Try Next Year
What was in Jan's Pan?
June
If I am to follow on from May with another month-inspired musical theme, then June is definitely busting out all over. And if my garden is anything to go by, then it's fair to say that particular song from “Carousel” is one hundred percent accurate. The wonderful weather we've been enjoying recently has brought out the best of the garden. There’s a certain point in the year when it seems that every flower got the memo, and each and every one dons its glad rags, ready for some global celestial event, their blooms wide open and perfect, looking towards the sky and glowing in the sunlight. And that event is the celebration of June itself, with its long days and sunny disposition, there to be enjoyed by all.
Even the great garden guru, Monty Don, claims that there are more insects than ever returning to our gardens to join the party, and the wildflower borders he suggests cultivating are perfect to welcome them in. We are ahead of the game on that front, and our gardening style ('kempt unkempt' as Hub likes to call it) encourages insects and bees in droves. The good weather has meant we have been able to savour the longest days of the year more so than usual. How often does the summer solstice pass us by when the weather is not so inviting? But for once there have been plenty of opportunities for weekday meals and weekend entertaining al fresco.
Student son is home again too, making the house feel like a home again. He’s already grazing at the ‘snack station’ on homemade breads and endless supply of nutty butter. He hadn’t appreciated the limitless nature of these staples until he went away, with no ‘cooking fairy’ (aka Mother) to replenish with the wave of a magic wand.
But he survived his first year at uni, and realised just how much knowledge he had absorbed from being part of such a food-focussed family. He did himself proud, cooking mainly from scratch and making the most of budget buys and student deals. But he’d forgotten just how much feasting is an integral part of home life here, and we welcomed him back with a big Sunday roast of belly pork and all the trimmings. He pigged out (of course) and claimed it was more than he’d eaten all term in just one sitting.
I recently read that writing is an excuse to go out and have experiences. I've never been shy to seize any opportunities that come my way (Ok, so FOMO Fullwood is my middle name), but if I'm to hone my writing skills then I need to put my money where my mouth is (essential when writing about food, my excuse and I'm sticking to it).
This month has been no exception. Highlights have been an incredible Malaysian supperclub hosted by Norman Musa at Divertimenti Cook Shop in the Brompton Road (details below), and the Guild of Food Writers Awards ceremony.
You may wonder why I constantly harp on about the Guild, but this, for me, as committee member responsible for the award judging process, is the culmination of nearly a year's worth of planning and the organisation required to judge 15 categories of awards for food and cookery writers - no mean feat.
The presentation ceremony, at the Royal Institution in London, is reminiscent of the flowers in the garden. A room full of eager blooms in their most colourful garb come together for one big momentous occasion, to look towards the light of the talent and food writing royalty as prestigious as Delia, Dames Mary and Prue, Ken Hom and Jamie O, to name-drop but a few. But it’s not all big names, there are many rising stars of the future and our Newcomer Award is one I particularly hold dear, as it gives writers who have never had anything published the opportunity to rub shoulders with their icons and learn from the wealth of experience in the room.
We heave a huge sigh of relief once the whole event has been successfully delivered (and copious amounts of drinks and canapés have been consumed), then hide in a darkened room for a while to recover before we start the process all over again. But it's wonderful to be part of such a well-oiled and inclusive team, and as you may have gathered, there are plenty of perks for our (voluntary) labour of love along the way.
Check out the benefits of Guild of Food Writers membership Here to see exactly why I love being a part of it.
Read on for details of the month’s unseasonally early summer fruit picking and preserving, al fresco meals, plus tips to make the most of your pizza oven heat once the pizzas are long consumed, and some magnificent meals this month in the actual ‘Big Smoke’ too.
Now excuse me while I follow the example of the flowers, turn my head to the sun and make the most of my glorious garden and the joys of June.
The fruit is ripening early in the summer sunshine, I’m sure I usually start to pick it in July. Our fruit and veg patch has redcurrants. blackcurrants, gooseberries which fruit evey year, and now Alpine strawberries have taken hold and spread over the ground as well.
