Newsletter: 🎣🦀 Exploring Salt & Shore with Sammy Monsour and get set for Wimbledon 🎾🍓

Salt & Shore: Recipes from the Coastal South

American chef, restaurateur and author Sammy Monsour is known also for his political food activism. He is as likely to be in front of an audience advocating for sustainable aquaculture at the 2019 World Food Day event, as he is to be on television creating tempting modern dishes.

We are thrilled to bring you newly published Salt & Shore: Recipes from the Coastal South, available now also on ckbk. Written with mixologist Kassady Wiggins, the book shines a light on the richly diverse culinary heritage of Southern coastal communities, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

The recipes speak to a deep understanding and respect for the ingredients. Try Smoked Trout & Sweet Potato Hash, ‘the ultimate comfort food that’s just as good for dinner as it is for breakfast.’ Try Extra Fancy Crab Cakes, served with Garlicky Dill Pickles and Creole Mustard. The Whisky Thief cocktail using refreshing Cucumber Syrup, is just one of the innovative and regionally inspired drinks. For the alcohol-free, Pawleys Island Palmer is an intriguing elevated iced-tea.

Find all 133 recipes from Salt & Shore

Pictured above: Creole Bay Scallop Ceviche from Salt & Shore: Recipes from the Coastal South by Sammy Monsour and Kassady Wiggins

Wonderful Wimbledon

It’s that time of year again, when the tennis whites are dusted off and the racquet looks like an old friend, reminding you of tournaments won, and tennis courts you are soon to play on again. No? Quite content to watch the professionals do it and host a tennis watching party instead? Either way, the most important fortnight of the year for tennis is upon us, with Wimbledon taking place this year from July 1 to July 14. And for all of us, that is an invitation to green lawns, and elegant outdoor summer eating.

Cucumber Sandwiches strike the right note, and you can switch the sandwiches up a bit, while remaining very British, with this Coronation Chicken Sandwich Filling.

Drinks for a summer event can be anything you like that is cooling. But again, the most British you can get has to be Pimms, as in this Summer Cup. Or lashings, of course, of Homemade Ginger Beer.

Wimbledon does, of course, mean strawberries. The two go together like well… strawberries and cream. Find those grown locally to you, if you can. Fewer food miles is better for the planet, and some of the most delicious varieties don’t travel. Serve them plain, or with cream, or if you have an abundance get busy in the kitchen.

Take a simple but fresh approach and serve Strawberries and Borage with Flaked Almonds. Eton Mess is of course a grand idea.

Or for a stunning centerpiece try this Strawberries & Cream Meringue Layer Cake with Fresh Mint.

Anyone for tennis?!

Ingredient focus: gooseberries

Gooseberry bushes grow wild in much of the northern temperate zone, and have been in cultivation since the 13th Century. The European gooseberry is the most popular variety, and in the UK. Comparable in size to a large grape or cherry tomato, the fruit is translucent, and can be pale gold, deep green, or even ruby red, with many varieties developing a pink tinge when cooked.

Sweeter varieties can be eaten raw, but all are tart, and benefit from sugar. Their fruity acidity pairs well with oily fish, such as mackerel

Try this Grilled Mackerel with Gooseberry Relish. Gooseberry and elderflower is another great pairing – try these Mini Gooseberry & Elderflower Sponges.

Take a look at our 12 Ways with Gooseberries for more great ideas – this traditional Gooseberry Fool is a seasonal treat.

6 of the best recipes for cream tea

June 28 is National Cream Tea Day in the UK, a day encouraging us to meet up over a cream tea and raise money for charity. What a very good idea. The fixings for a cream tea are this week’s 6 recipes, including versions for the plant-based or gluten-free among you.

The cream tea is eaten across the British Isles, but is a speciality of Devon and Cornwall, and consists of scones, jam and clotted cream, and of course a cup of tea. This is not to be confused with afternoon tea – a refined meal of sandwiches and savouries, then patisserie, and then scones. Equally, high tea means something else entirely, and is the plain meal eaten early after a hard day’s labour or school day. It might be something hearty, like a baked potato, or beans on toast.