Recipe | Summer Weekend Roast

A weekend roast lunch for lighter, brighter days

This lamb with buttered greens and herbs is a light, summery dish using lots of the season’s best veg. Delicate, pink lamb nestled among a platter of buttery, greens along with an abundance of fragrant herbs is one of our favourite summer Sunday lunches. Just add friends.

Serves 2, generously

You will need

150g broccoli, cut into small florets
450g rack of lamb
65g butter
1 tbsp sunflower oil
250g (podded weight) of peas, mange tout, green beans
100ml white wine
Generous handful leafy green herbs (such as parsley, fennel, chervil, chives and mint)

To make

1 Preheat the oven to 220C/Fan 200C/Gas 7.

2 Steam the broccoli florets over a double boiler for 2–3 mins, or until al dente, then refresh in cold water to stop them over cooking. Set aside.

3 Season the lamb well. Place 15g butter and the sunflower oil in a frying pan over a high heat. Once sizzling, sear the lamb on all sides for about 5 mins, or until nicely brown.

4 Transfer to the oven for 10–12 mins. Remove and leave to rest for at least 10 mins while you finish the greens.

5 In the pan that you seared the lamb in, melt the rest of the butter over a medium heat then add the peas/ mange tout/beans, plus the broccoli and the wine. Bubble for 2–3 mins so that the alcohol evaporates and the greens cook through. Then add the herbs and check the seasoning.

6 To serve, pile the greens and all the buttery juices onto a warm platter. Slice the lamb into single cutlets and arrange on top.

Cook’s note: Just adjust the greens to whatever you have in stock or in the garden – runner beans, green beans, sugar snaps are all welcome, in any combination that you prefer.

This recipe is from our Veg Patch Pantry pages in our June issue, in which Kathy Slack shares how to enjoy the month’s vegetables from her own garden patch. This month’s recipes also include Raw Courgette Salad with Mozzarella and Parma Ham, Cucumber Cooler Cocktails and Strawberry Ice Cream with Lemon Verbena Shortbread.

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June | Things to Appreciate

A few things to see outdoors this month and a thing to do, too…

To accompany this ‘nature table’ image from our back cover by Alice Tatham, you might like to listen to our Podcast of the month from our Almanac Pages, where each month we collate a few seasonal things to note and notice, plan and do.

As The Season Turns
Lose yourself in the sights and sounds of nature each month in this charming podcast by organic perfume makers, Ffern, narrated by The Simple Things’ writer and annual author of The Almanac, Lia Leendertz.
Listen to As The Season Turns here.

The nature table image above was taken by Alice Tatham of The Wildwood Moth. She also runs workshops on seasonal photography and publishes seasonal journal stories from her home in Dorset.

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Recipe | Midsommartårta

A Midsommartårta (Midsummer Strawberry Cake) is always enjoyed at midsummer festivities in Sweden – this light version is moreishly bite-sized, so don't expect any left at the end of the party...

Makes 8-12 cakes

You will need

6 egg whites
A pinch of sea salt
150g golden caster sugar
2 tsp rose water (or 1 tbsp ground dried rose petals)
150g ground almonds
A little olive or coconut oil, to grease the pan
300ml double cream
1kg strawberries, hulled
4 tbsp strawberry, raspberry or rhubarb jam
To serve: Edible flowers and wild berries

To make

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. Whip the egg whites with a pinch of sea salt until glossy and meringuelike then gradually add the sugar, whipping until it holds a medium peak. Whisk in the rose water.

2 Shake in the ground almonds slowly, whisking to keep the air in the whites.

3 Brush the inside of a muffin tin or a mini bundt tin with a little oil. Divide the batter between the holes in the tin, filling each just to the top – you should have 8-12 cakes.

4 Slide into the centre of the oven and bake for 12 mins, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool for 5-10 mins before removing from the tin.

5 While the cakes cool, trim the green tops from the strawberries, halve or quarter any larger berries. Mix with the jam and set aside. Whip the cream until just thickened.

6 Once the cakes have cooled, run a knife around the edges to help release them from the tin. If the cakes are a little pale on top, you can flash them in the oven. Upturn to lightly toast them on the top or until lightly golden.

Serve with the strawberries and cream and garnish with edible flowers (and/or wild berries, if you can find some). Cook’s note: The cakes are best served on the day of making but they’ll keep in an airtight tin (once fully cooled) for 1–2 days. You can also freeze, defrost in the fridge and flash in a warm oven to take the chill off, before serving.