There’s nothing better than an early morning or late evening potter to pick the fruit. It’s very therapeutic, away from the call of social media, lost in your own thoughts with the sound of nature around you. It’s a gentle way to ease into or out of the day and feel at one with the world. Long trousers and gardening gloves are required to avoid the brambles and nettles which catch you unawares as you reach over, focussing on a particularly ripe and juicy blackcurrant. These ripen at different stages even on the same cluster of currants, so it’s never all done in one go.
Redcurrants drip like jewels and the sprigs are easier to pick. De-strigging them can be time consuming (use a fork to pull them off) so I tend to freeze them with the sprigs on - the currants simply detach once they’re frozen. Suspended in deep freeze, I take out what I need throughout the year.
Fruit picking is a labour of love - picking, sorting, washing and preserving, but it's become part of my annual routine and I benefit from the bounty all year round. Useful for bartering with at our local Food Swap too.
I love to make jam, blackcurrant is my undisputed favourite, but as it is so sugar-laden I'll also make a simpler low-sugar conserve to keep in the fridge for more immediate use.
Jam requires 60% sugar to preserve it fully and store for a year or more. Here I cooked up the blackcurrants with a squeeze of lime (my favourite flavour combination) and 30% sugar which is just enough to sweeten the fruit but retains that shudder of sharpness. Redcurrants don’t even need heat - just stir in approximately 20% sugar and allow the sugar to draw out the juices. The currants keep their shape whilst they sit in a sumptuous syrup, suitable for slathering over sorbets and ice creams.
It's easy enough to work out how much to add with this simple calculation:
For standard jam with 60% sugar divide the weight of the fruit or cooked pulp by 0.6 and multiply by 0.4 to give the weight of sugar to add.
This can then be adjusted accordingly depending on the percentage you want to incorporate.
For 30% sugar divide the weight of fruit by 0.7 and multiply by 0.3 to give the weight of sugar to add, and so on.
It may not spread like a traditional jam, but it reduces the sugar highs and brings out the true fruit character. Keep in the fridge as the shelf life is considerably shorter. Perfect for quick desserts - layer up with yoghurt or custard and crumbled biscuits or sponge for an easy mid-week trifle-style dessert, or serve for a summer breakfast on brioche French toast.
Redcurrants with chocolate brownie has to be a favourite when it comes to dessert. Either in or on, their sharpness complements the fudgy sugariness perfectly. Try this recipe from Riverford, sqiudgy and delicious, the proof really is in the pudding:
Riverford redcurrant brownies https://www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/blackcurrant-redcurrant-brownies
Don’t do as I did recently, foolishly forgeting to add the eggs to the mix (definite senior moment). To be fair, all the best creations come from culinary mistakes, and whilst not the brownie I intended, the caramelised sugar and molten chocolate concoction was just as delightful (you do not want to waste that amount of chocolate and butter, believe me - brownies truly are the richest of desserts).
I served this salad whilst partying on the patio during a particularly good spell of weather. Perfect to enjoy amongst the alstroemeria.
I love the sweet-tasting bunched carrots that arrive in my veg box, and this recipe makes the most of the edible tops as well. They look like firmer less delicate versions of dill or fennel tops with a grassy, earthy flavour and a subtle hint of the carrots. Full of iron it’s a shame to waste them. There are plenty of recipes for pesto too, it’s good to bulk out other more fragrant herbs. So simple, but effective.
Freekeh is a delicious smoky-flavoured cracked grain from the Middle-East. It's available in supermarkets, but the most authentic tasting I have found is available from Buy Wholefoods online . Bulgur wheat, pearl barley, wheatberries or couscous are good alternatives, but do try the freekeh if you haven't before it’s much more flavoursome.
Roast Bunched Carrots with freekeh, carrot tops and feta
Serves 4
Cut the tops off the carrots to store them. Pop the fronds in a jug of water to keep them fresh. Rinse and chop a good handful.
Heat your oven to 220C/200C Fan/ Gas 7. Scrub the carrots and cut in half. Lay them on a baking tray and toss generously with olive oil. Roast the carrots for 15-20 minutes, turning occasionally, until they soften and char.
