#1
The one to start it off. Notes & photos.
The setting
22 January 2022 – London: We threw the first supper in a lovely small space on Dalston Lane. The aim was to gather good friends in an intimate environment, enjoy delicious food and each other's company, and start learning some things about hosting.
The people
Around the table were sixteen people. School friends and other familiar faces from my childhood mixed in with newer friends from university, and my newest friend - Austin - who I met flyering outside the Royal Albert Hall in October.
Sabbatum #1 was further proof to me that dinner is the best way to spend an evening. Just like a club, pub or bar, at dinner people are drinking and having fun. But only at dinner do people sit stationary, face-to-face. While we eat - our most essential and primal activity! - our shared humanity is palpable, and there is nowhere really to hide from friendly conversation.
The food
Starters
Ceviche is a tasty, refreshing and easy-to-make dish. I did it with sea bass.
A beetroot, walnut and goats cheese salad with rocket and lambs lettuce, a honey dressing and a generous drizzle of white truffle oil was a happy accompaniment.
Mains
Bavette steak was served on wooden boards sliced with a sprinkle of salt. Pinker than a Caribbean sunset, it dripped all over the place as it was carried to the table.
The veggie option was baba ghanoush stuffed in the roasted skin of the aubergine it was made from. It was colourfully topped with za’arter roasted cauliflower, sweet potato and zucchini, and sprinkled with deep red pomegranate seeds and smokey green pistachios.
The crumbled-up new potatoes roasted with olive oil and salt were a slapping-hot crowd pleaser. Served on greek yogurt, splattered with pesto of coriander and mint, and topped with cured red onions.
Sweet
Bailey’s ice cream with Kahlua caramel sauce and salted dark chocolate nibs sound good? (Kahlua is a Mexican coffee liquor.) I folded whipped egg whites into whipped double cream, sugar, egg yolk and Baileys, froze it overnight and boom: smoooooth ice cream with no churning! It really was that easy.
The Kahlua sauce came out way too sweet. A reminder to always radically reduce the amount of sugar in any recipe written by a white woman in Middle America. A rule of thumb: reduce by the same proportion that the population of the US is morbidly obese.
Digestif
The table shared a shot of half espresso, half Drambuie.
The music
As food feeds the body, music feeds the soul. Music is a vital part of a good life, and since Sabbatum is about celebrating life, the playlist for Sabbatum #1 has house, hip-hop, funk and soul where relaxation, euphoria and celebration are the feelings that tie all the songs together.
The first in the books
As a few people began to filter out into the crisp January night in humming East London, a few stayed behind to help finish cleaning up. Out the door at 1am-ish with Tom, Sam and Maria - the last ones standing - the night ended calmly.
Here’s to life on Saturdays and every day,
Oli
