Plant hunting, fine design and travel inspiration
Seeking inspiration from biodiversity, architecture, and colour
Hello, and welcome to this week’s news and thoughts from The Lemon Grove and me, Bruce McMichael. In this issue, we’ll take a look at Wakehurst Place in southern England, where I spent the day with family, a picnic and 500 acres of trees, woodland, prairie and billions of seeds preserved to save the world’s biodiversity. Your recipe of the week is a delicious stand-alone dish or a side to a hot curry; a creamy, lemony dahl. This newsletter will be published weekly and will over time include much more from podcasts and videos, to classes and lemon-themed merchandise, travel and recipe tips. Thank you for reading and welcome to the journey.
Wakehurst Place
Wakehurst Place lies amidst the winding of the southern England country of West Sussex, a beautiful collection of diverse gardens, landscapes and woodlands and global habitats. It’s also home to the Millenium Seed Bank, a modern building full of scientists, plant hunters and adventurers working to preserve seeds from across the world as many face exploitation, loss of habitat and, finally, extinction.
As a sister organisation to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in west London, one of the world’s most important research and educational institutions, Wakehurst supports the work at Kew and creates a rolling seasonal palette of colour, planting and life.
We visited in mid-July after a couple of weeks of scorching weather and saw frazzled rhododendron bushes and acres of golden-hued grasses in the American Prairie area.
Running until 18 September, 2022 is Nourish, a specially commissioned series of art pieces placed around the grounds to evoke a thoughtful reaction to our immediate environment and how the planet is interconnected by, for example, the Wood Wide Web, with artists hoping people will experience wonder and moments of surprise as they happen upon the landscape-scaled art.
And what about the food, the picnic? Eating outside, on the grass without a picnic blanket overlooking the Mansion House lake, I was seeking to bring back memories and create new ones. And a shortcut to this is through food. Memories of childhood days out were relived through shop-bought quiche, cold and claggy but delicious, some grilled sausages and a couple of slices of bread, which on this day was wholewheat focaccia. New dishes included a potato salad made following a recipe included in Debra Robertson’s new book ‘Notes from a Small Kitchen Island’. Similar to a German salad with capers and cornichons, this recipe also calls for yoghurt, peas and celery.
The drink was chilled, homemade elderflower cordial, while cherries from our neighbour’s garden provided a tart ending to the lunch, with an orange sponge cake awaiting us at home.
For more details, visit www.kew.org
THE MENU … FOOD, DRINK, INGREDIENTS, PLACES
Isolated in the undulating fields of Ästad Vingård – one of Sweden’s most extensive vineyards – Restaurang ÄNG is a culinary experience using highly creative architecture, local foods and a fine dining aesthetic. The partly underground Michelin-starred restaurant with a spectacular glasshouse entrance in the middle of the lush field is designed by Norm Architects and furnished by Japanese Karimoku to create an exciting interplay between architecture, food, wine, interiors, and art that makes for a balanced and harmonious 19-course haute-cuisine experience. Head chef Filip Gemzel’s menu offers hyper-local, foraged foods which might include Chestnut tart with pickled chanterelles, portobello cream, and Swedish truffles, or Oyster emulsion with chips made from shrimp shells.
Book your table here.
WHAT’S ON … EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS
Artist and Belgian native, Kristof Santy has turned his gaze to food for his lasted exhibition, currently running at the UNIT gallery in central London. La Grande Bouffe (The Big Feast). Painted in bright, vivid tones the images include toasters, saltshakers, coffee pots and this image of a butcher’s shop. Entry is free, and the exhibition runs until August 6, 2022. Plot your path to the show here.
READ, WATCH, LISTEN … SOME RECOMMENDATIONS
The Bear is a much-lauded television series about Carmy, a youthful fine dining chef who returns to his childhood home in Chicago to run his parent’s rough-around-the-edges family sandwich shop. Starring Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Ayo Edebiri, the show is currently streaming on Hulu.
AND FINALLY …
Diana Kennedy, author of several highly influential books about Mexican food and culinary traditions, has died aged 99. The British-born writer was an enthusiastic traveller and, ultimately, a self-taught anthropologist. A regular and admired presence across the country, markets and kitchens, Kennedy was an adventurous eater recording how to make iguana tamales, or brains with jalapeños and how to gut a black iguana. Tom Jaine writes a worthy obituary in The Guardian newspaper.
Read it here.
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Creamy, Lemony Dahl with Turmeric and Chilli
A filling, creamy lemony dish needing less than an hour to prepare and brings a warming, yet fresh taste to your meal.
250g split red lentils
1-2 tbsp ghee
1 onion, thinly sliced
Ginger, thumb-sized, peeled and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced
1tsp turmeric powder
1 lemon, zest and juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Rinse lentils until the water runs clear.
Cover the lentils with water to a depth of about 2cm.
Bring to the boil, and remove foamy scum.
Reduce the heat to the lowest possible.
Simmer for 30 mins. Stir gently to avoid burning; keep an eye on this, and place under a tight-fitting lid.Â
Meanwhile, warm the ghee in a large pan and gently fry the onions, ginger, garlic and chilli until the onions begin caramelising. This will likely take around 10 mins. Sprinkle turmeric into the mix and stir through.
Spoon in spiced onion mixture and stir through.
Combine and stir with lemon juice and zest—season to taste.
Delicious when served as an accompaniment or with plain Naan bread.
Serve
As a side dish to a main.
With naan bread or chapatis.
Cooking tips
Scrape away grey scum from the top of the boiling pan just before simmering.