, with the crispy breadcrumb coating perfectly complemented the soft cod and potato inside. The croquettes were accompanied by marinaded red spinach, which which was soft and flavorsome. Along with this came some delicious home made mayonnaise -  I wanted to take a whole jar of it home with me!  

For main course I had Onglet with Jerusalem artichoke puree, braised radicchio and black garlic butter. The textures in this dish were melt-in-your-mouth, the beef was tender and perfectly pink in the middle, and the artichoke puree was silky smooth. The raddiccio was nicely charred giving it a bitter edge, but this was balanced out by a sweet marinade giving it a complex flavour. 

Lylie had the Roasted sea bream with pumpkin, curry leaves, and coconut sambal - another well put together dish! The sambal, which is an Indonesian sauce made from a variety of chilli peppers, brought the fish and pumpkin together nicely with a fiery kick. 

To finish I had a Bakewell rhubarb and almond tart with a nice dollop of creme fraiche. The pastry was light and rhubarb not too tart. This was, in my eyes, the ideal way to finish off a pretty damn good lunch!

Lylie had the Citrus Shaker Tart with creme fraiche, I would recommend this pudding to those who do not have such a sweet tooth, as it had a zesty marmalade undertone complemented by amazingly light buttery pastry. 

With not a crumb left on our plates, we went to sit in the Garden Room. As the name suggests, this space had an outdoorsy feel to it, with the walls being covered with giant  gunnera leaves cast into tiles, and  trees sitting in the middle of the room. 

Overall we agreed it was a pretty spectacular lunch, in a pretty spectacular building - we will definitely be returning for some more seasonal food soon! 

I liked the fact that every component of each course had clearly been thought through - so many restaurants make the meat the 'hero' and accompany them with substandard vegetables, so Spring's considered approach to all the produce they use was refreshing.

 We also had a flick through Spring the cookbook which has a delicious selection of Skye's recipes, definitely one I will be trying some recipes from soon.

Z x

Rhubarb Crumble Ice Cream

Perhaps it is not quite hot enough to be sitting outside in the sun with an ice cream,  but this Rhubarb Crumble Ice Cream is a great 'prepare ahead' pudding when served with ginger biscuits - perfect if you are feeding family and friends over the approaching four day Easter weekend! It is a Delia recipe and a firm family favourite. This is an ice cream with a seasonal twist, ideal if you have rhubarb growing in the garden - I was lucky enough to use homegrown, but shop-bought works just as well.

To sever 6-8 you will need...

For the ice cream

450g trimmed rhubarb

425 ml whipping cream

225g sugar

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

For the crumble

75g plain white flour

50g butter

50g light brown muscovado sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

You will need to...

-Preheat the oven to 190C.

-To make the crumble, combine all crumble ingredients in a bowl with your hands until the  flour and butter combine to form small balls of dough. Sprinkle evenly over a baking tray and leave to one side.

-Cut the rhubarb into 1cm pieces and place in a separate large baking tray, sprinkle the sugar and lemon juice over the rhubarb and place on the lower shelf in the oven, put the tray with the crumble on the shelf above.

-Bake the crumble for 10 mins, then remove and put aside to cool, the rhubarb will need 15-20 mins to cook until tender. Leave the rhubarb to cool before pouring into a food processor, blitz until you have a smooth puree, then pour it into a measuring jug, cover and transfer to the fridge to chill.

-Now break the crumble into small pea sized pieces (if they are too big, the pieces are unwieldy to eat in the ice cream, if they are too small they disappear). 

-Using an electric whisk whip the cream until soft peaks, then stir in the rhubarb puree, pour into a 2 litre Tupperware and place in the freezer for 3-4 hours.

-After this time remove the ice cream from the freezer, whisk again and then stir in the crumble pieces before it is totally frozen, return to the freezer until ready to serve.

Serve with ginger biscuits and enjoy!

Z x

When In Rome...

Last weekend I was lucky enough to escape the miserable weather in Leeds, and swap it for some Italian sunshine in Rome. Although the purpose of my trip was to see some art exhibitions, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to explore one of Rome's most famous food markets - Campo dei Fiori, which, as well as being one of the most busy and bustling markets in Rome, it is also one of the oldest, dating back to 1869. I spent a leisurely couple of hours browsing the many stalls which offered a huge selection of seasonal local vegetables, pastas and oils - all absolutely elements essential in simple, fresh Italian cooking. 

 For lunch we headed out of the tourist-laden main square and into the Jewish quarter, where, led by our Italian friend, we ate at an authentic, understated restaurant. To start we shared a selection of artichoke hearts (which we were told had been cooked under a brick), deep-fried courgette flowers and a platter of roasted aubergines - as we has seen in the market, fresh seasonal veg was the star of the show! We followed the vegetables with simple yet delicious pasta dishes - somehow the Italians manage to master the art of making simple ingredients such as pasta and pesto utterly delicious! 

I came back from the weekend a couple of pounds heavier and with a new-found enthusiasm for Italian food - it is safe to say that I will definitely be back before long!

Z & C x