This recipe, by Rachel de Thample, is part of our ‘Midsummer Feast’ ‘gathering menu. It features Scandi dishes including Cold Cucumber Soup with Summer Flowers, Roast Beetroot Salad with Crispy Capers, Home Pickled Herring with Fennel, Pommes Anna with Dill Sour Cream and Ryeknäckebröd with Caraway. There’s also an idea for a Meadowsweet and Strawberry Schnapps to wash it all down. Midsummer Feast, it may be, but we think you can enjoy it any day this summer. If you’re making a day of it you may also like to try your hand at the Floral Crowns or some of the other Midsummer traditions on the pages. All in the June issue.

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Playlist | The best of the festivals

Image: Shutterstock

In our June LINGER issue we take a look back at the history of the music festival. Pop this playlist on as you have a listen to really immerse yourself in the moment – and take a read of the stories behind our selection below.

Listen to the playlist on Spotify here.

DJ: Julian Owen

The Wailing Boat by Ted Heath

Recorded at the Beaulieu Jazz Festival (1959)

Up Jumped the Devil by The New York City Ramblers

Recorded at the Newport Folk Festival (1961)

It’s All Over Now by The Rolling Stones

Studio version of a song they played at the National Jazz & Blues Festival in 1964

Light my Fire by The Doors

Their first hit, heading up the charts as they played the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival in 1967

Shake by Otis Redding

Live at Monterey (1967). Has there ever been a better festival set opener? Look up Monterey Pop, filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker’s magisterial overview of the pioneering Californian gathering.

Woodstock by Matthews Southern Comfort

With a respectful nod to the Joni Mitchell original, which isn’t available on Spotify

Oh Happy Day by The Edwin Hawkins Singers

On the same June weekend that Woodstock rocked upstate New York, Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson and Nina Simone headed a stupendous line up of funk, gospel and soul as the Harlem Cultural Festival hit the city – this is a live recording from that event (aka the Summer of Soul) in 1969.

So Long, Marianne by Leonard Cohen

Live at the Isle of Wight in 1970.

54-56 Was my Number by Toots & The Maytals

One of the stars of the 1970 Caribbean Music Festival at Wembley. As featured in Reggae, an evocative look at reggae’s impact on Britain

I’ll Take You There by The Staple Singers

Recorded at Wattstax in 1972 – in 1972, the celebrated Stax label put on a Los Angeles benefit concert to commemorate the Watts riots, showcasing its stellar soul roster.

Kama K’iwacu by The Drummers of Burundi

Recorded at the first WOMAD in 1982

It’s Like That by Run-D.M.C. Vs. Jason Nevins

The old school rappers headlined the first Creamfields in 1998, the year after Jason Nevins’ remixed their 1983 debut single

If It Makes You Happy by Sheryl Crow

Recorded at the notorious Woodstock 99 and thereby drenching the “… it can’t be that bad” payoff in irony

Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie

Recorded at Glastonbury 2000

The Best of the Festivals playlist on Spotify

Tipple | Strawberry Mimosas

With notes of Wimbledon, garden days and long, balmy evenings, these strawberry mimosas taste of June in a glass

Serves 6

400g strawberries
1 tbsp local raw honey
1 bottle of prosecco, chilled
A handful of fresh mint leaves

1 Set aside one whole strawberry per serving to top each glass, then remove the green tops and halve the rest of the strawberries before adding to a small pan over a medium heat with a tablespoon of water and the honey.

2 Use a stick blender to blitz the mix until smooth, then allow to cool. Pour the syrup into a sterilised glass jar or bottle and seal until you're ready to use it. Store in the fridge if making the day before.

3 To serve, fill a third of a champagne flute with the strawberry syrup and top up with chilled prosecco. Give your mimosa a good stir and garnish your glass with a fresh strawberry and a few mint leaves. Enjoy!

This cocktail recipe is from our Salad Days feature in our June issue, which includes a menu for a gathering of friends in the garden, including Asparagus, Goat's Cheese and Pesto Puffs, Spring Greens Floral Salad, Spinach and Feta Herby Quiche, Lemon Flower Biscuits and Orange, Honey and Cardamom Cakes.

More tipples to tickle your fancy…

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June | a final thought

We’ve reached the end of our June issue this week. We' hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Here’s the image from our back cover: in many ways a poignant one this month. With all the bad and frightening things there are in the world, a reminder to take action while remaining calm and staying angry (in a useful and positive way) is pretty timely. We were remided that it’s ‘doing’ that changes things, even when our actions may be quiet and small.

Our July issue is out soon. We can’t wait to share it with you.

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Debate | winning wafer biscuits

Pink wafer or Tunnocks caramel? Which is the King of the Scottish wafer biscuits?

