Nibbles #6

A primer on culinary pumpkins, a genius glazed carrot hack, and a visit to an Italian truffle festival.

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. Coming to you a little early today, because I figured that my American readers would have better things to do than read my newsletter tomorrow…!

If you’ve arrived here from elsewhere and you’re not yet a subscriber, you can sign up here so not to miss out on monthly ingredient essays (featuring a different ingredient every month), exclusive recipes, sneak peaks into some of my favourite food people’s kitchen cupboards, and the occasional long read!

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A delicious dish of slow cooked beef cheek, fondant potato, celeriac puree, red wine jus, and the most memorable tangle of kale and mixed mushrooms for lunch at The Squerryes Winery Restaurant.

• I really need a slice of this Pumpkin & Parmesan Torta for lunch today. I also enjoyed this post’s helpful primer on culinary pumpkins:

  Kitchen Project #86: Pumpkin & parmesan torta

• Eater, on how Instagram’s food aesthetic is becoming less polished, more realistic. Thank god for this, even if I’m not quite sure how to make it work for me yet.

• According to Food52 you can infuse extra virgin olive oil with leftover parmesan rinds and my mind is blown.

• Have you ever heard of an Election Cake?

  Let there be Election cake

• Speaking of old fashioned American desserts, I’m fascinated by this Indian Pudding recipe and history.

• Also, this deep dive into the history of ‘Don’t Ask Cake’ takes us on a wonderfully unexpected tour of American baking history.

• I’m also not much into TikTok food hacks, but this method for making glazed carrots is actually quite clever.

• Emiko schools us on the different types of truffle, and takes us on a trip around her local Italian truffle festival:

  A rundown of San Miniato's 51st white truffle festival

• Serious Eats looks into the serious business of if expensive brands of cast iron casserole dish / Dutch ovens are actually worth the money.

• Sarah has put together a fascinating history of Thanksgiving food, and why what we think of as traditional might not be:

  Talking Turkey

• Moving onto one of my own countries festive traditions, Camilla walks us through the history of, and the best ways of making mincemeat, the essential filling to mince pies (fun fact, the year I spent Christmas in Los Angeles and I spied my mother’s go-to brand of Robertsons Mince Meat in the International Foods section in Ralph’s I picked it up and made mince pies to try and undo some of the ‘it is warm and sunny with palm trees at Christmas this is so wrong’ vibes I was feeling. I don’t even like mince meat, or mince pies..!)

• I read Richard Godwin’s newsletter The Spirits every Friday, but this month I particularly enjoyed his essay (with accompanying recipe) which charts drinking and the significance of it in Lolita:

  The Spirits #87: "Pin"

• David has visited Andalusia to learn the fascinating processes behind their local hams and sherry. (£)

  Iberian Ham and Sherry

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What I’ve been cooking: I’ve been ghost writing a load this past month, so there are not many brand new recipes from me out there with my name on them this month! However, I have shared two go-to favourites on my blog: my Easy Chicken Parmigiana Bake is one of those ‘ultimate version of a classic’ recipes where I need you to know that the leftovers make excellent sandwiches, and my Chinese Orange Chicken takes the best from both the British and American takeaway traditions (both are slightly different dishes) to make a tangy, sweet and savoury dinner that is much better than ordering in.

I love my snazzy modern shapes and colours, but filming this one (sorry, they’ve not uploaded the video yet) I really thought the situation called for one of my Mum’s vintage Le Creuset!

And, over for my Macknade residency I’ve taken one of the cheaper cuts of beef, the unsung hero that is the chuck roll and slow cooked it in red wine, tomato, chipotle and cinnamon for a delicious spoon roast that is just begging to be served with mashed potatoes with some verdant just blanched cabbage for dinner this week. Get the recipe here.

What I’ve been listening to: Crime thriller fans? I’ve burnt through the entire of Claire McGowan’s brilliant Paula Maguire series (ad) on Audible this month, but what I actually want to share is that clearing the garden for winter I’ve also listened to the entirety of Stephen Fry’s Secrets of the Roaring 20’s. Fans of Stephen Fry’s Victorian Secrets and Stephen Fry’s Edwardian Secrets will already be aware of this brilliant free to Audible subscribers series, full of fascinating untold histories told in clever and engaging ways. Because is not Stephen Fry one of the best audiobook narrators ever to have lived? This series gives a great overview of a period we don’t learn at school, how and why the BBC was created, the rise of fascism, and of course how the flappers got their name. It’s an affiliate link, but if you click here and you’ve never used Audible before you’ll still get a free audiobook to keep for ever with a free trial so you can listen, as well as helping me out with a little kick back for the holidays!

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A little bit of housekeeping: If you’re still stuck for gifts this year (I know I say this every year, but I swear finding something fun, unique and personal is getting harder and harder every year) but I have put together a food-forward gift guide on my blog, with gifts Under £10, Under £25, and Under £50 if you’re after inspiration!

Also: you’ve made it to the bottom of Nibbles! Thank you for reading! As a thank you, I’m re-sharing the special link from Kitchen Cupboards this month that will give you 20% off of upgrading to a paid subscription for the next year, with both £4/month and £40/year options available. This runs until Friday, so click here to upgrade!