Making Summer Simple
A free Recipe Booklet PDF
Yesterday morning I set out early and walked our hot black dog along the old railway track. I had lived here for over ten years before I discovered this haven for dog walkers and teenaged drinkers (judging by the occasional visual evidence of detritus) although I had walked past the hidden entrance to the track countless times. It is strange to think of a train running along and over the river, across Malling rec’ and off up country to Uckfield. All that’s left now are high embankments and a narrow road bridge over the top. It’s the high, tree clad embankments that offer the shade, so necessary for the walking of black dogs during this heat wave.
This is no time for generating heat in the kitchen, and so I am sharing here for those of you who do not have a copy - apologies for the repetition to those who do - my recipe booklet Making Summer Simple, which is all about using spices to prepare dressings, pastes, salts & sprinkles that can be called on again and again when creating salads, so minimising the time spent in the kitchen. There is also a lengthy introduction, from which you will find an excerpt below to entice you into the book as a whole.
Subscribers who were paying at the time of printing will have received a paper copy of this booklet - if you are a paid subscriber who arrived after this event, please send me an email or direct message and I shall post one out to you sevensistersspices@yahoo.co.uk. If you are not a paid subscriber and would like a hard copy, you can purchase one here for £6, or better yet - for me and for you economically - become a paid subscriber and I shall send you one, and a copy of my Spice Blend Recipe booklet too. Paid subscribers receive my Fanzine Hope’s Kitchen as well as any recipe booklets I produce, alongside discounts on products, workshops and events. I appreciate my paid subscribers very much as they allow me, through the income generated, to produce my Fanzine, a hope and love project. Issue 3 is in the works, the interview edition, and I am very much looking forward to the conversations that I will be having and recording in the process of putting it all together. I do not paywall content on this platform as I believe free access is important, but it must be said that I would not find or make the time to write without the income and psychological support that the income from my paid subscribers provides, if you enjoy Hope’s Kitchen and would like to gift me more time to write, becoming a paid subscriber for £5 a month or £50 for a year is a wonderful way to do this.
Spiced Salads: An Introduction
An extract from Making Summer Simple, PDF below
Spices can enliven salads throughout the year in so many ways it is honestly hard to know where to begin or how to stop! And so I will begin at what feels like the beginning - with the most obvious and perhaps straightforward way that we add flavour to salad - via a dressing….
When making a simple salad of fresh green leaves, the late great Marcella Hazan would recommend that you first dress the delicate leaves with extra virgin olive oil, to give them protection, before then seasoning with salt and pepper before finally adding a dash of vinegar. When salad leaves are abundant, as they are now here in the UK, and if you are fortunate to have easy access to home grown or locally grown fresh lettuce, I personally don’t think that you need much more than this. A stage along is a classic french dressing, which relies on the spiciness of Dijon mustard to add depth and tang. I also love using wholegrain mustard to make dressings, perhaps with a little maple syrup for sweetness or a dash of soy sauce for a salty kick. I often use harissa as a base for a salad dressing, mixing a generous teaspoon or two with extra virgin olive oil and some cider vinegar, sometimes mixing the harissa with a tablespoon of mayonnaise before adding the oil and vinegar if I feel like something creamy as well as piquant.
You will find full recipes for most things mentioned in this introduction on the following pages…
With love,
Chloe x
