DAVID'S LONDON

 

Dear David,

Thank you for sharing your

London with me.

Delicious pastries.

St.John's Wood and Marlybone high streets.

Edgeware Road during Ramadan.

Primrose Hill.

Paul McCartney's House.

High tea at the Wallace.

Fromagerie cheeses.

Sitting in the garden.

The line outside Lord's for the Ashes game.

 

SMOKED SALMON

 

David promised smoked salmon for every meal.  We got close.  To make the perfect breakfast sandwich, start with smoked salmon and bagels from Panza's.  The bagels are in baskets along the side of the shop.  Slice bagels in half and toast.  Spread with cream cheese, layer lots of smoked salmon on top, grind on a little pepper, squeeze a bit of lemon juice on there, and finish with slices of heirloom tomato.  Ideally eat with someone you love or on the way out the door to spend a morning with nephews Eli and Maxi.



 



 

 SENKO AND SHRIMP

 

Vis has cool breezes, blue water,

winding mountain roads, and

food I will never forget.

Pasta with tiny red shrimp,

goat pecca,

dentex sliced raw and grilled

with grilled bread brushed with olive oil.

 Photos by Al and Adrian. 

 

VIS SHRIMP PASTA

 

It might not be possible to recreate this pasta off the island of vis, but if you are ever in possession of tiny fresh red shrimp from the adriatic sea and some croatian olive oil which will taste of olives, this is what to do.  I wish I could eat buckets of this every day.  The guy who caught and cleaned the shrimp shared this recipe.

 

Sautee onions in pan until golden brown.  Nico also threw in a few shallots becuase he's French and really wanted to use butter.  Resist the urge and use olive oil.  Then add cloves from 1/2 head of a sweet mild garlic, shrimp, and 10 dL of white wine.  Cook down until you get a fragrant sauce.  Add cooked Barilla sphagetthi (salt the water!).  Take off the heat and stir in 1/2 bunch of chopped parsley.  Season generously with sea salt.  Do not add lemon (I asked).  When serving drizzle with a table olive oil, ideally croatian, rich, thick, soft in the mouth, and fragrant with olives.  Wipe plate clean with bread and eat the bread. 

 

In a perfect world, eat a huge plate of shrimp pasta outdoors on a breezy, sunny afternoon while looking at mountains.

 



 



Hello Robert Atkin.

I had fun visiting

Vynar Street, Whitechapel Galleries,

and Hume and Caufield and Lowry 

at the Tate with you.

I learned a lot about British art.

DABBOUS in FITZROVIA

Amazing.

Beautiful, thoughtful, surprising,

simple, elegant, pure,

honest, colorful, modest, 

intelligent, and

devastatingly delicious.