Tag Archives: Cobham

At Home Catering

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40 High Street, Cobham, Surrey KT11 3EB

Deli and outside caterer selling top-notch, freshly made food.at_home_jeremy_6x9

The upside: Doorstep sandwiches, ready-made family meals and delightful party food.

The downside:  Food that is hard to resist – you have been warned!

The flipside: This business will bend over backwards to meet your individual needs.

Tips: Take your own dish to fill with lovely home-cooked food; no-one need know you didn’t make it yourself.

This impressive business was started Marilyn Newman over thirty years ago. An experienced caterer, who spent time in the USA saw a gap in the UK market for expertly prepared take-home food; three decades later this business is thriving. Today Marilyn has stepped back from the business but has left a tight management team in place.

at_home_cheese_6x9The team have created a winning model, surviving several recessions. At Home’s base is in Cobham but it has a London office and a list of iconic catered events under its belt (the Brit Awards for starters) and lots of high-profile clients. Every event, from a dinner party for 10 to a marquee wedding for three hundred, is catered for with equal attention to detail.

Chef/director Jeremy took me into the kitchen where a gluten-free canapé buffet for 30 was being created. All the items on the menu were prepared in the kitchen and finished at the venue. Delicious savoury toppings were sealed in piping bags and chilled; baby meringues were being packed, tiny bread rolls were being filled.

at_home_collage

At Home offer modern-style catering alongside old-fashioned service and hospitality.  The three directors run all aspects of their business, updating their menus to keep on trend and stop their clients getting bored. They produce comprehensive catalogues of their food twice a year so you can easily build your perfect menu.

They make some extra portions of their catered dishes to sell in the deli, so there’s always something different on offer. I sampled a rich,at_home_salads_6x9 satisfying spicy seafood stew and a wild rice salad with green beans. Both were tasty, hearty, healthy and worth going back for. Jane’s chicken breast in a creamy wild-mushroom sauce was rich and tender. Jane and I shared a ham and coleslaw sandwich. We agreed it was a classic: overfilled with an American portion of ham and homemade slaw with proper mayonnaise. At lunch times large queues form for these legendary sandwiches. The date and apple loaf was moist, fruit packed and perfect with afternoon tea. Other cakes include a classic Victoria sponge and lemon drizzle.

at_home_breadThey carefully source their products from local and London producers: you’ll find Norbury Blue cheese in the deli counter and artisan sour doughs from the Bread Factory in London. Pastries come from La Patisserie in Stoke D’Aberbon, who stone-grind their flour every day. To complement the fresh food they have a selection of artisan and gourmet oils, vinegars, mustards and other relishes. They also stock handmade chocolates and some select crockery.

Next time you cater for a big crowd pop into At Home and see what they could do for you. You won’t be disappointed.

www.athomecatering.com
01932 862 026

Earl Grey and lavender panna cotta

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I have been thinking about panna cotta with Earl Grey tea ever since I went to the Hothouse Café at the Medicine Garden a couple of weeks ago, they had this on the menu

Earl Grey panna cotta recipe

but it wasn’t quite ready to serve. Curiosity got the better of me, so here is my version – it includes lavender and is a bit of a grown-up dessert with a sophisticated twist.

Place 8 ramekins on a tray that will fit in your fridge. Pour 400ml semi-skimmed milk and 600ml double cream into a saucepan.Add dessertspoon spoon of culinary lavender
and bring gently to the boil with 3 dessertspoons of honey – use lavender honey if you have it. Meanwhile, place 5 leaves of gelatine in a bowl of water and soak for 5 minutes.

Once the cream mixture has come up to the boil, remove the pan from the heat. Remove the gelatine from the water, whisk into the hot cream and add 3 Earl Grey tea bags. Allow the tea bags to infuse for about 10 minutes, then remove them from the cream mixture, squeezing gently to extract the flavour.

Pour the cream mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large pouring jug. Pour the mixture evenly between the ramekins, allow to cool slightly, then cover the tray in cling wrap. Chill overnight or until set in the fridge.

You can serve these in the ramekins but I prefer to turn them out and garnish with some fresh berries, a drizzle of honey and a sprig of fresh lavender.

Hothouse Café

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Hothouse Café  @ The Medicine Garden,Downside Road,Cobham,
Surrey,
KT11 3LU


Inspired cooking in the grounds of a restored Victorian walled garden. How much closer to perfect can you get?Cupcakes at the Hothouse cafe

Go there for: New chef Tracey Honeysett’s thoughtful menu featuring local products plus their famous brownies, proper sandwiches and delightful desserts.

Avoid: Visiting without pre-booking on hot sunny days, particularly at the weekend.

Is it worth the calories?: Sadly I only sampled two courses of what’s on offer but both get a yes.

Tips: Tracey Honeysett used to run Drakes on the Pond, where Steve Drake got his first Michelin star.

With a food background like this it’s a menu to watch. The hothouse café started out in the old potting shed of the Medicine Garden while the larger site of the original greenhouse was rebuilt. The new build echoes the original and provides much needed additional seating. Like many Medicine Garden groupies, I was waiting with anticipation to see what the re-opening and launch of this bigger space would bring. I wasn’t disappointed. To run alongside the existing food on offer, a modern European menu has been launched by new chef Tracey Honeysett. Inside the new hothouseThe hothouse café itself is a collaboration of three partners who, without any previous catering experience, jumped at the chance to open a café here. Luckily they had plenty of time to gain experience in the small potting shed before moving to their new bigger home. I went on a lovely rain-free day a couple of weeks ago. The café was open for day twelve of its new life. The hothouse was smaller that I had imagined but it’s been stylishly accessorised and I was keen to see the menu. It doesn’t disappoint and with six starters, five mains and four desserts, it’s inspired, on trend and not over described. Becky Mcguire who co-owns this eatery twin sister Tory and brother in law Paul Power was on hand to take me through the menu. Everything is freshly prepared in the kitchen apart from bread and some of the cakes. They buy as many ingredients as possible from local suppliers: bread comes from The Bakery at East Horsley; cakes from Ranmore; free-range chicken and eggs are also locally sourced.

A couple of the items on the menu were not ready but I still had a hard decision and it was a close call for the chargrilled asparagus with lemon butter and hazelnuts. I opted for a starter of chicken liver parfait, red onion marmalade and toasted granary bread, which was artfully presented with a sprinkle of sea salt. It was perfect for lunch with a melt in the mouth texture and a pink hue achieved by leaving the liver a little pink in the middle. I had room for a dessert. and I love a panna cotta (ask Jane) but the Earl Grey panna cotta with shortbread biscuit had only just been made was not quite set (next time I hope). My second choice was lemon and raspberry posset, a tart but sweet lemon cream with three perfect plump raspberries poised on top. The combination was a hit and I only wish I had been able to sample a few more dishes.  Instead I gazed at the choices of other guests: it was evident that all the dishes coming from the kitchen were of equal standard. I’m not a shy person – I asked a few other people what they thought of the food and it was all thumbs up.

My apprehension of what might happen here has lifted and been replaced with a warm fuzzy glow. I can’t help but think that there is a little bit of Petersham Nurseries magic going on in our neck of the woods and it’s very welcome.

01932 862562

www.themedicinegarden.com