Our June Miscellany page features some of our most loved biscuits and there was some heated discussion among The Simple Things’ team about which biscuit was best. So we decided the only fair way to settle it was in a head-to-head debate. We’ve pitted two Scottish champions against each other: the pink wafer biscuit and the Tunnocks wafer. Below you can read the (very serious) debates on both sides, and then do cast your vote, on our blog or on our Facebook or Instagram feeds so we can crown one or other the winner. Now it’s over to the biscuits…

The Pink Wafer

Originally created by Crawfords in Edinburgh and latterly by United Biscuits, the pink wafer is a children’s party staple and a secret favourite among adults, too. Who could resist that lighter-than-air first bite and the way the leaves of wafer melt biddably into your mouth? 

Built from layers of dyed pink wafer (because it’s nice to make an effort isn’t it?) interlaced with vanilla cream, the pink wafer looks as attractive as it tastes delicately sweet. Chunky, clumpy biscuits (we’re looking at you, Tunnocks) might be satisfying but they’re nothing to look at are they? The pink wafer, meanwhile, brings colour, fine texture and, might we say, a little glamour to a plated array of digestives, Malted Milks and the like. They are the biscuit one can rely on to ‘lift’ the rest of the plate. 

So delicate are they, it has often been argued they are more of a cake. Pish and fie is what we say to this; the wafer is a recognised subset of biscuits and what’s more, it fulfils the brief well. If we wanted something chewy, we would buy a flapjack. If we wanted something chocolatey we’d visit a sweetshop instead. Wafer biscuits should be crips, meltingly delicate and light, and the pink wafer ticks every box. This house believes wafers should be wafers. 

The Tunnocks Caramel Wafer

When we reach for a biscuit, we don’t want some mimsy bit of confectionery that you could inhale without noticing, we want something filling, something substantial, something that can be dunked briefly in a cup of tea without fear of biscuit decomposition. 

If that’s what you demand from your biscuits too then the Tunnocks caramel wafer is the only wafer biscuit to consider. Another Scottish invention (St Andrew’s University has its own Tunnocks Caramel Wafer Appreciation Society - and so it should), it’s been proudly displayed in its geometric gold and red wrapping since 1956. 

The bar is made up of five layers of wafer, with four layers of caramel between, wrapped in a thin layer of chocolate. And that’s where it has the edge over the pink wafer. If they’d only thought to dip them in chocolate, pink wafers would not get nearly so stale and slightly soggy as they occasionally do. Not so the Tunnocks. 

Secondly, the addition of the sticky caramel gives the Tunnocks a far superior, more architectural make-up. The layers of caramel are chewy enough to bond the wafer successfully so you don’t end up with a lapful of crumbs and it also gives your jaws a bit of a work-out. Because we all know that the best store cupboard treats make your mouth hurt just a little (see also Pickled Onion Monster Munch and Twiglets).

In conclusion, where the pink wafer is an amuse bouche (and amusing it may be) the Tunnocks Caramel Wafer is practically a meal. We rest our case.

These biscuits are the work of Charlotte Farmer. You can buy her artwork at charlottefarmer1.etsy.com or follow her on Instagram, @lottiefarmer7 . You can see more of her biscuit illustrations in our June issue.

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Moments | reading in railway carriages

There’s something special about reading in a railway carriage. Perhaps it’s the rhythm of the ‘faster than fairies, faster than witches’ carriages rattling along as you read, or maybe it’s the way the countryside unrolls like a plot as you go. We have a particular penchant for reading a railway-based book on a train journey. So we’ve matched a few books with a few train journeys to inspire you. Think of it like a cheese and wine pairing, but with choo-choos and words. 

Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone

Read it:  on any train from platform nine or ten at King’s Cross, London.

Bring with you: Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans.

If you can’t locate Platform nine-and-three-quarters simply enjoy chugging out of this magnificent station, pretending you’re on your way to Hogwarts for the first time. 

Murder on the Orient Express

Read it: on the Istanbul to Paris line via Belgrade.

Bring with you: a pipe and a handkerchief embroidered with the letter H.

Get your little grey cells to work as you relive the great age of steam through Agatha Christie’s 1934 crime novel.

The Railway Children

Read it: On the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway at Oakworth Railway Station.

Bring with you: Apple Pie (for breakfast). How perfectly ripping.

Feel your heart swell with a love of steam as you read the immortal opening line: ‘They were not Railway Children to begin with.’

Strangers on a Train

Read it: On a train from New York to Texas

Bring with you: a good alibi.

Eye up your fellow passengers and mull over which might be best at committing the perfect murder while you settle into Patricia Highsmith’s fabulous 1950 thriller.

The Girl on the Train

Read it: on a commuter train from Buckinghamshire to Euston. 

Bring with you: gin in a tin for the journey home.

