ingredient by Rachel Phipps

Share this post
Nibbles #1 (Everything I read online this month)
ingredientbyrachelphipps.substack.com
Nibbles

Nibbles #1 (Everything I read online this month)

Garden notes, Mexican spirits that are not tequila or mezcal, and what makes an authentic Spanish paella.

Rachel Phipps
Jun 29
7
4
Share this post
Nibbles #1 (Everything I read online this month)
ingredientbyrachelphipps.substack.com

In our monthly Substack food writers catch up on Zoom this month we discussed how some hallmarks of the Substack experience mirrored blogging in the days before social media: surprisingly most of our readers (you guys) seem to come from within the community rather than outside of it, and most of this happens through sidebars and word of mouth. Sound familiar to anyone who is part of my generation of bloggers, circa 2009?

Anyway, this led me to reflect on the growth and changes my own blog has undergone over the years, and it has prompted me to move a feature over here that has been so popular over the years, but which I think you all will appreciate more: Weekly Love.

Originally a weekly, in recent years now a fortnightly roundup of everything brilliant or useful I’ve read online increasingly it is becoming bulked out by content from my fellow brilliant Substack writers, so I’ve moved it here. And re-named it Nibbles. Once a month, at the end of each month I’m going to send you the said same links (though by the end of July, they’ll be exclusive to here and no longer appearing on my site) along with a few notes about brilliant things I’ve been reading offline, recipes I’ve made that I must share etc. Think of it as a monthly package of (mostly food related) recommendations.

Now, if you’re reading this in your inbox this morning it means you’re a subscriber to my main ingredient list. If you’d like to keep on receiving monthly editions of Nibbles, you don’t need to do anything, but if you’d like to opt out and just receive my monthly ingredient features as well as the occasional essay, you can update your subscription settings here by simply unchecking Nibbles from your subscription.

If you’ve either arrived here from an edition of Weekly Love, or from elsewhere and you’d like to sign up to Nibbles only, you can also do so here by unchecking ingredient.


One of the best dinners we’ve enjoyed recently: a slow braised, Greek-style mess of oxtail in a charred red pepper, chilli and white wine sauce I’ve been working on, paired with an improtu Greek salad and olive oil chips.
  • Apparently we should all be freezing our tofu, and I’m so here for it.

  • Food52 is getting you started growing your own beans: I always find French beans the easiest to grow, but I’m giving borlotti beans a go this year too!

  • They also have some great tips for tomato plant care.

  • Emiko has some great tips for saving money on the food you buy and eat inspired by Italian Cucina povera.

    Emiko’s Newsletter
    Cucina povera inspiration
    Ruth Reichl’s recent newsletter was about recession strategies and looking back on a recession “alphabet” that she wrote on June 30, 1980 (Loved the entry for K is for Kissing, “It’s free. It’s fun. It’s frivolous. It’s good for you. Everybody should do more of it. It makes you feel good. Available wherever you can find it.”). She has a good point about…
    Read more
    2 months ago · 15 likes · 2 comments · Emiko Davies
  • Also, what living in Italy has taught her about our relationships with food.

    Emiko’s Newsletter
    What living in Italy has taught me about food
    I recently spent a month back home in Australia after almost three years away and something about this visit felt different. I suspect it was because it was the longest I had remained in Italy since moving here in 2005 without going home. Maybe being a forced homebody for the past two years too makes me feel more rooted in my Italian life than ever befo…
    Read more
    3 months ago · 69 likes · 50 comments · Emiko Davies
  • Kiki takes a deep dive into what exactly makes an authentic Spanish paella.

    Come como Kiki
    A paella by any other name…
    When most Americans who have any experience with Spain think of Spanish food, they probably think of paella. Paella, as we non-Spanish-natives know it, is a rice dish that has meat and vegetables and is cooked in a flat pan. It’s the food that travelers most frequently encounter, illustrated on sandwich boar…
    Read more
    2 months ago · 6 likes · 10 comments · Kiki
  • She also has some important thoughts on living in different cultures.

    Come como Kiki
    The Abuelos: A tale of a food culture misunderstanding
    Way back in 2007 I spent a semester studying abroad in Valencia. For someone who had previously only been on a plane once, this was to be a pivotal life event. In fact, I had been planning this whole study abroad scheme since my first year of college, as soon as I found out that spending a se…
    Read more
    2 months ago · 7 likes · 4 comments · Kiki
  • Also, Jose Andres relates the story of how he developed a paella recipe that could be consumed in space. The food science element is fascinating.

    Longer Tables with José Andrés
    How do you launch paella into space?
    Read more
    2 months ago · 72 likes · 10 comments · José Andrés
  • There are some benefits to the skyrocketing cost of food for American farmers markets.

  • The Kitchn have some great tips for pulling off a tasting menu dinner party at home.

  • A brilliant essay on how halal lamb is bringing localism back into British lamb and mutton slaughtering practices.

