Bonjour everyone! I had many grand plans of this newsletters return, with high falutin ideas of beautiful essays and writing diaries. However, I found myself on a four hour train to Norwich with no entertainment and to be honest, I realised the only way I would actually get it out is through sheer boredom and no sense of preciousness whatsoever. Of course, I could have done the usual roundup of music/TV/films that we get this time of year (I do have excellent taste, after all) but in the true spirit of this newsletter, it's time to round up the moments of some truly good food of 2022.
this absolute unit of a custard tart
In January I went to Kendal with some of my MA friends and discovered the magnificent Booths supermarket. It's Waitrose but somehow even posher? Not only did they sell my favourite Brianna's Honey and Mustard dressing but they have a phenomenal bakery section which sold this massive custard tart. Truly British innovation at it's finest.
thai iced tea at Thaikhun
While I'm usually more of a Lipton's girl, I couldn't resist trying an iced tea made with condensed milk. Of course, it absolutely banged, much to the detriment of my pancreas. Thaikhun is a great restaurant in general and definitely worth a trip!
Dishoom’s Kala Khatta Sharbat
I finally went to Dishoom not for breakfast this year and while the food was nice, the most memorable thing I tried was this berry drink that had salt and chilli in it? I was confused on how refreshing and moreish it was, I've never been so pleasantly surprised. Would recommend, even to the sceptical.
La Chouquette’s vanilla pecan eclair
Noone should be surprised that the star of Didsbury Village itself La Chouquette is on this list, considering this French bakery won the best bakery in the UK last year. However, a special shout-out goes to its vanilla pecan eclair, with the perfect combination of crunch, lightness and sweetness to make it my favourite dessert. It was especially enjoyed in the spring under the giant blooming magnolia tree in Parsonage Gardens for full Marie Antoinette vibes.
Bonne Maman Galettes pur beurre/Monoprix Gourmet Crepe Dentelle fourrees au cheddar/roquefort
This year, my body finally betrayed me and gave me COVID. At this point, it is incredibly passé to be locked indoors once more, but I was glad to receive some treats from one of my French angel Lucie. To be honest, I hadn't had either of these biscuits for years so I was glad to find out they both still exist. Now if England could get on selling them, that would be ideal, thank you.
The Portico Library’s very cheap lunches
While I am a regular at Manchester Central Library, there is the smaller, fancier cousin in the Portico Library, which has a lovely reading room and cafe with incredibly affordable lunches. A great place to work/pretend you’re researching something very important.
Nigella’s Guinness Cake
I’ve never met a Nigella recipe I didn’t like, and her Guinness cake recipe which I made for St Patrick’s day is no exception. (St Patrick’s day happened to time with my best friend Emma’s TV series Extraordinary wrapping filming, which is out on the 25th of January and you should all definitely watch). It’s an incredibly rich dense cake, probably because you start by melting a large lump of butter with a large saucepan of Guinness, but the cream cheese frosting is perfectly paired for balance.
Nell’s cheese and onion pizza
Recommended to me by a nice man who interviewed me for a job at Waterstones. While he didn't give me the job, he gave me this recommendation which, in the long term, was worth far more. In my opinion, the best vegetarian pizza in Manchester.
Blues kitchen donut that encapsulated an entire oreo
The first birthday treat meal I went for this year (of course like a true Aries, stretched my birthday out for at least a week), and I will never forget receiving a candle stuck in a donut. However, unlike most Frankenstein dessert amalgamations, these were pretty darn good.
smoked cheese and broccoli pasta
How do you jazz up a mac and cheese? An eternal question for vegetarians everywhere, but this year after picking up some reduced cheese sauce, I can heartily recommend adding smoked cheese and tenderstem broccoli to your pasta. I got obsessed with smoked cheese after a drunken snack during this years nailbiting Eurovision show, and I’ve been looking for a way to cook with it ever since. Also if you’re feeling fancy, you can add smoked salt too.
soy marinated eggs
How do you jazz up instant noodles? An eternal question for broke people everywhere. If you're willing to put in 30 minutes at the beginning of your week, I recommend hard-boiling eggs and marinating in a soy sauce-mirin mix. I use Ella Risbridger’s recipe from The Year of Miracles, which is a great book and also produces perfectly cooked eggs!
The concept of a caña
Like every good British tourist, normal etiquette very much flew out of the window when it came to my first holiday abroad post COVID this year, and we drank cañas of beer most times of the day. Even long after we had left Majorca, the philosophy of a cheeky caña has stuck around in our lives and our vocab, despite the drab English weather. A caña is best enjoyed straight from the fridge following a conspiratorial glance, a side smirk and someone proffering the idea as if it is slightly incredulous. Drink either indoors and outdoors (although ideally by a pool) and while can be drunk at any time is best in the afternoon, ideally paired with a barbecue or picnic. Yes, it's day drinking, but it's day drinking with style!
Aquarius
A non-descript lemony electrolyte drink introduced to me by my friend Is on the same Majorca holiday, and that I unfortunately got quite attached to and of course is not sold in the UK (as far as I’ve seen, if anyone has any tips, lmk). Great for warm weather and hangovers.