Nose in a few kitchens and back gardens as you pass through suburbia and enjoy making up backgrounds for the lives of the people whose houses you pass. There’s nothing like a train for people-watching. 

The picture above by Andreas Von Einsiedel is from our Home Tour feature in our June issue - a house built around a railway carriage! If you like the idea of escaping to a railway carriage for a weekend, you might like to know you can stay in the house itself, The Bolthole, in Pagham, West Sussex.

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History | Vintage Vulgarities

In 1785, Captain Francis Grose compiled A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – an impressive compilation of the choice vocabulary he heard in the less genteel areas of London. It’s still in print (a pocket version was published by Chronicle Books earlier this year) and is testament to the values of its time – and the evolving wonders of the English language. A few choice definitions follow:

A BLOWSE or BLOWSABELLA: A woman whose hair is dishevelled, and hanging around her face; a slattern

BUMFIDDLE: The backside, the breech.

CATCH FART: A footboy: so called from such servants commonly following close behind their master or mistress.

CRINKUM CRANKUM: A woman’s commodity

FLASH LINGO: The canting or slang language

GOTCH-GUTTED: Pot-bellied: a gotch in Norfolk signifying a pitcher, or a large round jug.

JOHNNY BUM: A he or jack ass; so called by a lady that affected to be extremely polite and modest, who would not say jack because it was vulgar, nor ass because it was indecent.

JUST-ASS: A punning appellation for a justice.

NOB: The head

TALLYWAGS or TARRYWAGS: A man’s testicles.

---

If a bit of a swear-up makes you feel better occasionally you are not alone and you might like to read our feature Strong Words on p44 of our June issue by Frances Ambler. It features lots of examples of the ways in which swearing can be good for you, including a look at the work of Whitstable’s Profanity Emrboidery Group (pictured above) - @pegwhistable

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Recipe | Bakewell slice

Fragrant frangipane, crunchy almonds and no sickly sweet fondant in sight makes a lovely tea-time treat

Makes 12

For the sweet pastry base:
200g plain flour
50g ground almonds
75g caster sugar
160g salted butter (at room temperature), cubed
1 egg yolk

For the Filling:
150g raspberry jam
130g salted butter, softened
160g caster sugar
4 eggs
260g ground almonds
40g flaked almonds, to decorate

1. To make the base, put the flour, ground almonds and caster sugar in a bowl and combine. Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub it into the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk, then mix and knead the dough to create a tight, smooth ball. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 mins. Before use, allow to stand at room temperature for 10-15 mins.
2. Preheat the oven to 170C/Fan 150C/ Gas 3. Roll out the sweet pastry base until it's 5mm thick and use it to line a 34x20cm baking tray, gently pushing it into the edges. Trim off any excess.
3. Prick the base a few times with a fork, then line with baking parchment and fill with baking beans before blind baking for 15-20mins. Leave to cool, but leave the oven on. Once cooled, spread the raspberry jam over the base.
4. To make the filling, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the ground almonds and whisk thoroughly.
5. Spoon the filling over the jam base right up to the edges. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds, then bake for 30-35 mins until golden on top and firm in the middle. Cool before cutting into 12 slices.

This recipe is from the June issue of The Simple Things. If you fancy a little something sweet the issue also has recipes for a yarrow cake, crab apple tarte tatin, meringue kisses and more.

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Taken from Artisan Home Baking: Wholesome and Delicious Recipes for Cakes and Other Bakes – Recipes from Meg Rivers, Bakers of Happiness (Ryland Peters & Small) Photography: Steve Painter

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Interesting things | secret signs on houses

Rainbows are gracing many of our windows right now as a symbol of hope but they weren’t the first symbol to have been displayed on our windows and doors as a sign of solidarity, welcome or more 

From the Icthus ‘fish’ symbol to let passers-by know you were a Christian, to a European flag to let them know you voted Remain, we’re all quite keen on displaying signs on the outside of our homes as messages to others. At Halloween, a pumpkin in the window is a sign trick-or-treaters are welcome, at Christmas a wreath goes out to welcome in both neighbours and the season. 

Here are a few more secret signs that people have displayed to send a clandestine (or not so clandestine) message to others over the years, that you might not know about. 

Candles

When practising the Catholic faith was outlawed under British repression in Ireland, priests went underground, conducting masses in secret. Catholics would leave a candle burning in their window and the door unlocked to let priests know they could sneak in for a quick bit of clandestine Catholicism. When the British queried the practice they were told it was to represent the pure and open of heart welcoming Our Lady and the Christ child into their homes. Sneaky!

Secret paintings

In 18th Century South Africa, the Ndebele people were at war with the neighbouring Boers. They suffered great losses and terrible treatment at the hands of the Boers and began to express their grief and anger with symbols painted on their houses to communicate with other Ndebele groups. The Boer farmers thought it was simply cultural art so allowed it to continue. 