Now crumble a block of feta into large chunks and scatter over the carrots. Allow to soften and char for up to 10 minutes until the edges are golden brown.
Meanwhile cook 200g freekeh in 450ml well flavoured vegetable stock*
Nestle the soft warm carrots and feta on top. Drizzle with a little honey and sprinkle with some extra carrot fronds.
Serve warm or cold.
*Ruth Nieman’s recommendation for cooking freekeh in her book “Freekeh: Wild Wheat & Ancient Grains” gives great results:
Rinse the freekeh for 2-3mins under cold water to remove any chaff or grit.
Place in a pan with the water, simmer in a medium heat for 20-35mins until the water has absorbed. The freekeh should be tender but with a slight bite.
Cover the pan and remove from the heat and allow to steam for 10 mins.
And finally, National Picnic Week falls between June 21st to 29th this year, and for once we've had the weather.
Here's the perfect recipe for a sneaky summer picnic spread, one I wrote for Epson's creative corner of printable recipes, which I hope you'll enjoy on me:
Savoury Sun-Dried Tomato Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling
https://resources.epson.eu/app/uploads/sites/3/2023/08/a15069-advert-hires-en-int-cooking_with_usain_picnic.pdf
Great pizza toppings at a recent pizza gathering:
Camembert and apple from our trip to Le Brevedent campsite in Normandy
Pear, blue cheese, walnuts and honey from our friend's trip to NZ
Top right picture
Overnight rice pudding, cooked in the residual heat of around 100C
Middle left
Dried Borlotti beans cooked overnight with garlic and rosemary in plenty of water. Perfectly cooked by the morning, ready for instant use hot or cold, or drain and freeze.
Pizza party leftovers lamb stew
Lamb chump chops cooked with raw leftover aubergine and peppers, leftover tomato sauce from the pizza, mixed in the slow cooker with harissa paste and slow cooked overnight. This was in my slow cooker rather than using the pizza oven's residual heat, but plugged into the solar power socket, so win win all round. I portioned this up and froze it for colder times (certainly not what's required in the 30 degree heat we have currently been experiencing - it's salads all the way at the moment, mainly picked straight from the garden before they wilt in the heat).
This is the book I turn to for inspiration and guidance, Genevieve Taylor does cookery classes in Bristol too if anyone’s out that way and wants a comprehensive guide to woodfired oven cooking.
The Ultimate Wood Fired Cookbook https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/465798/the-ultimate-wood-fired-oven-cookbook-by-genevieve-taylor/9781787132887
Norman Musa's Malaysian supperclub at Divertimenti Cookery School in the Brompton Road
https://www.divertimenti.co.uk/collections/cooking-school
We were welcomed with hibiscus fizz, Malaysia's national flower symbolizing the country's cultural heritage, unity, and resilience. Its five petals represent the five principles of Rukun Negara, reflecting core national values such as loyalty and morality. This was my treat for missing out on the Kuala Lumpur leg of my Borneo trip in March (check the archives for details). Norman was kind enough to recommend many places to visit to experience the markets and the best food, so this was compensation for the consequences of Heathrow's March misdemeaners.
We were served a canapé of aubergine on a fried tempeh slice, such an innovative use of tempeh, made of fermented soybeans.
The starters came in hot pursuit:
umai - halibut ceviche with beetroot lemongrass and ginger (top right)
chicken satay with chunky sauce (middle right).
spiced honey prawns (bottom right)
And then when we thought we’d eaten our fill, along came the main course of
beef short rib rendang with turmeric rice fried lotus root (top left).
We finished with Norman’s interpretation of tiramisu (bottom left) sprinkled with a layer of green macha.
