Charlotte's Newsletter | Issue 19

Issue 19 | Friday 11th November 2022

Welcome to Issue 19

Welcome back.

I hope you have had a good two weeks. Yet again, there has been lots happening in the last fortnight. It's been a time of great change for me, as I stepped down as Chair of The Guild of Food Writers after over two years at the helm. So, with lots more time on my hands, I'm excited to be working on some exciting new projects, which I hope to share with you in due course.

I have been trying to spend as much time in the kitchen as I can, and I've been working on developing some new recipes. As a general rule, I try to challenge to make something new when I make supper at home in the evenings. It is not always possible for reasons of time and organisation, but I really do think it's a worthwhile exercise, as it's easy to get stuck in a rut when cooking every day. It's been a successful week this week, which doesn't always happen. One particularly pesky bake took me nine attempts to get the recipe just right. Once I'm happy with the results, I'll send the recipe out to my recipe testing team to triple test it, so you can be confident any of my recipes you try will work. 

So, back to business. In this issue, I have some top recommendations for seasonal ingredients and recipes, as usual, plus some special discounts, recommendations for eating and drinking in the Cotswolds and some useful cookbooks to know about. 

I hope you will enjoy reading this weekend, and and will join me again next time. Please do share the newsletter with anyone you think may be interested. You can always subscribe by visiting my website, too. 

With my thanks for your continued support,

Charlotte

Charlotte's Basket

Over the last fortnight, my basket has been rather full with homemade produce from the garden. We have been tidying up the veg patch and preparing for winter, but there has been plenty to harvest still.

Beetroot, cavolo nero and chard are our remaining vegetables in the patch, but they are all available in the shops, with plenty of seasonal squash, mushrooms, leeks and cauliflower. 

There continues to be a profusion of apples around, and I've passed many houses with wheelbarrows of windfalls outside. I'd be making crab apple jelly this year if I didn't have such a stock from last year. If you've never made it before, I recommend giving it a go as it's so useful and very delicious.

I have also been filling my basket with lots of exotic treats after a trip to Bristol. I rather enjoy visiting the Sweet Mart on St Marks Road, where I stocked up on fresh curry leaves, mooli, and lots of hard-to-find spices. It's such a treat to be able to browse a different range of ingredients. In Birmingham, I go to Stratford Road, often to Goldens, to stock up on spices.

Charlotte Loves

Where to eat in the Cotswolds

I've been back in our old stomping ground this week, and I am often asked for recommendations from people planning a visit.

• Lynwood & Co. have a couple of branches and are excellent for coffee and some baked goods

• The Gumstool at Calcot

• Malt & Anchor in Cirencester

• The Potting Shed in Crudwell is good for a cosy drink

• The Chequers at Churchill serves good food and has a nice atmosphere

Charlotte Loves Discounts 

Many of you have been using these discount codes, so I'm keeping them here again if you need them...

LittlePod, the supplier of organic, responsibly sourced vanilla pods, pastes and extracts have offered 10% off their entire range purchased on their website. Use CHARLOTTELOVES to secure your discount.

Peter's Yard crisp bread and sourdough crackers. Use CHARLOTTELOVES to get 20% off the entire range on their website.

Pipers Farm have kindly offered you all a 20% discount off your first order if you use the CHARLOTTELOVES discount code. You can use this link to join their points scheme, too. 

I also have an amazing 20% off for new customers and 10% for existing customers at the Bold Bean Co. who produce the most delicious jars of beans. Visit their website and pop in CHARLOTTELOVES to secure your discount.
 

What to cook this week

• I've had so many requests for my oat crumble topping, and I've posted the recipe on my Instagram page, if you'd like to look it up.

• I am also very pleased to let you know that quite a number of my recipes are now up on the BBC Good Food website, with more to come, so do keep checking back.

• I'm making this dal at the weekend, with some greens from the garden. 

• I love Mexican food (and teach cooking classes) and made a banquet to mark día de los muertos at the start of the month. I've been thoroughly enjoying some of Thomasina Miers' vegetarian Mexican recipes here.

• Having enjoyed a delicious meal at Honey & Smoke in the last fortnight, I'm going to try and recreate this aubergine recipe at the weekend.

Budget presents for food lovers

I had a lot of lovely feedback for the gift suggestions in Issue 17.  This time, I wanted to share some nice ideas for low-cost gifts.

• Sous Chef sell a great range of interesting and unusual food items, gifts and homeware. Perelló gordal olives, Lakrids liquorice, dried pasta from Pasta di Aldi, Poons chilli oil, are delicious, interesting and inexpensive gifts.

• Waitrose sell some nice gift ideas, such as Ines Rosales Tortas de Aceite, Crosta & Mollica Fennel Tarallini and Williamson Earl Grey tea, which I think are particularly nice as well as some truly beautiful bottles of olive oil.

• Sainsbury's also have some products that are worth picking out. Rummo pasta and Odysea Pomegranate Molasses (and other nice things in jars, such as olives) are especially good.

Something for the Weekend

As the weekend approaches, here are 
some of my top recommendations for a selection of
seriously useful cookbooks.

Do, please, let me know if you try any of them, and what you think.

Brilliantly useful cookbooks

• Two's Company SIMPLE, by Orlando Murrin is such a useful book for uncomplicated and appealing everyday recipes for two. They are so clever in that the quantities, shopping list and methods are carefully judged to avoid waste.

• Chasing Smoke by Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich is a new book on my book shelf, and everything I've made from it has been really successful. 

• I have been cooking lots from Curry Lovers by Roopa Gulati in recent weeks. The books is small, but perfectly formed. Every recipe is a joy to make and eat.

Upcoming Cookery Classes

I am now running private cookery classes, either one-to-one, or for your friends or business. You can find out more on my website.