Blood on the doorposts (or something slightly less frightening if you prefer)

In the story of the Passover, Moses tells the enslaved Israelites to paint their doorposts with the blood of a lamb they have sacrificed. When the angel of death passes over their houses, those with blood were ‘passed over’ and the Israelites remain safe, while the firstborn son of every Egyptian home died. Some Jews still mark this, the beginning of their safe passage out of Egypt, with a decorative piece of red cloth over the door as they celebrate Passover each year., cloth being a little less of a terror to get off paintwork than lamb’s blood.

Horseshoes

A message to Old Nick himself to warn him off. The story goes that St Dunstan (patron saint of blacksmiths) was visited by the devil who demanded a horseshoe for one of his cloven hooves. St Dunstan nailed a red hot horseshoe to his hoof and said he would only remove it if the devil promised to respect the horseshoe and never again visit any home with one displayed. (Sadly, this doesn’t work for political canvassers, junk mail and the like.)

Pampas grass in the front garden

Said to be a sign that the occupants are, ahem, ‘swingers’ looking for willing participants, sales of the sharp-leafed plant have apparently plummeted in recent years as home-owners have cottoned on that they may be attracting unwanted attention.

Rude graffiti

In ancient Rome, phalluses were carved everywhere but were often seen on doors and around windows as a symbol of protection or good fortune (and you thought horse shoes were weird). Rather charmingly, tiny phalluses were also used like arrows, pointing men in the direction of the nearest brothel. We’d say ‘when in Rome’ but perhaps best NOT to go carving any willies on windows if you’re visiting.

Hobo emojis

Around the turn of the 20th century in America, hobos (men travelling from place to place looking for work and hitching illegal rides on freight trains) would leave little hieroglyph style pictures all over the place, but often on doors, to give other hobos useful information such as where alcohol could be found, where good places were to get a train and where law-makers lived. A square and a circle each with a dot in meant ‘an ill-tempered man lives here’, a simple cat denoted ‘a kind lady lives here’. How reliable this all is, is uncertain - the tales of the hobo symbols were passed down by hobos themselves, who were known for enjoying a tall tale. 

Quilts

Legend has it that on the Underground Railroad in the States (a network of people offering safe houses and passage to slaves escaping from the south) quilts were stitched with secret messages to aid escape and then hung from windows and clothes lines. Escaping slaves would know the house’s owners might help them and the quilts would give them information about where to go next and how to stay safe.

You can read more about rainbows and their history in our June issue, which is on sale now.

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Recipe | Meringue kisses

These melt-in the mouth meringue kisses are great with berries… who needs Wimbledon to enjoy them?

Makes 20 kisses

2 egg whites
125g white caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract (1 tsp sifted cocoa powder, if making chocolate ones)

FOR THE KISS MIXTURE
100ml double cream
3 tbsp lemon curd
2 tbsp blackcurrant jam (Or 100ml double cream and a handful of strawberries, hulled and finely chopped)

1 Put the egg whites in a large, clean bowl and whisk until they hold soft peaks.
2 Add the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, whisking in each spoonful as you go. Once all the sugar is combined and the egg whites are glossy and stiff, add the vanilla extract. If making the chocolate variety, now is the time to fold in the cocoa powder, too.
3 Preheat the oven to 120C/Fan 100C/ Gas ½. Fill a piping bag with the mix and pipe 40 little peaks about 2cm apart on a lined baking sheet.
4 Bake for approximately 1 hr, until dry and crisp. Allow the meringues to cool fully before removing them carefully from the baking sheet.
5 In a bowl, whisk the cream and add your chosen fruity component.
6 To serve, take a meringue and sandwich it together with a second meringue using about 1 tsp of filling.

This recipe is part of our June ‘Gathering’ pages, which features some of our most magical summer recipes. You can find the rest of the recipes, including crab toasts and elderflower fizz from page 36.

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Playlist | Hop, skip and jump

Do the Moon Hop, Mix it with the Kangaroo, jump!

Listen to the playlist here.

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June: a final thought

This marks the end of our June ‘shine’ issue. We hope it brought a little sunshine into your life.

As is tradition now, here’s a haiku we penned as an ode to June. Write your own in the comments below or leave it for us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Five, seven, five, remember. We’ll send a lovely book to the author of our favourite.

Grass-stained feet, bed before dark,

Days longer than nights.

Midsummer folly all round.