Many of these recipes are available in Norman's book Amazing Malaysian and I thoroughly recommend following Norman's culinary adventures on his website and Instagram, as he does so many events involving his fabulous food, plus a food tour of Malaysia next April (count me in!) so check them out here https://www.normanmusa.com/, he really is the most talented and generous of chefs. We were offered a discount on the range of culinary must-haves that Diverimenti stocks, and their kitchen workshop hosts many great food events throughout the year, see Here
Other culinary adventures involved a return to Souk restaurant https://www.soukrestaurant.co.uk/, a North African themed haven in Lichfield Street, Covent Garden that I was introduced to many years ago. A skip and a hop from Martin's Theatre where we saw the Mousetrap, now in its 72nd year to celebrate a friend’s special birthday. Souk serves bottomless vegetable couscous with its oh-so-tender tagines and sticky baklava, plus hubbabubba pipes should the fancy take it. A Fez is essential headwear, provided at the table for the inevitably hilarious group photo. Their set menu is incredible value and somewhat cheaper than the original Ivy restaurant on the corner (although that's a place to be experienced too of course), but makes for a very affordable treat out, especially when combined with the cheap seats in the gods to ensure there was more money to spend on the obligatory cocktails (essential for big birthday celebrations). We found The Alchemist St Martin’s Lane, https://thealchemistbars.com with its theatrical and flamboyant cocktails, a mere 3 minutes walk away, close to Leicester Square tube where we hopped on a train back home for birthday cake and mint tea fresh from the garden, the fizz in the fridge left untouched (our limits well and truly reached).
I used Mary Berry’s recipe for Hummingbird cake, a sunny mix of ripe bananas and tinned pineapple, from her “Everyday” book. Rather than the usual sugar-laden cream cheese topping I used Nicola Lamb’s honey cream cheese frosting in her award winning cookbook "Sift" https://www.nicolalamb.com/siftwith honey to replace the copious quantities of icing sugar plus my own touch of orange zest and juice to complement the cake.
Congratulations to Nicola for getting a hat trick of food awards - Fortnums, James Beard and finally our very own Guild of Food Writers Award, all very well deserved for her incredible deep dive into the mechanics of baking plus some inspirational well-written recipes, a book that has earnt its place on my bookshelf as a ‘keeper’.
The month ended with 21st birthday celebrations for our very own patisserie chef. For once she didn’t make her own cake, favouring a spectacular creation from her favourite bakery Crumbs and Doilies instead. https://www.crumbsanddoilies.co.uk/
We had a spectacular Chinese banquet to celebrate at their favourite restaurant Tattu near Tottenham Court Road. https://tattu.co.uk/locations/tattu-london/ Highly recommended, we sampled pretty much everything on the menu - a lie down and doggy bags were very much required.
Nettle tea
Roast nuts
Crispy bacon in sourdough focaccia
I’m beginning to view nettles with a different eye. Apparently, they have antihistamine properties (useful for the mass of mossie bites accrued during the heatwave sitting in the garden - the tingle of the nettle sting possibly subsides more quickly than the itch of the bite? The lesser of two evils perhaps?). Whilst I’ve always thought of them as hindrance I'm beginning to see their benefits. Their superpower properties are perfect for combating arthritis and joint pain in particular (it comes to us all eventually). Jam-packed with vitamins and minerals they can be used in the same way as spinach - don’t be put off by the sting, it’s rendered harmless once cooked. Use gloves to pick just the young tips. Even the seeds from the flowers that appear in summer can be gathered and used rather like sesame seeds apparently (something I’m yet to investigate - sounds fiddly).
I’ve been making good use of the dehydrate setting for drying leaves for teas. They can be used fresh of course, but it’s good to have a stock of dried leaves too, mint, nettle and blackcurrant leaves are my favourites.
We’ve also discovered that the air fryer is great for roasting mixed nuts for healthy snacking. Around 6-8 minutes on 180C, shaking them frequently and making sure they don’t burn. They can be sprinkled with spice and a spritz of oil for a party snack.
Finally, air fried bacon is our new favourite way to create beautifully crisp rashers and it’s easier to clean the air fried pan than a grill. I served it here in my sourdough focaccia, I’ve found that This recipe shared by a friend gives consistently good results. https://www.sourdoughbread.co.uk/sourdough-focaccia/
It's been a long hot summer, and at the time of writing I think we may be up to our fifth official heatwave (although it all merges into one sweaty blur), and we are officially in drought. Barren brown lawns are a testament to that, and the poor fruit trees and bushes are in a state of quandary, not knowing whether to ripen early or even bother to fruit at all.The plums lay parched with not even a prune to be seen, the redcurrants arrived early and only the birds benefitted, and even my prize blackcurrants were sparse. The original bush stubbonly refused to fruit, citing old age and mistreatment, but the young eager ones allowed me enough to make some of my favourite fruit treats, as you'll see below.
