Something For the Weekend #5
Some very good things to eat with summer wine
Hello my friends! Welcome to the fifth edition of Something For the Weekend, in which I’m sharing some outrageously delicious, delectably chic snacky sharing dishes (did you know prawn rolls are the new lobster roll!?) that are IDEAL paired with chilled summer wine (particularly pet nat, which you can read more about here), and frankly the only thing you’ll want to serve up for your summer gatherings this year.
Paid subscribers will be unlocking these special recipes, so if you happen to be reading this and are not yet a paid subscriber, perhaps it’s time to treat yourself to a membership to what I can only describe as my seasonally-shifting, interactive, ever-evolving cookbook. If you do, you’ll get access to all my entire recipe archive and all these benefits, but most importantly, you’ll be encouraging and supporting the work that I do developing recipes and writing these newsletters. And all for less than a pound a week, if you subscribe for the year (though monthly subs are available).
The temptation to moan about the lacklustre British summer we’ve been experiencing so far this season is strong, but I refuse to do it. I mean, I get it - the unpredictable downpours are undoubtedly really annoying, as is the endless wind we have here on the coast. But winter this is not, and - all flippancy aside for a minute - when people in Greece, other parts of Europe and Northern Africa are currently experiencing terrifying, horribly extreme heatwaves and wildfires right now due to the climate crisis (and massive love to anyone reading this out there who is caught up in that, and
writes movingly about exactly that here), in the UK we are lucky, by comparison. And on that note, if you want to donate to the Greece Wildfire Relief Fund, here’s a link.
Right, back to recipes. I tend to think we’ve got to make the most of whatever summer we have while the days are still long, and one of the best ways to do this, in my opinion, is to get people round, sit in the garden (weather allowing, lol), or park, or kitchen, and eat and drink delicious things. But I’m not talking about lunch or supper, this time. It’s not a barbecue, nor is it a picnic (don’t worry, that’s coming in August), it’s a snack and drinks gathering.
Sure, there might only be four of you, but it feels a bit like a little party, a cause for celebration. It’s potentially a boozy affair, if you like, with lots of well chilled wine and flavour-filled small bites to sate and delight your guests. It’s the sort of situation you might find yourself in on your summer hols, after a long day of lounging by the pool, when you grab nice things you’ve bought, or previously made, out of the fridge and arrange them on a table with lots of wine for people to dip into and help themselves. It’s for lazy afternoons that turn fuzzy at the edges and give way to sundowners, fire pits, and eventually, dancing under the stars. You know the drill.
And so I come to you with some next level ‘nibbly’, sharing recipes that pack a serious, bite- sized punch, look elegant and chic laid out on pretty plates on a cloth covered table, and are particularly suited to eating with a glass of cold, delicious wine (or kombucha for those non drinkers, and I see you pregnant ladies) in your other hand. In no particular order, we have these frankly outrageous prawn rolls - my budget friendly riff on the iconic lobster roll - elevated by a prawn shell butter/mayo situation; a juicy AF peachy, prosciutto draped salad with basil, golden-edged halloumi croutons and crispy capers; a hybrid frittata/tortilla deeply flavoured with sweet confit garlic and tomatoes; and light, crunchy, creamy, piquant artichoke crostini that will transport you to the Venetian backstreets.
Oh, and there’s my ultimate sour cream dip with crunchy, perfect iced crudites, because if I can’t transport myself to Provencal poolside with that little mouthful then my imagination has well and truly failed me.
Most components for these recipes can be cunningly made ahead in the morning when the kitchen is cool and you’re in the mood for a potter and an audiobook/album, and then pulled together while your guests arrive and you crack open some wine and chat. Get them to help. This is what summer gatherings are all about - communal, casual fun, so don’t be shy with that. And speaking of wines, I made all of these recipes for my friend Fiona Beckett, an authority on wine, and specifically, what to eat with wine, and author of the brilliant ‘Eat This, Drink That’ here on Substack. Fiona had the fabulous idea of doing a Kentish road trip and, knowing about my penchant for pet nat, aka Pétillant-Naturel: natural sparkling wine, she suggested a tasting of some of the most exciting bottles out there for this collaborative Substack piece on the joys of pet nats.
Fiona being Fiona, obviously showed up with the goods, along with fantastic food photographer Georgia Glynn-Smith, and we tasted the wines and feasted on these very recipes along with some dear friends, so I’m happy to say they have the seal of approval from one of the best palates in the biz! Fiona was particularly excited about the prawn rolls, which we think are the new lobster roll for our times. I hope you’ll agree. And if you can, grab a bottle of something wild and fizzy and funky to go with - perhaps choose something from our recommendations. Cheers, and as always, thanks for reading, and let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Prawn rolls and crisps
Makes 9 mini prawn rolls
OK so I’ve called it. This is not the summer for the lobster roll, as much as I LOVE them. In fact, going to North America to taste test legit lobster rolls in situ in Maine and Connecticut is on my bucket list of food exploits (perhaps I’ll do it one day for this Substack!). But this, my friends, is the summer of the Prawn Roll. And here’s why. Lobster is such a luxury here in the UK, and so expensive, and quite often when buying it already cooked, I’m a bit disappointed by the lack of juicy meat. And I’m certainly not going to be buying live lobsters and start dispatching them at home just at the moment with where I’m at with motherhood and cost of living. But prawns! Now prawns are another story…
I have a love, particularly, of the sweet little shell on cold water Atlantic prawns my fishmonger sells by the huge bagful (about a kilo costs less than one cooked lobster), and the benefit of buying them shell on and frozen and peeling them yourself at home is that they stay super fresh, don’t get all soggy, instead retaining a great texture and juicy bite. Plus, you can also use the shells to add a boost of flavour to the butter you’re going to use for the roll.
Yes, that’s right, we’re going to make a toasted prawn shell flavoured butter to cloak the sweet prawn meat before it’s piled into a soft roll with crunchy lettuce and seasoning. If you feel like that’s too much of a faff for you in the summer, leave the prawn butter step out and you’ve still got a really tasty roll. I just hate to waste those shells with all their nutty, sweet flavour potential. I made three rolls stuffed to the gills with prawns, and cut them each into three, so they fed about 9 people as a bite. Just scale up the quantities accordingly if you’re doing it for larger groups.