The Railway Children Return star Jenny Agutter on coastal get-togethers, cooking the perfect lobster, and celebrating a very special birthday at her Cornish home
over the course of my life, I’ ve been hugely privileged a nd I’ve had a lot of a mazing meals at amazing lo cations. But my father’s 9 0th birthday party, in March 2017, was particularly memorable. We have a home in Cornwall, near to where my father lived, and we wanted to put together a meal that we knew he’d really like and get the family together.
My husband, brother and sister-in-law were there along with their three children with their grandchildren, and my father’s wife. It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining, making it all really memorable.
The big challenge was what to cook. My father loved lobster but it proved very hard to get! After a lot of ringing round, we found enough for a starter for everyone. Luckily, lobster is something my husband cooks really well. It’s sublime, his lobster – very, very special.
The trick is not to overcook it. My husband makes sure he gets the right cooking time for the weight, then cools it down really slowly so it doesn’t get tight, then takes off all the shell and lays it out and cuts it up into slices. And then he makes a rather rich and delicious cream sauce with dill and all the nice gunk from inside the lobster. He mashes this together and puts it through a strainer, which makes a wonderful pink sauce. It’s rather delicious.
We had Cornish beef – which is, of course, the best. We roasted a fillet, which was nice and easy and made a beautiful piece to cut up and serve. There were coriander potatoes to go with it, and green beans and veg. Simple, but beautiful.
But here’s the thing that really made the day special. My father absolutely loved the sea. And whenever he came to our house in Cornwall, he liked to sit somewhere where he could overlook the coastal path outside our house and see down to the beach.
Now, I love the sea, too – ther