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Pudding facts: strawberries and cream

Like the look of these strawberries and cream muffins? Join us in delving into their history (before we delve into their paper cases and get our faces mucky)

Wimbledon begins again in just over a week. And out come the strawberries and cream. Of course, everyone associates the dish with the tennis tournament but we only recently learned why, and just how far back strawberries and cream goes…

It’s summer, 1509. Henry VII has recently shuffled off his mortal coil and his son, Henry (soon to be VIII) has set about spending his father’s carefully tended coffers. Henry has married Catherine of Aragon and is shortly to have a bun in the royal oven. As is custom, on ascending the throne, he has also released most of the country’s prisoners. A generous, if fairly rash idea. All in all, it’s early days, they know nothing of the difficulties to come. It’s a summer of love, of excess… and of feasting.

Royal banquets were expected to feed up to 600 at a time. Twice a day. A feat that would make a bottle of Fairy Liquid cower today. Thomas Wolsey was tasked with arranging all this and, with 600-odd guests chomping their way through up to 44 courses at any one meal, some of those courses would need to be very simple to prepare.

The combination of strawberries and cream is said to have first appeared at one of these feasts in 1509. Cream had previously been considered a peasant food - the Turkey Twizzler of its day - but the dish went down a storm. And of course, what was served for the King soon became fashionable in every well-to-do dining room across England. English ladies became so excited about the pud, they were charging their gardeners to cultivate strawberries to serve to their own dinner guests. The country went briefly strawberries and cream mad.

But whence came the tennis link? Thomas Wolsey’s palace had a tennis court, where he apparently also served strawberries and cream. Well don’t we all have that one signature pud we always fall back on when guests descend?

By the time the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament began in 1877, it was obviously peak strawberry season, but also Tudor history was ‘having a moment’. It seems to have a moment at least once a century - Hilary Mantel didn’t jump willy nilly on that particular bandwagon, of course. So all the planets were aligned for strawberries and cream to make a comeback. And come back they did. But they never left.

And why would they? Sweet, juicy strawberries and rich, cold cream are one of history’s most winning combinations, going together like love and marriage, fun and feasting… Henry VIII and gout…. Yes, maybe go easy on the cream with those strawberries this Wimbledon.

We’re celebrating Wimbledon with these strawberries and cream muffins (pictured) from our June issue, which is on sale now if you’d like the recipe. Just the thing to accompany your cuppa during the Women’s Final. The recipe from The Tin & Traybake Cookbook by Sam Gates (Robinson). Photography: Peter Wright

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One small change | lose cling film

Little changes you can make to create a big difference for the planet

Here at The Simple Things we’ve been trying to make one small change to our lifestyles each month - things we know we should be doing, like switching to refillable soap and cleaning products, using cloths instead of throwaway wipes. This month, inspired by our Cups of Tea feature with the co-owner of The Beeswax Wrap Company, Fran Beer, we’re hoping to try getting shot of cling film.

Let’s be honest, cling film is super-convenient. But it’s plastic, it’s not (very) reusable and there are much more attractive options. Here are a few swaps you could make to bring a little more joy and a little less wrappy plastic to your life…

Leftover cake

Use a pretty tin instead. If you don’t already have a dedicated cake tin, you need to practise a little more self-care anyway.

Cheese

Beeswax wraps (above) are ideal for odd bits of cheese. Get a pack of different sized wraps and you’ll have enough for your large wedge of brie or your knob-end of parmesan.

Lunchtime sandwiches

Wax or cloth wraps work well for sarnies, too, but a reusable sandwich box will save it from getting squished in your bag.

Half a tin of soup, beans (or anything)

Reusable can lids (like the ones they sell for pet food) work a treat and just pop in the dishwasher after use ready for next time.

Half used veg

If pre-chopped most veg can be kept from spoiling by putting it in a bowl of water in the fridge (good for carrot sticks, scrubbed potatoes etc). Otherwise, store cut veg like peppers and cucumber in the salad drawer. In all honesty, the cut side gets a little dry whether wrapped in cling film or not so you’re best not bothering and just slicing off a thin bit of the exposed edge before you next chop some off.

Bread

Get a bread bin. See our self-care note above re cake tins. It’s just wrong not to have one.

Homemade biscuits

Don’t be silly. Just finish them off, for goodness’ sake!

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What I treasure | My allotment

Shelley Verdon tells us why this small patch of land is what she holds most dear

Quite what possessed me to get an allotment with no experience in growing anything, I’m not sure, but I’d recently moved back home to my mother’s flat in 2015 after a stint working away. The allotment is on the River Mole in Surrey, nestled between farmland and a wholesale nursery. The first thing I planted was a wildflower meadow. That may seem unusual, but my decision-making about the allotment hasn’t been particularly rational. I wanted plants that would bring me joy.

