Nibbles #28

Why mussels might be the future, a visit to the Nordic Ware factory, and all the new recipes I've written for BBC Food.

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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The perfect end-of-summer salad of tomatoes and fermented strawberries with a sesame dressing at my favourite pub, The Plough just outside Rye.

• Julia, on why mussels are not just delicious, they could be a solution to our polluted waters problem:

  Mr Mussel, the clean-up mollusc

• Felicity, on life in Kyiv during a blackout:

  Kyiv, lately

• She’s also written a poignant piece from Kharkiv:

  Pockets of light

• Giulia reclaims here grandmother’s cooking in this brilliant essay:

  My grandma's olive oil choux pastries

• Nicola takes a deep-dive into what makes the perfect bundt cake, including a trip to the Nordic Ware factory (!!)

  Kitchen Project #146: All About Bundt Cake

I’ve got 8 (!) brand new recipes up on the BBC Food website this month, including plenty of sweet treats and everyday eats. My Yogurt Flatbreads with Crispy Soy Butter Eggs (pictured above) shockingly only take 30 minutes to make and are great for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. Whilst we’re on the breakfast theme, I’m super into these Cottage Cheese Pancakes with Banana and Coconut yes for the actual pancakes, but more for the toasted coconut / sliced banana / honey lime drizzle topping. Also, these Air Fryer Chocolate Puffs (filled with Nutella, pictured above) are great for a brunch spread, and also work really well with jam.

On the more savoury side of things, my Honey Sesame Chicken was a fun one to make (and a riff on another long time favourite I’ve developed for the BBC, my Honey Chilli Chicken) and these Spicy Salmon Bite Rice Bowls are both super customisable, and only take about 10-15 minutes if you use my favourite hack of microwave sticky rice as your base. This Tortellini Soup (again, pictured above!) is also great for soup season as it’s really simple for a lunchtime and works with whatever tortellini you usually buy in (or homemade from the freezer), and my Creamy Pea Gnocchi is the perfect veggie dinner that again comes together in about 15 minutes.

Finally, perfect for salads, wraps and sandwiches, this is the best way to make halloumi in the air fryer, with an optional honey chilli glaze.

New this month on my blog I’ve also got a recipe for Creamy Butter Chicken Curry which is our new favourite thing to make on a Friday night (it only takes an hour, and with plenty of down time to work on the sides or to get on with other things) and sticking to Indian-inspired flavours, over for my Macknade residency I’ve written a quick Indian Spiced Carrot and Apple Chutney which goes really well with an after-dinner cheese board, or even spooned on the side of a bowl of curry.