I had seen this artistic looking tempting quiche above in last year’s July issue of ‘Food and Travel’ and it had appealed to me so much that I had kept the magazine for possible future reference. As it is an asparagus quiche, made with the typical spring vegetable of asparagus, I recalled it and wanted to mention it in this post as a spring taste. (Photo: theguardian.com)
I have also come across the same quiche and its creator, the Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett, in some articles on the web. Angela Hartnett is a renowned British chef who has worked in some of the UK’s best restaurants especially the restaurants of Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing, the British celebrity chefs who were like her mentors. Hartnett won a Michelin star at Gordon Ramsay’s Restaurant which was at The Connaught, where she also met her husband, who was her junior chef. (angelahartnett.co.uk, thetimes.co.uk) (‘The Connaught‘, that I had mentioned in my former post titled “Classic Hotels – Part 1” is a well-known hotel in the chic Mayfair district of London.)
Angela Hartnett as the head chef at Gordon Ramsay’s Restaurant at The Connaught, 2003 / Hartnett with Gordon Ramsay, 2010 (Photos: bbc.com / thetimes.co.uk)
Angela Hartnett is currently the chef and the owner of ‘Murano‘, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Mayfair (since 2008), and three ‘Cafe Murano‘s – the Italian restaurants in London. She is also the chef-owner of ‘Cucina Angelina‘, that serves Italian influenced mountain food in Courchevel.
Cucina Angelina in Courchevel, the French Alps ski resort (Photo: 24courchevel.com)
I have read that Chef Angela’s mother’s side is Italian, which pleased me for Italian kitchen is my favorite. Her mother and grandparents had immigrated to Wales from Bardi in Italy, which I think is another indicator to expect good food from the chef, for Bardi is in the province of Parma – famous for its gastronomy and rich-flavored parmesan cheese. (thestaffcanteen.com)
Angela Hartnett tells in an article I have read that she used to make bread and pasta with her Italian grandmother who had advised her to keep it simple and let the ingredients sing. She further tells that at Cafe Murano, they try to keep it very seasonal and as authentically Italian as possible. How nice … (sandanielemagazine.com)
Angela Hartnett’s ‘Murano London‘ in Mayfair (Photo: timeout.com)
Hartnett’s ‘Cafe Murano‘, the Italian restaurants at the districts of St James’s, Covent Garden and Bermondsey in London. Above is the entrance to St. James’s restaurant and the ‘tortelli‘ served there (Photos: cafemurano.co.uk)
Hartnett lives in a Georgian-terraced house in east London with her husband Neil Borthwick and their dog. Neil Borthwick is also a chef, currently at the ‘French House’ in Soho. Hartnett and Borthwick had worked in many kitchens and catered private dinner parties together. The couple’s house is said to be the principal setting of Hartnett’s cookbook of simple tasty recipes, “The Weekend Cook” – where she tells the story of their neighbourhood through “shared recipes for Burns Night bashes, easy lunches, hangover breakfasts, late-night suppers, birthdays and impromptu street parties“. (theguardian.com)
(I have found out that Burns Night is the evening of 25 January, the birthday of famous Scottish poet Robert Burns celebrated by a party involving Scottish food and reading Burns’ poetry). (theguardian.com, April 2022)
‘Burns Night’ celebrations with ‘haggis‘ and ‘whisky‘ as a tradition. (Photos: express.co.uk, 2013 / thescottishsun.co.uk, 2019)
Chef Angela Hartnett and Chef Neil Borthwick, who had married in 2018, the same day as Harry and Megan, photographed at home in Spitalfields, London (Photos: telegraph.co.uk, 2015 / theguardian.com, 2013).
Angela Hartnett tells in an article I have read that the original idea for ‘The Weekend Cook‘ cookbook came from her friend Pat Llewellyn, the late TV producer who had moved to their neighborhood then. Llewellyn had wanted to meet the neighbours and Hartnett had offered to throw a dinner party. Hartnett further tells:
“Pat always said she learned from that evening that entertaining can be very easy: you know, a pudding that’s already done, a cold starter, and a load of sharing plates in the middle of the table…”
Llewellyn had insisted Hartnett should write that secret down. (theguardian.com, April 2022
Chef Angela Hartnett’s cookbook ‘The Weekend Cook‘, which received “The Times Best Food Books of 2022‘” and “Daily Mail Cookery Books of The Year 2022” awards. (Photos: bloomsbury.com / amazon.com)
I came across the traces of these get togethers parties with neighbours in an interview with Angela Hartnett by The Telegraph as follows:
“On Saturday evenings, Neil and I often have friends over. It might be our neighbours, Karen and Stephen, or Pat and Ben. I’ll light a few candles and we’ll eat outside in the garden if it’s warm enough. I’ll make something that doesn’t take too much effort, like spaghetti vongole.” (Angela Hartnett, telegraph.co.uk, June 2015)
(I wanted to share this quote as an indication of Hartnett’s sincere, no-fuss mood and to take note a simple nice suggestion for a Saturday evening. Spaghetti Vongole is with a glass of Friuli or Veneto wine thrown while the clams are cooking. Hartnett also suggests salami, Comté or Stichelton cheese and nibbles alongside the spaghetti).