So I toiled one early-autumn day, clearing the weeds, preparing the ground and then scattering the seeds. And then I waited. Not much happened and eventually, by late winter/ early spring, I gave up and threw some black plastic sheeting over the patch, thinking the area must have gone to weeds.

A couple of weeks later the plants were pushing up against the black plastic, trying to get to the light. I realised with delight that I had a growing wildflower meadow. The meadow is a mixture of cowslips, oxeye daisies, thistles, lady’s bedstraw, sorrel, ragged robin, buttercups and vetch. And the insects came. It started out with mayflies bobbing diligently above my meadow, followed by small beetles, hoverflies, bees, bumblebees, crickets, blackfly and ladybirds. I’ve been amazed at how much pleasure watching the insects gives me. Sometimes I lie down between my rose bed and the wildflower meadow to watch the bees and butterflies moving from thistle to thistle and listen to bumblebees vibrating in my apothecary roses. 

My grandmother died a couple of years ago, then my mother was diagnosed with an illness and made redundant. I would bring her to the allotment on Sunday evenings, the evening our family used to get together before my brother and his family moved to Australia. She’s a barefoot and haphazard gardener, which is fascinating, amusing and infuriating to watch. She throws seeds without care, then proceeds to grow things that no one else on the allotments can.

I’m not sure how I’d have got through the last couple of years without the allotment. It has been a godsend. “Better than winning the lottery,” said my mother. I should point out, however, that neither of us has won the lottery yet.

Tell us about your treasures

What means a lot to you? Tell us in 500 words and email to thesimplethings@icebergpress.co.uk and your essay could appear in a future issue of The Simple Things.

The above piece was featured in the June issue of The Simple Things. Get hold of your copy of this month's issue -  buy, download or subscribe

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Cook | Mackerel and samphire fishcakes

Samphire is summer on a plate. Try these with a vibrant Green Goddess sauce

These delicious fishcakes can be made with foraged samphire, which is all over mudflats and estuaries at this time of year. But feel free to buy it from Waitrose or fishmongers if you had a less active lunch in mind. You can also buy samphire plants to grow from specialist nurseries. Plant next year in April or May for a crop in summer. Make the Green Goddess sauce before you go if you’re off foraging and keep it in a tightly sealed jar.

300g new potatoes

2 tbsp soured cream

A couple of knobs of butter

250g smoked mackerel fillets

A handful of samphire, washed and chopped

A few tbsp plain flour

Lemon to squeeze over for the dressing

2 anchovies

1 clove crushed garlic

5 tbsp mayonnaise

5 tbsp sour cream

A handful of parsley leaves

handful of tarragon leaves

A bunch of chives

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain, add the soured cream, a knob of butter and a few grinds of black pepper and mash roughly, so there are still plenty of bigger chunks. Set aside to cool.

2 Flake the mackerel fillets into the potatoes, again leaving plenty of larger pieces, and add the samphire. Form into little patties and transfer to the fridge to firm up.

3 Meanwhile make the dressing. Put all the ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth and green. Taste and season as required. The dressing will keep in a jar in the fridge for up to one week.

4 Put the flour on a plate, then roll the chilled fishcakes in the flour. Heat a knob of butter in a frying pan and fry the fishcakes until nicely browned on both sides. Serve hot with lemon and the green goddess dressing.

This recipe is from Lia Leendertz’s foraging feature in our June issue, which has lots more samphire recipes in it from a light lunch idea to a fresh sea vegetable and seafood dashi, as well as information on where to find samphire and how to cook it.

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Places to go: Pier review

Who doesn’t love a pier? We’ve found the best around Britain for every sort of seasidey day out

Herne Bay Pier by Rob Ball

Who doesn’t love a pier? We’ve found the best around Britain for every sort of seasidey day out

Piers for pleasure are a uniquely British thing, which is a surprise really. Why wouldn’t anyone want to be able to head out into the sea without getting their hair wet, after all? We’ve selected a few of our favourites from around the country, each celebrated for its own particular pleasures.

Best for a good stroll

You don’t want to take a long walk of a short pier, do you? So head to Southend, which is Britain’s longest pier at 2,156m long. Quite a whopper. Sir John Betjeman, founder of The National Piers Society once said ‘The pier is Southend. Southend is the pier.’

Best for train travel

Many piers have a small railway on them. If it wasn’t nailed down the Victorians put a train track on it, of course. But Hythe Pier is home to Britain’s oldest continuously operating narrow gauge pier railway and has services every half an hour. You can take the train to the ferry service from the end of the pier that crosses Southampton Channel to Southampton.

Best for foodies

You won’t go hungry on Llandudno pier. It has a stall selling freshly baked pies, others selling smoked oysters and muscles, a branch of the Great British Cheese Company and a traditional sweet shop. You can wash it all down with a pint of craft beer from the Pier Bar.

