Charlotte's November Newsletter

Hello again.

It is a pleasure to welcome you all to my monthly newsletter and I’d like to thank you sincerely for subscribing. It’s fantastic to have a number of new members join this month. I’m a week later than usual this month and that’s because I wanted to send you all a preview of the my new book.

This month, I’m writing from Ireland, where I’ve had a busy week in Belfast and now Dublin. Yesterday was a huge day for me as Quick Prep Slow Cook was finally published. It’s been wonderful seeing readers start to share their feedback and cook the recipes from the book. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who’s ordered the book so far.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been travelling quite a bit. I had a fantastic trip to Modena - arguably the gastronomic capital of Italy - with the largest number of PDO food and drink products in Italy.

I then headed to the West Country for Dartmouth Food Festival, which has been a regular feature in my calendar over the last decade. I demonstrated the first recipes from my new book. It’s such a lovely food festival and this year was particularly special as they celebrated their 20th anniversary and the launch of their excellent new cookbook.

And if that were not enough, I’ve been in Northern Ireland this week, too, so it’s been a jam-packed month of brilliant food and drink.

I will be sharing some recommendations from my travels very soon. In the meantime, I have some new food and drink product recommendations for you, plus a seasonal recipe you might like to try or share.

I hope you will all have a positive and delicious month ahead.

With my very best wishes,

Charlotte

Charlotte Loves

This month, I thought I’d share a couple of food and drink recommendations that I have really enjoyed:

• You may have caught my recent post following my visit to the KellyBronze turkey farm in Essex. Do have a read if you’d like to know more - Thanksgiving and Christmas are not too far off. I will be sharing my top festive food and drink picks very soon.

• I huge new favourite drink is the Giuseppe Giusti Vermouth (first sampled in Modena, but happily available at Sous Chef). I’d say it’s a must-try for anyone who enjoys a negroni.

• I really enjoyed a visit to the Mazzetti balsamic vinegar HQ near Modena recently. Their Aceto Balsamico DOP vinegars are quite widely available here (Sainsbury’s and Waitrose sell them) so do give the genuine article a try.

• I’m a big fan of real kefir and this one from Hollis Mead on mail order is really good. I have a little every morning and I am convinced it does me some good.

• It’s Sherry Week this week, so I have been tasting some fantastic sherries at the Spanish Embassy and Quo Vadis in London (a real treat to enjoy some fantastic food from José Pizarro and Jeremy Lee, too).

  Sherry is a fantastic drink to serve both as an aperitif and with food. All styles of sherry, from Amontillado to Oloroso make a fantastic accompaniment to a meal instead of wine. Just make sure it’s really well-chilled and serve it in a wine glass to get the best from it. Some of my favourites are as follows (the links are to illustrate the bottles, not supplier recommendations):

  • Lustau Don Nuño Oloroso

  • Valdespino Tio Diego Amontillado

  • Don Zoilo Oloroso

  • Tio Pepe Fino en Rama

  • Barbadillo de la Pastora Manzanilla Pasada en Rama

Hedgerow Jelly

This is a favourite seasonal recipe of mine. It makes a gorgeous gift and is a wonderful accompaniment to lamb or venison. Depending on where you live, there will be a bit of variation as to when you may find the ingredients available to pick. It’s such a nice treat to make at this time of the year, so here’s the recipe to give it a go.

Hedgerow Jelly

Makes 5 x 340g jars

Ingredients

1kg crab apples

1kg hedgerow berries, including sloes, bullace, blackberries, rosehips, haw berries and elderberries

1kg granulated cane sugar

Method

Wash all the crab apples and berries well. Remove stalks and leaves. Roughly chop the apples and add them to a very large, lidded pan, together with the berries. Add water to the pan to just cover the fruit. Cover with a lid and simmer for around 30 minutes until the fruit is very soft and pulpy. The crab apples may be quite fluffy once cooked.

Set the pan aside to cool for 20 minutes and then put the contents of the pan into a jelly bag to strain. Set the jelly bag over a large, stable pan or mixing bowl to catch the juice.

You can improvise using a muslin cloth-lined colander and then once the free-flowing juice has been poured through, the pulp can be left in the muslin and tied up using string to drip through. You will need to leave this for at least an hour, or even overnight to get all the juice out. Don’t be tempted to squeeze the bag, as it can make the jelly cloudy.

To set the juice, the general rule of thumb is one pint (600ml) of juice and 450g (1lb) of sugar. Put the measured juice and sugar into a large, high-sided pan and bring to a hard boil. This should be as vigorous as you can safely achieve on your hob. Take great care to ensure the hot liquid doesn’t boil over, as you will notice it bubbles up the sides of the pan. Boil vigorously for 8-10 minutes or until it reaches 105C. Turn off the heat and leave for 10 minutes. Skim any scum off the top, using a spoon and discard. Carefully pour into jars, twist lids on tightly and set aside to cool. Don’t attempt to open or taste for 24 hours as the jelly settles and sets fully.

This jelly will be ready to enjoy once it is cool and set and will keep for at least a year in a cool cupboard.