Tarte Tatin at Great Queen Street

Happy New Year! I hope you all managed to find some time for peace and laughter over the holidays. 

The silence around here is a result of being back in old Blighty for the Christmas week. Any spare moments where the internet was functioning were spent working, and not blogging. But now we are back in wet and cold Brooklyn, and normal life will resume. So now, before the crazy January period begins, I wanted to share a totally non-resolution-focused, totally undetoxing treat we ate the one day we were in London last week.

We nipped into London to celebrate Grandma's 80th birthday with lunch at Great Queen Street. I've written about this Covent Garden gem before, so won't repeat the details, but last time we didn't discover this tarte tatin. But don't worry, almost two years later we now have. And I encourage you to go and eat it sooner than 2019.

The tarte is made for two, and before it's bought to the table, a serving spoon and serrated steak knife are set down between you and your pudding partner. This is a promising sign. What follows is tarte tatin perfection. Layers of buttery puff pastry topped with soft apples, which still just hold their shape, and a deep, dark, grown-up caramel. A melting scoop of calvados ice cream perches on top, to add a boozy, chilling contrast to the sweet, warm, winter-perfect tarte underneath. Forget those New Year's resolutions, head to Great Queen Street, and order tarte tatin. You're worth it.

Great Queen Street, 32 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5AA

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Creamy Cocoa and Sweet Potato Soup

When you work for a soup start-up, your life becomes more focused on soup than you could possibly imagine. Trying to think of something to make for dinner other than soup is like trying to win the final of a Spelling Bee. I dream about soup, write about soup, eat soup, and that Mighty Boosh song is stuck on a loop in my head. 

I'm not complaining — I'm just trying to convey the all-encompassing nature of soup start-up life. The fact that I get to spend two hours every Monday morning filming a Facebook Live of my boss making soup is a total dream. Writing about mindful eating and living every week is hugely refreshing after so many slideshows about tailgating. And it means I can eat delicious soups for lunch every day of the week.

In my second week on the job, we celebrated Halloween with this sweet dessert-style soup. Steamed sweet potatoes are mixed with cocoa, coconut milk, a dash of chili, and served over black rice. Yep, don't worry, I was skeptical too. But it's delicious. It's like rice pudding but with chocolate and natural sweetness and chewier, less jelly-like rice. I've been craving it ever since, and think it may have to make an appearance at the breakfast table on Sunday morning. It's so simple, can genuinely be made in 20 minutes (we proved that here), and will fuel your day with so much energy and goodness. Happy souping!

You can find the recipe here, but if you are a keen souper, buy Nicole's book here.

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