Nibbles #25
A history of strawberry consumption in the west, tips for watering your garden before going on holiday, and an adaptable summer dessert to make with any seasonal fruit.
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.
I’m fresh back from a week in Barcelona (more on everything we ate in Spain soon!) into probably the craziest work week I’ll have this year so apologies there are quite a few newsletters stacked up I owe you all. Lots more content coming asap!
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Kathy has some brilliant tips on pre-watering in your vegetable garden before heading off on your summer holidays.
Julia has written an excellent potted history of the West’s strawberry consumption:
The season might be over, but Sally’s essay on ‘How To Elderflower’ is still worth a read for it’s lyrical beauty, stunning photography and brilliant ideas:
David writes about a brilliant bakery in Paris which sell’s yesterday’s bread and pastries:
Visiting Istanbul this summer? These are the 10 food items you should apparently buy to bring home with you:
Before I headed off to Barcelona, June was a busy month in the kitchen! Above is my Raspberry Clafoutis recipe I created for my Macknade residency. I love it because it worked with local raspberries, now the cherries have arrived I’ll be making it with them, and you can pretty much sub in any berry or stone fruit as we work through summer and towards wild blackberry season - a real back pocket dessert.
Over on meal prep website Project Meal Plan I’ve made some Chewy Cinnamon Granola Bars, and if you’re looking for a weeknight dinner to bookmark for any time of year, a skillet recipe for Homemade Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs.
And finally over on my own website, I’ve got a super seasonal Broad Bean Risotto with Pecorino, a re-creation of the incredible Yucatan Chicken we had in Mexico last summer, and a genius (if I may say so myself!) luxe weeknight recipe for Potted Shrimp Pasta which I shot with asparagus as it was the season for it, but is also written to work with sautéed courgette too!
With the absolute craziness of life at the moment, the heatwave and the fact I’ve been away I think it’s best we focus on the things that are doing well in the garden and I’ll soon be harvesting rather than the things that have failed, shall we? (RIP garlic which first had rust from the damp then died in the heat!)
As you can see, I’ve got lots of green tomatoes and my first Sungold is starting to turn (last year’s fennel plants I forgot to take out are in fine fettle even if the bulbs are too stringy so I’ll have plenty of fronds to make salads when the tomatoes start coming faster - and my tarragon I thought had died over winter is now abundant) and I’ve got peas coming also ready to make my favourite summer pea and pork recipe:
Also available to me is a fair bit of thyme, plenty of rosemary and sage, and whilst I’ve not got any fruit yet, the cucumber plant planted in my old kitchen sink seems to be in recovery and is yet again covered in bright yellow flowers!
The raspberry clafoutis is a 10/10! Excellent.
The Raspberry Clafoutis recipe looks wonderful!