    Vittles
    Lamb dressed as mutton
    Good morning and welcome to Vittles Season 5: Food Producers and Production. All contributors to Vittles are paid: the base rate this season is £500 for writers and £200 for illustrators. This is all made possible through user donations, either through…
    Read more
    3 months ago · 14 likes · 3 comments · Vittles
  • Mexican spirits you should probably know about, that are not tequila or mezcal.

  • This is the actual difference between chicken stock and chicken broth, because we all blur the lines a little! (Further reading from the archives: I reflect on how complicated homemade stock (and the associated guilt) needs to be.)

  • Even though I don’t buy the stuff, these 16 great tips for amping up a jar of tomato pasta sauce in a pinch could equally apply to passata, and are also excellent.

  • In her brilliant newsletter Kitchen Projects, Nicola Lamb goes into the delicate intricacies of making authentic steamed buns. I’m in awe of the detail her posts manage to go to and I can’t wait to try out some of her bakes.

    Kitchen Projects
    Kitchen Project #71: Fluffy steamed buns
    Hello, Welcome to today’s edition of Kitchen Projects, my recipe development journal. Thank you so much for being here! I’m so excited for today’s newsletter featuring the brilliant Lillian Luk of Shanghai Supper Club (@shanghaisupper). In the first-ever ‘teacher’ series for KP (More on that below), Lillian will guide us through the heavenly world of stea…
    Read more
    2 months ago · 14 likes · 6 comments · Nicola Lamb

    Share


What I’ve been writing: For American eco-conscious website The Mindful Fork I’ve visited Longland Farm, a local duck and goose farm whose birds grace both the Christmas tables of the local community, and some of the top fine dining restaurants in the country to see if their high-quality, field-reared, low environmental impact birds might be the future of consuming reared birds in a more mindful way. Read it here.

What I’ve been cooking: At the start of the month we hosted a big family get together with a Mediterranean-Middle Eastern theme, loading the outdoor table up with grilled lamb chops, Yotam Ottolenghi’s Turkey and Courgette Burgers with Spring Onion and Cumin (an old family favourite), Sweet Potato Wedges with Almond Tahini, homemade flatbreads, Syrian Bulgur Wheat Salad, and my Mum’s Israeli Salad.

Pictured above is also a great charred red onion dish with a honey, mint, sage and walnut dressing we’ve made an awful lot in the past year from Honey & Co.’s Chasing Smoke: Cooking over fire around the Levant. Honestly, if you like to cook outdoors it is a brilliant book you really ought to have in your collection.

Otherwise, as I’ve been in the midst of a big ghost writing commission and we’ve been taking some time off work to restore parts of our old cottage, the only new recipes from me this month away from Substack (where paid subscribers have been treated to a trio of simple strawberry recipes) have been my Strawberry & Rosé Wine Jellies, that Syrian Bulgur Wheat Salad, and these picnic-friendly Curried Potato Pasties with Quick Coriander Chutney.

ingredient by Rachel Phipps
Strawberry recipes.
Free-form Strawberry & Rhubarb Tarts Serves: 4, Preparation time: 20 minutes, Cooking time: 30 minutes These simple tarts made with egg washed puff pastry, a few strawberries and a couple of pieces of English rhubarb from the garden tossed together with a bit of sugar and cornstarch are as simple as a summer tart can get. Serve with homemade vanilla ice c…
Read more
2 months ago · 2 likes · Rachel Phipps

What I’ve been growing: I’m really unhappy with the progress of my sweet peas, corn and kale this year, and that I’ve still not managed to grow a lettuce what with all the slugs about, but I’m still plucking little red strawberries from all the plants, and yellow courgette is starting to sneak it’s way into my dishes (I don’t buy courgette out of season) whilst I wait for the tomatoes forming on my plants to turn!

Also, I've been interviewed over at Jewish Food Hero, alongside my recipe for Tomato Braised Lamb Shanks.

4
Share this post
Nibbles #1 (Everything I read online this month)
ingredientbyrachelphipps.substack.com
4 Comments

Create your profile

0 subscriptions will be displayed on your profile (edit)

Skip for now

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.

Kiki
Writes Come como Kiki Jun 29Liked by Rachel Phipps

Thanks so much for linking to my newsletter, Rachel! What an honor!

I love roundups, so I’m excited for this new feature. The article with tips on caring for tomato plants couldn’t have come at a better time; we’re trying our hand at growing tomatoes this year and feel a little lost. Also that braised oxtail looks amazing! I always think of oxtail as a fall/winter dish, but it looks so fresh alongside the Greek salad. I’m hoping for a recipe in the future?

Expand full comment
ReplyGift a subscriptionCollapse
1 reply by Rachel Phipps
Jolene
Writes Time Travel Kitchen Jun 29Liked by Rachel Phipps

Wonderful feature, Rachel!

Expand full comment
ReplyCollapse
1 reply by Rachel Phipps
2 more comments…
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2022 Rachel Phipps
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Publish on Substack Get the app
Substack is the home for great writing