We celebrated Dad's life at the beginning of June, along with 60 close friends and relatives (and an abundance of cake, as you’d expect), at the Magpie in Sunbury Village, which sits opposite Sunbury Lock on the banks of Old Father Thames as it wends its way London-wards. A fitting place as it’s mentioned in Jerome K Jerome’s ‘Three men in a boat’ - Dad’s favourite book, given to him as a form prize whilst school in the Midlands. Little did he know he’d live so close to the locations mentioned for two-thirds of his long and happy life. He would have enjoyed every minute of our celebration for him, we did him proud. The sun shone after a week of apocalyptic weather (the last of the rain in retrospect). Our personal patisserie chef made the day with the magnificent muffins she created, which totally stole the show. Along with Ken's favourite fruit cake the guests were more than happy, no Fullwood family celebration is complete without cake, so I've shared the recipe here.
It's a boiled cake, moist and easy to make, and I made sure Dad always had a supply in the larder as Mum always made it before me. So please do try it, it'll soon become your favourite too.
Have I ever mentioned that blackcurrants are my absolute favourite crop from my garden? They are the easiest of fruit to pick and process, not to mention their divine and distinct flavour. Foodswappers don’t get a look in as it’s a fruit I’ll never trade - there are just too many delicious uses, as you’ll see here. Even if they’re just frozen and handfuls of fruit added to my morning porridge, they are not leaving the house. No way José.
This year I started with cordial. I used the BBC Good Food recipe which uses lemon juice rather than citric acid, useful if you’ve none to hand and just as good for preservation. I particularly like lime with blackcurrant, so I used the juice of two limes, to replace one of the lemons for extra citrussy tang. I put it into sterilised bottles and keep it in the fridge so it lasts longer. I like it diluted with sparkling water or tonic for a really refreshing summer spritz (a splash of Prosecco would certainly not go amiss here too if the occasion calls for it).
The problem with making cordial is that it needs to be strained through muslin, which means leftover pulp. Not being able to bear wasting one tiny bit of my precious crop, I devised ways to use it, hence the blackcurrant shorties and the blackcurrant gelato, both shown here. The gelato uses the leaf to infuse the cream mixture, adding an extra dimension of deliciousness, and the pulp was perfect to ripple through.
Seeing the potential for the leaf meant I got completely carried away when I saw Silvana Franco’s frankly fantastic use of fig leaves baked into sourdough. We chatted about options and techniques, and I promised to try my ideas, and hey presto, blackcurrant leaf Sourdough. The leaves impart their distinct yet delicate fragrance and flavour to the loaf, perfect for spreading with my homemade blackcurrant jam.
Not such an abundant crop this year, but certainly no part of the bush - currant or leaf - has been wasted with every part put to good use.
Blackcurrant leaf sourdough
Bottom left
Silvana's recipe and tips have become my absolute go to: minimum fuss, maximum impact. Check out her Instagram for ideas galore. We first met at BBC Good Food and that girl knows her stuff.
It's key to have a lively starter, and frequent use really helps to keep it happy and perform at its best. Her recipe uses 100g starter with 500g flour before folding in 12g salt. Bring it together until smooth, leave for an hour or so on the worktop, give it a few more folds then tip it into the banneton and allow to rest in the fridge overnight.
Silvana's loaf used fig leaves but they are best positioned on what will be the base of the loaf. I experimented by putting blackcurrant leaves around the sides of the banneton to soften and add flavour. Bring it out of the fridge the next day, heat the a suitable pan with a lid at 230C, turn the bread out onto greaseproof and add to the pan, cover and bake for 45-50 mins then take the lid off for the final 5-10mins. I usually take the cooked loaf out of the pan for the final 5 and turn the oven off for a final crisping in the residual heat. Looks and tastes amazing with real wow factor.
Blackcurrant Pulp Shorties
Top Centre
I based these on a melting moments style recipe.
