Author: Sarah Kemp

Spelt Pastry Pecan Pie

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Jack had the ‘big dogs’, as we like to call them, over from America for a meeting a couple of weeks ago. The meeting took place on a Monday so I decided to put my Sunday afternoon and a bag of Sharpham Park spelt flour to good use and bake a pecan pie. Pecan pie, however fun to make and delicious to eat, is very time consuming. This pie took the best part of the afternoon to bake but it was definitely worth the effort. This recipe is by Annie Bell and is part of Sharpham Park’s Great British Spelt Recipes, a recipe collection created by Sharpham Park (Mulberry founder Roger Saul’s spelt food range) in partnership with Bowel Cancer UK. I wasn’t there to see the big dogs tuck in but I’m told they absolutely loved it, particularly the spelt pastry and the lemony filling. Spelt Pastry Pecan Pie Ingredients Pastry 230 g spelt flour 70 g golden caster sugar 130 g unsalted butter, chilled and diced 1 medium egg, separated milk Filling 200 …

Aperitivo at L’Anima

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L’Anima has been on my radar for a few years, ever since Francesco Mazzei taught me how to make pizza at a bloggers event and it is one of those restaurants that despite being desperate to visit I have just never made it. It’s no secret that Italian flavours are my favourite – fresh tomatoes, pillowy dough, creamy cheese, fresh cured meats. The list goes on. Aperitivo is one of the latest crazes to sweep the London restaurant scene and L’Anima is now offering a range of aperitivi cocktails, which are served with one specially prepared small plate. We visited the bar a couple of weeks ago to try a few cocktails and dishes. L’Anima is part restaurant, part bar and the large space is split in two by a large glass window – the long bar on the right and the restaurant on the left. I saw similarities to one of my favourite cafes, Princi in Soho, and shortly after I noticed it became apparent that Francesco and his team were consultants on the …

Headmasters blow dry, Mayfair

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Awards ceremonies are always fun. If nothing else they give you a chance to dress up and let your hair down and the Drapers Accessories and Footwear Awards last night at the Grosvenor House Hotel was no exception. But as much as I love getting glammed up, I’m not very good at planning. I knew about the awards months in advance and still managed to leave outfit planning to the last minute, running around like a headless chicken the night before trying on every dress I own. The one thing I did plan though, granted still only a couple of days before, was a blow dry at Headmasters in Mayfair. Having never been to the hairdressers for a blow dry, I was looking forward to the post work, pre event treat. I arrived fresh from work and met Stephanie, manager of the salon, who would be making me look a whole lot more glamorous for the evening. After a quick consultation I was off to the sink for a shampoo, condition and one of the …

Arapina – best chocolate cake in the world?

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I’m going to say something that I’m sure a lot of you will disagree with. Are you ready?…….. I don’t like chocolate cake. There, I’ve said it. There are of course a couple of exceptions. I love flourless chocolate cake and gooey chocolate brownies. OK, I should maybe just say that I don’t like chocolate sponge cake. Or at least I didn’t think I did, until an Arapina chocolate sponge cake waltzed into my life. Last week I took delivery of a 600g round chocolate cake, a very dark and plain looking cake, which sat in an aluminium foil cake tin. I opened up the case, grabbed a knife and began slicing. It was hard to slice into clean pieces as the top was gooey and the middle crumbley but I managed to scoop out a couple of slices and dish them out to colleagues. I then took a spoon and began to tuck in myself. The first mouthful was a revelation – the lightest and tastiest chocolate cake I had ever come across. I …

Lazybones, Farringdon

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2012 was the year of meat. It rode into London in all its glory and captured the hearts of, well, most of the capital. Leading the way were MeatLiquor, Pitt Cue Co and Pizza East owned Chicken Shop. Us carnivorous Londoners were so caught up in the meaty movement and it was inevitable that others would follow. Independent burger and chicken restaurants popped up all over and captured the imagination of home cooks, supper club owners and restaurant dreamers. One of the newest meaty restaurants to take the up and coming foodie area of Farringdon is Lazybones. Situated just off Cowcross Street, Lazybones is a restaurant / bar, or should I say bar / restaurant? After visiting last week I’m not sure which I would put first. But I liked that about it. We grabbed a table in the middle of the room and perused the menus before ordering at the bar. We were provided with paper cups and straws, which we were told we could fill as many times as we wanted from the …