Nibbles #13

How to make the perfect apple tart according to a French grandma, excellent tips for making the best hummus, and how one went about smuggling coffee into Soviet Russia.

Welcome to Nibbles where once a month I share everything brilliant I’ve been reading on the web as well as some general updates from my kitchen, my vegetable garden during the growing season, and other miscellaneous ‘you really need to know about’ updates.

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A perfect plate of barbecue roasted lamb neck cooked to tender perfection with melt-in-the-mouth chickpeas, little braised artichokes and a verdant pesto for lunch in the sun at Updown Farmhouse.

• Why you should get a hot dog the next time you’re in Norway.

• Also, the fascinating history of hot dogs in America.

• Joining a French farmers wife in her kitchen in the Loire to make the perfect apple tart:

  Kitchen Project #103: All about Fruit Tarts

• Leah has a helpful primer on different types of Jewish smoked fish:

  Smoked Trout Spread

• Quite literally how the sausage is made:

  Say it with sausage!

• A recipe for fried plantains, with heritage:

  Finding my way to bannan fri

• Vidar shares 6 brilliant tips for making the perfect hummus at home:

  6 steps to perfect hummus

• On the history of coffee, on smuggling coffee into Soviet Russia, and a coffee rub for steak I made for dinner last week and can report is excellent:

  Joe and me - a love story

• Felicity’s brand new Substack shares stories as she helps the relief effort with non profit Bake for Ukraine. Last time I saw her her update of what they were doing so far was both fascinating, admirable and a little heart-wrenching. In this piece she shares photos from the morning after and highlights how bombed out buildings are now part of daily life, and the unfathomable resilience of the Ukrainian people:

  When terror comes at night

• I’ve bookmarked this recipe for stuffed and baked, rather than stuffed and fried courgette flowers because it looks genius:

  Fiori di zucca al forno recipe

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What I’ve been cooking: I’ve popped a lot more summer eats than usual on the blog this past month with a shell-on recipe for Pil Pil Prawns which is perfect for getting messy with on a sunny lunchtime, some Honey Mustard Sausage Rolls which would be great for a picnic, my Broad Bean, Cucumber and Radish Salad is great to serve as a simple, verdant side dish at a barbecue, and my Pork Banh Mi Smash Burgers are one of my favourite quick dinners at the moment.

And, as promised my herb heavy Thai-inspired Chicken Larb recipe is now live over at Project Meal Plan, which also includes meal prep instructions for pairing it with Jasmine rice and a crunchy salad - I lunchboxed this one for a road trip and I can promise you it is one of those great recipes as good cold as it is hot.

What I’ve been growing: With my late start in the garden, things are just starting to look promising - I’ve given up totally on the parsnips and I’ve accepted I’ll just have a handful of carrots but ready to harvest already are those usual early crops of radishes and cut-and-come-again-lettuce are ready for Saturday’s lunch guests.

The miniature pumpkins (I have hopes for roasting them whole), borlotti beans, French beans, courgettes, corn and tomatoes are all going strong (even if the latter do have aphids I can’t shift) so I’m hoping for a bumper crop towards the end of the summer at least!