Best for fishing

Deal Pier is apparently a prime spot for landing mackerel, as well as pollack, sole, garfish and mullet in the summer months. Best spots are the lower deck at the south and north corners and the upper deck between the second and third shelters, facing towards Dover. Fact fans: Deal is also Britain’s ‘youngest’ pier.

Best for thrill and spills

Bournemouth Pier has a pier-to-beach zip-line, so you can play at being the Milk Tray Man, and its old theatre now houses activities for adrenaline junkies, such as climbing walls, an aerial assault course and a vertical drop slide. Wheeeeeeeee!

Best for old-fashioned fun

Blackpool’s North Pier is one of the most iconic of all and a trip here is like stepping back in time. Fish and chips, fortune tellers, traditional sweets and carousels… We can almost hear strains of ‘Oh I do like to be Beside the Seaside’.

Best for a brush with wildlife

Fort William Town Pier, on the west coast of Scotland is home to the fabulous Crannog Restaurant. It used to be a bait shed but you can now sit and enjoy some of the best and freshest fish you’ll ever taste and then take a cruise from the pier down Loch Linnhe where you’ll often spot common and grey seals, porpoises and sometimes golden eagles.

Best for completely bonkers entertainment

Southwold Pier is a lovely day out but its best bit is the Under the Pier Show, a room full of homemade penny slot machines created by Tim Hunkin, a writer, cartoonist and engineer. Try, if you dare, the Autofrisk, where a pair of inflated rubber gloves give you the experience of being frisked. Or hop on Walk The Dog, a treadmill with a life-size fake dog and screens simulating both your view and the dog’s view of the walk - watch out for the sudden increase in speed when the dog spies a cat! And don’t miss Fly Drive, a simulator in which you are a fly and have to gorge on as much sugar as you can before being swatted. Utterly mad and total genius.

Find out more about British piers at The National Piers Society. And in our June issue, we have more of the stunning pictures (above) from Funland by Rob Ball (Hoxton Mini Press), a celebration of British coastal communities and their architecture in pictures.

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Sponsored post | The Only Way Is Ethics

Abel & Cole is committed to food sourced from organic farms. Ed Ayton from its Green Team explains

How did it all start?

It was 30 years ago (aah, the 80s!) that Keith Abel ditched law for veg and never looked back. He started with a bag of spuds, selling door to door. Before long, a chap called Bernard Gauvier, who we still work with today, offered him some organic potatoes. Organic spuds became spuds and eggs, and then spuds, eggs and vegetables, and so Abel & Cole’s organic veg box was born.

What are the biggest changes that have happened since then?

Going digital in the early 00s. We went from going door to door to selling online. It’s meant we can share our love of organic food more easily.

What are you most passionate about?

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention what started it all – a love of organic. It’s at the heart of everything we do. We’re about food as it should be, free from artificial fertilisers, herbicides and GM feeds – food that meets UK certified organic standards. Real commitment is needed to go organic, and you can taste the difference.

Tell us about the eco credentials you’re most proud of.

We have a lot to be proud of! For starters, the packaging innovations we’ve made. We avoid it altogether where possible, and invest a lot into reusing, recycling and reducing what we do use – we’ve calculated that our fruit and veg deliveries use 71% less plastic than the major supermarkets. Instead of polystyrene boxes we use wool to insulate the cold items in our deliveries, and we’ve also developed alternatives such as our compostable carrot bags. If any of our customers aren’t able to recycle or compost something we’ve sent, we’ll pick it up the next week and do it for them.

Celebrating seasonal food and prioritising UK farmers reduces our energy costs. Working closely with our suppliers to plan their harvests together, being flexible and seasonal with what goes into our boxes, and inspiring our customers with delicious leftover recipes, are some of our strategies for reducing food waste. In our pursuit of offering the most sustainable service we can, everything is considered: even our paper newsletters are FSC-certified, carbon-balanced and printed using vegetable ink.

How do you keep ahead of the competition?

By sticking to our values and always asking what we can do better. Through working directly with our growers, makers and bakers, we can continue to bring our customers new and exciting organic food. We can offer technical and financial assistance to support their innovation (like unheated polytunnel growing, to achieve what could be the first commercial, organic sweet potato crop in the UK), or help them through their organic certification process.

What’s next for the company?

Lettuce just look into our crystal ball... We continue to innovate, whether that’s developing our packaging, being part of the Clean Van Commitment (helping the UK put more electric vans our roads) or building on our work as a socially responsible B Corp. We’ve never been ones to rest on our laurels – it’s what’s kept us going since the 80s

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