As the old saying goes, the map is not the territory. Food blogger, Helen Graves, has a similar philosophy behind cooking: the recipe is not the meal. Helen sees cooking as a chance to experiment and improve upon past culinary successes. Recipes serve as good suggestions, helpful guides but hardly gospel. Of course, to have this self-effacing foodie tell it, such experimentations could end up disasters. Indeed, nervous jitters seem to propel her as she cooks (or at least while cooking as a Londonist reviewer with a big camera looms and documents). Still, for all her modesty and wavering, she’s as intuitive and competent a home cook as we’ve ever met. It helps that she’s got an equally capable man, Chris Roberts - an instinctive cook in his own right - beside her in the kitchen.
Having followed her mouth-wateringly delicious Food Stories blog for some time, we made no hesitation accepting her offer to swing by their South London flat and sample her signature dish, rabbit lasagne (see her site as well as the Channel 4 website for the recipe). What a deliciously filling meal! Working its way into the meal was an unobtrusive and well matched bottle of Mouton Cadet White Bordeaux 2007 (seven quid or so at Morrison’s and Sainbury’s), which along with some convivial conversation completed an impromptu recipe for a perfect afternoon.
Photography by Chris Osburn
