READING, WATCHING, ORDERING, AND COOKING
This week's newsletter is a melange of inspiring words and images, recipe ideas and events
As a curious person, I am always observing, looking, seeking, scrolling and reading. Often it can become overwhelming in these days of extreme visualisation; so many words, images, and colours. Mostly, I can avoid FOMO (fear of missing out). FOMO is a simple, quick tag that draws in many emotions and desires. So, if I find myself scrolling through Instagram and wishing I was paddle boarding to lunch at a beachside Greek taverna; cycling through the orange groves around Seville, or taking a cable car to a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Austrian Alps (all things I’ve seen while doom-scrolling, and often within just 60 seconds), I lean back, take a deep breathe and try to focus on the present, which is precisely where I am at that moment.
The following list of words, images and films that I feel you might find of interest and hopefully won’t overwhelm you. They mostly require some thought, time and curiosity and no doom-scrolling. Over future newsletters I shall share similar suggestions and sign posts for you to pick out and share in my enthusiasms.
Reading & Browsing
London Feeds Itself, Edited by Jonathan Nunn and published by Open City. Food and architecture in London. Buy the book here.
The Cheffe, by Mari Ndiaye. A novel of cooking and emotions set in southern France.
The Story of San Michele, Axel Munthe. A magical memoir of a house, garden and lemon groves on the island Capri, southern Italy. Get your copy here.
Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm, by Isabella Tree (on order from my local library). Rewilding an exhausted farm in southern England. Buy the book here.
Eating meat isn’t a crime against the planet – if it’s done right, written by Thomasina Myers in the UK’s Guardian newspaper. Read the article here.
The Struggle Cookbook Authors Face in 2022. Tasting Table. Read the article here.
Eating to Extinction, by Dan Saladino. Now a multi-award winning author, this book is rooted in the work of Slow Food International (www.slowfood.com). Dan will be making several appearances at next week’s Terra Madre. Buy Dan’s book here.
The Platinum Jubilee Cookbook: Recipes and stories from Her Majesty’s representatives around the world, by Ameer Kotecha. This edition is the one to get, not one of the rip-off books you might find on Amazon with a similar title. Get Ameer’s book here.
How did ‘Recipe Developer’ become a famous job, as seen in Gawker. Read here.
We’ve all seen that little sign-off in recipes, ‘season to taste’, but how many of us know what it means … what it’s really asking us to do? In a New York Times feature ‘The Recipe Convention that Dooms Home Cooks’ and subtitled, “Countless cookbooks instruct readers to ‘season to taste,’ but few of us know what we’re tasting for,’ this issue is explored. Hopefully, seasoning works to make an ingredient taste better, more of itself, or maybe it lifts smokiness, richness or enhances sweetness. Hidden behind a paywall, it’s a thought-provoking read.
The Recipe, by Rebecca May Johnson. Granta magazine. This a thoughtful essay about obsessively cooking a single recipe, only identified in the final paragraphs. Read Rebecca’s article here.
Let me know your thoughts below about how you’ season to taste’ and my other suggestions.
Watching
Chef’s Table: Pizza Released by Netflix. Three days to watch the six episodes.
Into Iraq, by Michael Palin (ex-Monty Python, now inspired travel writer) New TV series (Channel 5, UK) and book (Pub. Penguin). Buy Michael’s book here.
‘The Great British Bake Off’ is back on British TV with another eclectic set of, mostly, highly competent amateur bakers. Watch the trailer below. No spoilers here, but watch out for Maisam’s lemon cake as a memory of her childhood home in Libya with lemon trees in the garden. It may not look great, but apparently tasted delicious.
Ordering
Business cards. Waiting for a logo to be finished before more than 100 are printed.
Cans of Vienna Lager. Online. Malty, hoppy flavour with a lovely reddish, copper colour. I wrote about the drink for Tonic magazine, Issue 3. Order your copy here.
I’m starting to look at my family tree, particularly on my father’s side, where less research has been done. A much-missed Aunt put together lots for my maternal ancestry, but even here there is still plenty to organise and understand. So, I’ve bought some scrapbooks to start organising paperwork. I associate lemons with my grandmother (Dad’s mum), who made delicious, tooth-achingly sweet lemonade for us grandkids. So, I feel a lemony cake will be baked to keep me company should my eyes mist up as I shuffle through old photos and stir up happy, half-forgotten memories.
Cooking
Raita with Lemon and peas (see recipe below).
Roast potatoes in an air fryer. Generous drizzle with olive oil and a good sprinkling of sea salt. 45 minutes (approx).
I fired up the new pressure cooker using recipes from ‘Modern Pressure Cooking’ by Catherine Phipps.
(Both the above are great energy-saving tools for the kitchen)
Nduja and Artichoke pizza in an Ooni. Inspired by Chef’s Table (see above)
Thank you! Let me know your current inspirations. Please share below.