Cream 115g softened butter with 25g icing sugar then stir in 115g plain flour, 2tbsp cornflour and 25g melted white chocolate.
Use a fluted nozzle to pipe onto a lined baking tray approximately 12 circular biscuits with a flat base and slightly raised sides. Spoon a teaspoon of the blackcurrant pulp, or jam into the centre then bake in a preheated oven at 160C fan for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the tray to firm up before removing - they are very short. Best eaten within 1-2 days.
Blackcurrant pulp Gelato
Centre
I used a recipe from 'Gelup Gelato' by Jacob Kennedy (of Bocca di Lupa restaurant fame) and swirled in the pulp.
If you love gelato, you’ll love his ‘delectable palette of ice cream recipes’, filled with wonderful flavour combinations. I love his philosophy too:
‘the world is your gelato - lick it’.
You can’t argue with that.
Blackcurrant Cordial
Bottom Centre
I usually try a different recipe every time but this BBC Good Food Blackcurrant cordial recipe works well. I added a bay leaf to the currants during cooking, but the flavour didn't really come through. Perhaps more bay required? Or, as my foodie pal, Angela Nilson recently suggested, (whilst picking fruit together at Cammas Hall Fruit Farm in Hatfield Broad Oak), is the flavour of bay overrated? Drop me a line if you have a view!
Blackcurrant Jam
I recently came across my Nan's recipe book with her recipe for blackcurrant jam, so will follow that for my next batch. She was president of the High Wycombe WI back in the day, so her jam making skills are not to be sniffed at.
Bottom right
Life Celebration Cakes:
Blueberry Cream Cheese
Chocolate & Caramel
Lemon & Poppyseed
These were based on recipes from ‘Baked to Perfection’ by Katarina Cermelj but with our Pastry Chef’s twist of hollowed out centres filled with caramel or curd then swirled with Italian buttercream. An absolute triumph.
They work well with gluten-free or standard flour. I'd recommend Katarina's books, both of which have been shortlisted and won the Guild of Food Specialist Cookery Book award. They not only contain failsafe gluten-free recipes, but they give a deep dive insight into the why's and wherefore's of baking in her very accessible, comprehensive and readable style.
I also recommend having a Harrod's pastry chef in the household, who despite having worked a full week of punishing hours, still managed to produce 60 of these perfect delights in time for the celebration. It's not necessarily good for the waistline though. Good thing the two chefs are off globe-trotting soon, for a much needed break from the madness of the hospitality world. I may have a chance of regaining my sylph-like figure once again. (In my dreams. That went literally pear-shaped years ago).
Barb's Boiled Fruit Cake
My recipe is to make two 8in cakes but it worked a treat in one big 28in cake tin to feed the masses.
In a large pan melt the following together:
2 cups sugar (2 x 225g)
2 cups water (2 x 250ml)
2 lb mixed fruit (900g)
4 tsp mixed spice
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
16oz margarine (450g)
Allow to cool slightly, then stir in
4 eggs
2 cups self raising flour (2 x 150g)
2 cups plain flour (2 x 150g)
Cook in 2 x greased and lined 8in/20cm tins for 1 1/2 hours at 170C/Fan 150C/Gas 3 until a skewer comes out clean
I love the bunched carrots I often get in my weekly veg delivery box and always save the carrot top fronds with the best of intentions to make good use of them. Did you know that they contain six times more vitamin C than the roots themselves? Plus Vitamin A, K, Calcium and fibre, so it’s really worth putting them to work rather than instantly discarding them. They are slightly bitter tasting, and can be quite tough, but combined with other herbs and finely chopped they are ideal for pesto or the chimichurri I made here to top the whole roasted carrots.
I used some marjoram, thyme and garlic chives from the garden as well as the carrot tops, some garlic, some chilli (fresh or flakes to suit your taste) and some red onion all chopped together. Then I mixed olive oil and red wine with some seasoning and served with the sweet roasted carrots. We ate it with some burrata and salad. Such great colours and flavours for an eye-catching, palate-pleasing side dish.
Waste not want not - is this what they call top to tail eating ??