Visiting the celebrity chefs

Well, we didn't actually see any of them, but when we recently spent a week down in Cornwall I made it my mission to go Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant in Padstow and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Store and Canteen in Axminster.



We were staying near Padstow so it was pretty easy to go to the seafood restaurant though I guess you might need to book fairly far ahead. We chose the tasting menu which consisted of five courses of seafood, from lobster salad to escalopes of halibut. It was good but I could have done with a bit more variation and excitement. However I did like the smart and relaxed atmosphere at the restaurant. Rick Stein also owns four or five other cafes and restaurants in Padstow, which is only a small fishing town. But having walked five miles to get to his fish and chip shop for lunch one day we weren't best pleased to arrive at 2:31 and discover it closed at 2:30.



The River Cottage Canteen isn't on the farm you see on the TV shows, it's in the centre of Axminster, but that makes it a good stopping off place for lunch on the way down to Cornwall. There's a shop with local food for sale and a cafe/canteen at the back with a small-ish menu - it was pretty good food though a bit pricey for lunch. We liked it so much that we stopped there on the way down and the way back.

Smoked salmon alla carbonara

This one's my own variation on a traditional spaghetti carbonara recipe. But with smoked salmon rather than pancetta.

Makes 2 servings

1 tbsp olive oil
12.5 g butter
75g smoked salmon (however much you like really)
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 eggs
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp dry white wine
20g grated Parmesan
20g grated Pecorino
salt and pepper
200g dried spaghetti

Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of salted water.

Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in a pan. Add the garlic and smoked salmon and fry for a couple of minutes (you're supposed to discard the garlic, but I like it so keep it in).

In a bowl, beat the eggs with the parsley, wine and half of each of the cheeses. Season with salt and pepper.

When the spaghetti is cooked, drain it and return it to the pan. Immediately add the egg mixture and the smoked salmon and garlic. Take the pan off the heat and toss well, the eggs should cook in the residual heat. Add the remaining cheeses, toss lightly and serve.

Food at cookin'/relaxin'

This is my food blog. It's a bit like an MP3 blog, but sampling favourite recipes from books, rather than tunes. Please buy the book if they look good. If you're the author and would rather I didn't include the recipe then let me know and I'll take them down.

It's mainly a place for me to collect my favourite recipes, including my own (not that there are that many) as well as any modifications I make. But maybe you will enjoy them as well. Oh, I'm part-vegetarian (I eat fish) so I don't eat meat and there won't be any meat-based recipes here. Sorry.

This blog is brought to you by some of my favourite cookery books:

Nigella Lawson's Feast
Nigel Slater's Real Food
Gordon Ramsey's Secrets
The Green's Cookbook
Dan Lepard's The Handmade Loaf book

And the ingredients come mainly from Waitrose and Abel & Cole.