SOUTH AFRICAN CITRUS SEASON SHIPS INTO THE US
The US is a significant importer of citrus fruit from South Africa, and thousands of crates are now heading to US ports as the season kicks off in the southern hemisphere. In terms of shipped volumes, exporters from Summer Citrus from South Africa, one of the country’s busiest shippers, says its fruit basket offers 47% Easy Peelers, 42% Navel Oranges, 8% Star Ruby and 3% Cara-Cara. Here is a short, slightly corporate video about the trade.
TERRA MADRE IS HERE!
Parco Dora, Turin
September 22 – 26, 2022
Terra Madre 2022 is upon us! The thrilling set of events run from September 22 to 26 in Parco Dora, Turin. Over 600 exhibitors including the best of good, clean and fair food from Italy and beyond, will be on show. Most events are free to access - including tastings, conferences, debates and moments to learn how we can regenerate the food system through our daily actions. Here is a taster video produced by Stefano Scarafia and Stuffilm featuring the graphics of Undesign as painted by Mach505, with music by Luca Morino. The film is shot in Parco Dora, a place of history, of industry and home to this year’s Slow Food’s Terra Madre.
I shall be there for a few days and look forward to learning about rare citrus and their uses, and how food and cooks can be models for regeneration and activism. Other topics include understanding how horoscopes interact with food and plenty of activities involving cheese, chocolate and bread made from ancient grains such as Teff from Ethiopia.
During the festival, I shall be reporting on Instagram @thelemongrovepics and will have plenty to share in upcoming The Lemon Grove newsletters and PODCASTS! More on this exciting development soon.
FOOD FESTIVAL DEMOS AND RECIPES
Tonbridge Food Festival in Kent, southern England is a lively gathering of local producers and food trucks offering plates from as far as Kenya and the Caribbean. Meanwhile, local wine and cider producers offer tastings in the hope you’ll take a few bottles home.
It fits comfortably with the castle grounds and has a cooking demo stage where I have had a place on the timetable for the past few festivals to present a cooking demo.
Whenever I’m on stage for a cooking demo, I’ll likely bring along a thermos flask of mixture to make farinata as it’s known in Liguria, Italy or socca as it’s referred to in southern France. Made with chickpea flour, it always intrigues people in the audience who try it for the first time. Combine 150gm chickpea/ gram flour, 300ml water, 45ml olive oil, 2tbsp chopped rosemary leaves (optional) and a pinch of salt and pepper and let it rest for at least six hours. Pour into an oil frying pan at about 5mm thickness on low heat and let rest for several minutes before flipping the pancake —alternatively, grill. Aim for crispy sides and a nice golden colour on top/ Slice and share as you would a pizza.
This year at Tonbridge I demo’ed a Lemon Raita with Pea Chaat and Greek bread. Raita is a creamy cooling Indian yoghurt-based dish that is very adaptable. Here it’s mixed with garden and sugar snap peas.
LEMON RAITA
250 gm plain whole-milk yoghurt
2 tsp grated lemon zest and 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
3/4 tsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
SPRING PEA CHAAT
250m gm garden peas
200 gm sugar snap peas, trimmed and halved on an angle
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 tbsp fresh, peeled, grated ginger
1 tsp chaat masala
1 small fresh serrano chilli, stemmed and finely chopped (unseeded)
Kosher salt & black pepper, to taste
ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS
3 tbsp Spicy Mango-Mint Chutney
Chopped, fresh coriander leaves for garnish
Pea shoots, for garnish
ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT
Small & medium-sized bowls
Slotted (spider) spoon
Large bowl of ice water
Airtight container
Make: Lemon Raita
Combine yoghurt, lemon zest and juice, sugar, and salt in a small bowl.
Can be made three days in advance, which helps flavour develop. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Make: Spring Pea Chaat
Fill a large bowl with ice water.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Add peas to boiling water. Cook for 4 mins.
Add snap peas. Cook 2 mins.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the pea mix and plunge into ice water. Chill for 3 mins.
Drain well. Transfer to a larger bowl.
Heat oil in a small frying pan over medium-high.
Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds; toast.
Stir until fragrant, about 40 secs to 1 min. Stir in ginger, chaat masala, and chilli into a thick creamy paste.
Remove from heat.
Add to pea mixture in bowl. Combine gently.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Refrigerate, uncovered, until chilled, about 10 minutes.
To serve, drizzle with spicy mango-mint chutney and lemon raita.
Use coriander and pea shoots as garnish.
Plate up and tuck in!
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Bruce McMichael
Writer, Podcaster, Educator
Website: www.thelemongrove.net
Twitter: @lemonbites
Facebook: @lemongrovesocial
Instagram: @lemongrovepics
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org