Sunday 18 October 2009

Borough Market

I do have friends who aren't foodies - I truly do - but there is something so satisfying about sharing food experiences with people who are on the same wavelength.

We had a friend from Australia staying recently and I knew that she was someone to whom I could say "Let's go to Borough Market; we won't have dinner tonight, we'll just put together a platter".

We wandered around, taking full advantage of the free tasters on offer, and bought as much as we could carry. Then we came home, opened a bottle of wine and ate it all. Brilliant!

So what did we buy? Well. A loaf of lovely French walnut and honey bread. I sliced it thinly and toasted it. With some foie gras pate that we had in the pantry waiting for a worthy occasion, it was just heavenly. We had fresh purple figs, some lovely British raspberries, an absolutely gorgeous vegetarian mushroom pate, a slice of rabbit and mushroom terrine and several French cheeses. The piece de resistance was some exquisite Spanish ham. Jamón ibérico de bellota is amazing stuff - sure, a good Italian proscuitto is delicious, but it cannot hold a candle to the rich, sweet nutty ibérico. It's bloody expensive but worth it for special occasions!

We piled all these treats on a platter along with some spiced, pickled tangerines and more of the toasted walnut bread. A glorious meal with a foody friend.




16 comments:

Rachel said...

That does sound brilliant, indeed. Pickled tangerines also sound divine. What a lovely indoor picnic.

Heather said...

what a fun market trip! so many yummy goodies :)

kat said...

We fell in love with Borough Market when we were in London this spring. I wished we had been staying in an apartment instead of hotel so we could have bought more & cooked with it.

hungryandfrozen said...

I love having platter-y type dinners where you just pick at what you want to eat for hours :) The market sounds amazing!!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Rachel - the pickled tangerines are gorgeous. It's a Delia Smith recipe.

Heather - and that was only the stuff we ate that day! My freezer is also well-stocked.

Kat - Borough is amazing, but actually shopping there would add considerably to your holiday expenses.

Laura - I'm a huge fan of nibbling!

HH said...

What a wonderful meal! I regret, bitterly, not getting there when I have been in London, but next time it will be on the top of my list, and I will actually do it! (and hopefully be armed with some money so I can go nuts!)

Bettina Douglas said...

What a nice way to spend a day.

I love good produce markets and I think there is much to be said for apartments rather than hotels if you have time to shop & cook.

NKP said...

This is my favourite way to eat. It all looks so wonderful!

Alicia Foodycat said...

HH - even just the tasters make it a fun day!

Mother - yes, one of the things I loved about our trip to Florence was buying breakfast at that pasticceria.

Natashya - isn't the ham the most amazing colour?

Leslie said...

I dont really have any foodie friends..and it sucks!!!

Heather S-G said...

Beautiful! My kinda day, indeed :) Jamon, Jamon (don't know how to get those little accent marks)...have always wanted to try the real stuff...in Spain, preferably, LOL ;)

Dee said...

Pre-kid we lived on such platters; time to reintroduce old habits, methinks. I love ibérico but it's soo expensive :(

Dharm said...

If I ever come visit, we need to do this too!! I remember the lovely stuff in Melbournes Victoria Market...

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree with you more: foodie friends are brilliant! I love Borough Market, it is not REALLY a market in my books, more like Selfridges food Hall pretending to be a Market, but it is a lovely place to pick up goodies. I like this style of eating a lot: cheese ham, good bread, a pate and loads of wine. That place selling the Iberico Ham should be closed down. I mean it is expensive everywhere in the world but his prices are preposterous! Still better than prosciutto though...

Alicia Foodycat said...

Leslie - you must get yourself some!

Heather - oh yes, it is one of the highlights of tapas bar hopping in Spain!

Dharm - Victoria Market is great! There's nothing as good in Sydney.

Jo - you are right, it isn't a bargain-vegetables weekly shop market at all. I love the guys at Brindisa though, expensive but such good quality!

Deb in Hawaii said...

Looks like the perfect dinner to me--you got so many of my favorite things.

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