Panzerotti
You don’t think pizza can get better, then you have a fried pizza. Panzerotti is a dish originally from Central and Southern Italy, and while we were in Milan, we got to try one from Luini, which is a fantastic bakery right near the Duomo. Probably the best food I had in Italy (and that’s saying something).
Solo donuts
On the topic of our fried friends, I have always taken great pleasure in freshly made donuts (slightly greasy paper bag is a must) but this year I discovered the pure joy of eating them alone. I first enjoyed them while having a solo day in Edinburgh. After a lovely but action packed few days at the Fringe Festival, I decided to have a little bit of me time to go to shows spontaneously. This meant I found myself in the assembly gardens sitting by myself with a dinner of dumplings and donuts and it was a moment of pure bliss. As a woman, travelling alone can always have an hanging sense of dread over it, but sometimes you can simply just have a good time, and donuts are excellent accoutrements to do so.
Bao
The beauty of getting anyone a restaurant voucher is the possibility of getting to come with, and in my case, to possibly one of my faves in London. it had been a while since I'd been, but I’m glad to say Bao is still as good as ever. All the food was great, and a particularly fun culinary surprise was the salt flakes in my drink’s Yakult float.
Mandy's biscuit lessons
Anyone who has read this newsletter before knows my obsession with Mandy’s coconut oat biscuits, but this year I made the trip to Enniskillen and got a masterclass with the pro herself. Since leaving I have made them myself twice to pretty decent reviews - I haven’t managed to quite get the right crispness yet but currently attributing that to my absolutely terrible oven rather than my lack of skill. However, also I have had fun experimenting with colouring the white chocolate drizzle, so far I’ve made pink love heart cookies but as different holidays come up, the possibilities are endless.
tortino pistachio
I’ve been making a conscious effort to try and make new friends this year, and this year I had the delight of making friends with Tom, a comedian but more importantly, another vegetarian. This means new adventures to find Manchester’s best vegetarian food and recently we went for dinner at Sicilian NQ, a restaurant after my own heart as the dessert menu was as long as the rest of the menu. In particular, a shoutout must go to the Tortino Pistachio, which is just a little fondant sponge with a melting pistachio centre, but by god it was good. I had to stop myself from making an inappropriate noise right there in the restaurant. My advice is just to go there for the dessert and a glass of wine if you can. Also, anything with pistachio cream is a must.
The return of buttercream
My friend Cherelle is one of the best cooks I know and an excellent baker - she has made us some delicious birthday cakes over the year (including an exquisite carrot cake for mine); of course, this meant for her birthday, the pressure was on as we held a last minute celebration, which meant the quickest Victoria Sponge I've ever made. I don't think I had made one since my second year of uni, and because my memories of my buttercream attempts had been inexplicably sour I had avoided it for years, making almost any other kind of frosting instead.
But I love Cherelle so if time calls for buttercream, buttercream I must make.
And you know what, it was perfect. The sponge itself was alright (although the quantities were only enough for one sponge cut in half, but the buttercream was just like it should be. My confidence restored, I can't wait to embark once more on new baking buttercream adventures!
Lucie’s fake chicken pie
My friend and French angel Lucie is not only a great supplier of French goods butalso of great recipes (her peanut noodles are a Martin household fave) but a special shout out goes to her fake chicken and leek pie. After sampling it at her house, I recreated for Christmas with the addition of some reduced Portobello mushrooms, a bit of truffle pesto and a layer of Comte for true Christmas indulgence. Also there is something very satisfying about latticing a pie. The world of aesthetic pastry awaits me.
Obviously, my book
As you guys probably know, I’ve got a food memoir, Fussy, that will be published next year. This is obviously lifechanging, and I can’t wait for you all to read it and enjoy/judge me endlessly. However, it means I’ve been reading a lot of food writing this year, so I just wanted to shout out some great food books/writing:
A Half Baked Idea by Olivia Potts
A great memoir about grief, career crisis in your twenties (we’ve all been there, am I right???) and patisserie. I also got to meet Olivia this year after reading her book, and of course, she’s just as delightful in person as on the page.
Small Fires by Rebecca May Johnson
Probably the smartest book I’ve read about food, with such beautiful poetic writing that I love and had to reread several times over. I have currently lent it to my mum who loves poetry and also loves this.
The Year of Miracles by Ella Risbridger
As mentioned before, but a great book about grief, the shitshow that was the pandemic and falling in love! An essential for the food lover who is also a hopeless romantic (which I imagine is most of you.)
Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai by Nina Mingya Powles
Another one for the poets, but this is a great light read about food, home and identity that delights in the visceral description of food and eating.
Really great and diverse food writing newsletter that writes about anything and everything. Also No Cartouche is a great newsletter run by my editor Ben, who is just as a great writer as he is an editor, and it may also be publishing something very exciting next year from a certain me, so worth a follow!
Me in Reader’s Digest!
Shameless plug alert, but this year I wrote for Readers Digest recreating some classic recipes from an 114-year-old Mrs Beeton book I inherited off my grandma. You can read all about my disastrous cheese soup here.
That’s everything for now, but I’ve got some exciting pieces coming up next year to keep a lookout for, and I’ll try to keep this newsletter updated with book stuff. Also, I would love to know your food moments of 2022, so do comment/send a message.