Feedback with Sarah Raven

Feedback with Sarah Raven

Sarah is a passionate gardener with a deep love for plants and homegrown produce.

Her garden is a testament to her skill and dedication, offering beauty and nourishment in equal measure. With a background in medicine, she transitioned to horticulture, believing in the restorative power of nature. At Perch Hill, she cultivates a rich and colorful landscape, making the most of each season’s offerings, from vibrant flowers to fresh, tasty veg.  Whether she’s writing a bestselling book or helping transform a neglected garden, Sarah shows that gardening is about more than just digging - it’s about creating beauty, finding joy, and occasionally outsmarting slugs

+++++++++++++++++++

Photo by Jonathan Buckley

Do you cook, and if so, what do you like to cook?
Yes, I do, my day starts at 5.30 in the morning, I take a walk around my garden and greenhouse and pick lettuce, salad leaves, tomatoes whatever is ripe and ready, and that is the basis of what I am going to cook. It’s usually something very simple and maybe with some protein to go with it.

What food reminds you of your childhood?
We used to go to Italy a lot when I was a child and there were amazing markets where you could buy whole artichokes which we would have 2 or 3 times a week. There were huge baskets of mixed salad leaves (called Mesclun) including often wild collected greens such as rocket, bittercress and dandelion leaves as well as cultivated lettuce varieties and chicories. We would eat whole globe artichokes a couple of times a week served with a salsa verde style sauce, with herbs, olives and capers but with roughly chopped hard-boiled egg added in at the end in the fruitiest olive oil and red wine vinegar.

I also learned how to make risotto when I was about 6 or 7

Do you have a current favourite restaurant or type of restaurant?
I don’t like tasting menus or anything with foam and I don’t like noisy restaurants; I like to go to places where you can sit and talk. My favourite is Quo Vadis in London. I recently met some university friends there and we had lovely food cooked by Jeremy Lee and were able to have a proper catch up without feeling rushed or having to shout. I also love cafes too, there’s two I like in south London, one called Italo in Bonington Square and Good as Gold in Mantle Road. I’m not keen on the word ‘brunch’, but I like to be able to have a really ripe avocado, lovely bacon and sourdough – perfect.

What food or ingredients could you not do without?
Lettuce, salad leaves, anchovies, tinned tomatoes, Parmesan and great olive oil.  When we drive to Italy or Greece (which we do for writing breaks in the autumn when my teaching schedule ends), I bring back 30 litres of olive oil and that lasts me for about a year!

How would you introduce someone who wanted to use edible flowers in cooking?
I would just walk around their garden with them and show them all the flowers they can eat. Once you have your flowers, you dip them in a tempura batter, which must have cornflour as this adds the crunch. You just dip the flowers into the batter then hot oil for a few minutes then eat them hot sprinkled with sea salt and black pepper

Is there a memorable meal you remember eating?
My husband and I recently went to Assisi were recommended to an old-fashioned trattoria. We were blown away with it,  truffle risotto, beef tagliata with rosemary roast potatoes and crème Brulée with chopped poached pear in the base, simple, tasty and perfect.

Is there something in particular you always keep in the fridge?
I love Feta cheese. We have a house in Greece and when I go there, I buy a huge catering size block. I bring it home, cut it up and put it in jars with olive oil and oregano, so I always have it handy.

What would be your last supper if anything was available to you and where would you eat it?
It would be just dug from the garden new potatoes, mini just picked carrots and a tiny fillet steak with some fresh Hollandaise with a light red wine to drink. I normally only eat one course, but on this occasion, I’d have some fresh berries with basil ice cream and a glass of Sauterne. I would have to eat it outside, so I’d probably pack it all up in a basket with the Hollandaise in a thermos and go into the garden!

Enter our competition to win a kitchen garden kit from Sarah Raven