On New Year’s Eve, staying with Caroline Conran, I make yeasty blinis incorporating spelt flour to go with smoked salmon for the first course at dinner.
Caroline’s son-in-law sweetly takes us to The Swan at Southrop, the pub in the assembly of lovely buildings called Thyme. Slow-cooked pork shoulder sandwich with grain mustard and apple sauce is suitably sustaining.
My friend David Queensberry says that Jamie, Nigella and Delia all recommend using tinned salmon for fishcakes. Indefatigable provider that he is, the notion is given a whirl but immediately and beneficially dropped for fresh.
Reg’s daughter Amy makes heart-warming onion soup, pictured, a restorative pleasure I had sort of forgotten about.
Finishing up Christmas provisions, my sister Beth and I fittingly have ham and eggs while watching Christine Keeler’s shenanigans.