‘Spagetti Vongole‘ and ‘Roast Chicken‘ by Angela Hartnett (Photos: deliciousmagazine.co.uk / usatoday.com)
In the same interview, she tells further:
“”If I’m home on a Sunday, and not working, I like to have family over for supper. … . I like cooking to be social, rather than pompous or elaborate, so it’ll be something simple like roast chicken with lemon, garlic and rosemary. …”
(She suggests to add a glass of water to the bottom of the roasting tin and chop up any veg one can find underneath the chicken – noted as a nice practical Sunday dish idea)
Angela Hartnett in her kitchen in east London, April 2022 (Photo: theguardian.com) (Hartnett’s house is descried as ‘beautiful and chaotic‘, as : “Hartnett has some coffee on the stove and a pile of croissants on the tiny kitchen table surrounded by mismatched chairs … the one worktop is piled with a jumble of pots and dishes and books and letters…” (theguardian.com, April 2022) – to me, a cosy scene visualizing the productivity of a creative chef and the warmth of the cute stove above with pots on it.
Chef Angela Hartnett / Hartnett often cooks for friends and family at her home in east London (Photos: sandanielemagazine.com / ‘The Weekend Cook’ book via Food & Travel, July 2022 issue – shot by my mobile-phone from the magazine)
Coming to the artistic looking quiche, the starting point of this post, the following expressions I read in ‘Food and Travel’ (July 2022 issue) caught me. It says in the magazine:
“Simple recipes with great flavours …, leaving time to relax and chat with guests. …, all easy to adopt and make your own.“
In the same magazine, there was also a tempting photo of an apple tart, which appealed to me, mentioned together with the asparagus quiche.
Hartnett’s egg-to-cream ratio is said to ensure a perfect quiche to use as a blueprint for adding or altering flavors. Broccoli could be used if asparagus isn’t in season. / The apple tart is similar to a galette with a short pastry. It is said to be equally lovely with peaches. (Both of the recipes are from Hartnett’s cookbook ‘The Weekend Cook’.) (Photos: houseandgarden.co.uk)
Hartnett tells in the book that the inspiration for the fantastic apple tart came from the celebrated American chef Alice Waters who owns ‘Chez Panisse‘ in Berkeley. (houseandgarden.co.uk). This drew my interest for I had lived in Berkeley once for more than four months. I searched a bit and another story came out – this story of the tart this time, after the quiche.
‘Chez Panisse’ in Berkeley, California (Photo: eater.com)
I read that after studying in France and returning to the United States in late 1965, “all Alice Waters wanted was bread, jam and lettuce that tasted real, with a cup of good coffee or a glass of wine on the side.”
She had said: “The United States was a land of frozen food in the ’50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, so eating a fresh baguette and apricot jam was a revelation to me,”. She opened Chez Panisse (in 1971), a little restaurant inspired by French cooking and famous for launching the modern farm-to-table movement. (edition.cnn.com/travel)
American chef Alice Waters heads into her restaurant Chez Panisse, June 2011 (Photo by Melissa Barnes via wsj.com) / Alice Waters in her backyard in Berkeley, September 2021 (Photo by Santiago Mejia via sfchronicle.com)
I could never guess that the story of an apple tart would lead me to the pioneer of French baguettes, which I adore, and farm-to-table movement in California especially in Berkeley where I lived once. I hadn’t heard of neither Alice Waters nor Chez Panisse then, if I did, I would have dropped by: a next-time target.
Finally, I want to share two links for the recipes of Chef Angela Hartnett’s ‘Asparagus Quiche’ and ‘Apple Tart‘.
Click the links below (Recipes from the book ‘The Weekend Cook‘ via houseandgarden.co.uk):
Enjoy your quiche and tart, two marvelous tastes with pleasant stories …
