Recipe: Wood-roasted potatoes with thyme and garlic

These potatoes are simmered with lots of garlic and thyme to infuse them with flavour, then roasted over hot charcoal and oak wood chips with more garlic and thyme. This wonderful dish is brilliant straight from the grill.

Serves 4

800g Charlotte, Pink Fir Apple or other waxy potatoes
1 garlic bulb, cut in half, plus 4 extra garlic cloves, peeled
6 sprigs thyme
olive oil, for cooking
50g (31⁄2 tbsp) unsalted butter
sea salt and black pepper
For an extra-smoky flavour, you’ll also need some beech or oak chips

1 Place the potatoes in a medium saucepan, cover with cold water and add the halved garlic bulb and three of the thyme sprigs. Bring to the boil on the stove and cook until tender. Drain well and leave to cool, then cut the cooled potatoes into bite-sized chunks.

2 Light the barbecue and set for direct/indirect cooking (see “Food from Fire”, on page 43 of July's The Simple Things). Throw a handful of wood chips onto the coals, if you like.

3 Take a roasting tin or ovenproof frying pan large enough to hold the potatoes and place in the direct heat zone. Add a good lug of olive oil and, when the oil starts to smoke, add the potatoes and season well. Toss the potatoes in the oil to coat, then close the lid of the barbecue.

4 Cook for 4 minutes before tossing the potatoes again and adding another handful of wood chips, if using, to the coals. Cook for a further three minutes, then add the butter, extra garlic cloves and the leaves from the remaining three thyme sprigs. Toss the potatoes again, then transfer to the indirect heat zone and cook for 2 minutes, or until they are crisp and golden brown.

5 Serve the potatoes immediately, spooning over the pan sauces. 

Ben Tish is chef director at the Salt Yard Group, which runs four restaurants in London. Recipes are taken from his new book Grill Smoke BBQ (Quadrille) 

Turn to page 39 of July's The Simple Things for more barbecue recipes, including 

Beef bavette with smoky salad onions and salsa cruda
Barbecued mushrooms with rosemary and garlic
Wood-roasted potatoes
Charcoal-grilled chicory with pomegranate molasses
Crispy artichokes with lemon and sage
Smoky bitter-chocolate puddings with melting whipped cream

More from the July issue:

Read more Gathering recipes:

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here

Recipe: Christmas chocolates fridge cake

Turn all those stray chocolates into one big guest-pleasing after dinner choc treat

Makes 25 small cake squares

200g dark chocolate
200g milk chocolate
90g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
10 digestive biscuits
30g macadamia nuts
30g dried cranberries 
A couple of handfuls of Christmas chocolates

1. Line a small metal tray with cling film. In a bowl set over a pot of boiling water, so that the base sits just above the water, melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup.

2. Put the digestive biscuits into a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin to break them up a little, then put them into the chocolate, along with the academia nuts and dried cranberries. 

3. When all is nicely combined, tip it onto the tray and spread it out, then push the chocolates into the surface - you want to work quickly so that the molten chocolate is still hot enough to melt them just slightly.

4. Leave to set for a couple of hours in the fridge, slice into small squares and serve.

Turn to page 38 of December's The Simple Things for more of our Boxing Day menu - buy, download or subscribe now. January issue available, too.

Recipe: Buttered bourbon apple cider

Make two batches of our November cover recipe – one boozy, one kid- and driver-friendly – for a warming autumn treat.

Getting together with friends and family happens so easily in summer – good weather and that holiday feeling being the natural allies of socialising. Yet there’s plenty to celebrate come bonfire season: autumn’s fiery canopy, the crisp, cold air and fast-falling dusk lend themselves to gathering outdoors, wrapping up, wellies donned, and feasting around the fire. We’ll raise a glass of mulled cider to that.

Recipe: Buttered bourbon apple cider

Serves 6–8

500ml apple cider*
100ml apple juice
1 tbsp light brown sugar
Cinnamon sticks (one, plus some to use as stirrers)
Cloves
Star anise
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of ginger
Sliced fresh fruit (orange, apple)
3 tbsp unsalted butter
150ml bourbon

1. In a large pot add the cider, apple juice and sugar; heat until it starts to simmer.

2. Add all other ingredients except for the butter and bourbon.

3. Let the spiced cider simmer for 10 mins, then add the butter and bourbon, stirring gently until the butter has melted.

4. Remove from the heat, pour into glasses, add a cinnamon stick to each glass and serve. You can strain the mixture before pouring, if you don’t want ‘bits’.

* To make a children’s version, replace the bourbon and cider with apple juice (600ml in total).

Fruits of the hedgerow

Go foraging this month and find out what you can make with the fruits of the hedgerow.

More than mere borders, our hedgerows host amazing biodiversity. Here's a little of what they hold.

Turn to page 127 of September's The Simple Things for a guide to hedgerow berries, and try these ideas for using them in the kitchen.

Rosehip

Jekyll and Hyde of a species. Rich in vitamin C, delicious in wine and jam. Just avoid the fine hairs - a key ingredient in itching powder.

Try: Rosehip syrup

Damson

Higher in sugars than its kin in the plum family, and the go-to ingredient for a flavoursome home-pimped vodka. Peak harvest time is right about now.

Try: Damson cheese

Rowan

Too sharp in taste to enjoy solo, but a piquant addition to many a conserve. Try with roast meat. Note to bee lovers: its scent is catnip to pollinators.

Try: Rowan and rosemary jelly

Hawthorn

Staple hedging material. Fruit good for syrups, magnificent for brandy. Beware pedants insisting that, botanically, they're not berries, but pomes.

Try: Hawthorn berry ketchup

Sloe

A foraging favourite, the fruit of the blackthorn tree is among the last around before winter. Pick from now until early November, bottle with gin and sugar.

Try: Salted sloes

For the rest of our Fruits of the Hedgerow identifier, turn to page 127 of September's The Simple Things. Buy or download now.

Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Heading to New York City this summer? Seek out Prospect Park in Brooklyn: a masterpiece of landscape architecture at the green heart of NYC's largest borough.

Photographer and stylist, Julia Gartland, decided to hold an informal, pot luck picnic in Prospect Park for July's The Simple Things.

And what a location it is. According to Adrian Benepe, "Olmsted and Vaux designed Central Park, learned from their mistakes, and then designed Prospect Park." Indeed, this 585-acre oasis is an ambitious feat of design, packed with attractions such as the Long Meadow, a 90-acre meadow; Prospect Park Zoo; The Boathouse; Brooklyn's only lake, covering 60 acres; and the Prospect Park Bandshell, which hosts free outdoor concerts in the summertime.

Over ten million visits each year prove the Prospect Park has something for everyone, locals and tourists, young and old, from skating to birding to pedal boating to picnicking on the Long Meadow on beautiful days. The Park also boasts a stunning variety of natural and geological features, such as Brooklyn’s only forest, rolling meadows and shaded hillsides.

Find out more about Prospect Park, and read an extract from Prospect Park: Olmsted & Vaux's Brooklyn Masterpiece by David P. Colley (cover pictured).

Turn to page 26 of July's The Simple Things for beautiful photographs and recipes to inspire your own portable feast - on sale 27 June 2014.

Recipe: Brioche hot cross buns

Get everyone's favourites on the table with our laid-back Easter brunch, featuring a new take on an old classic: brioche hot cross buns Not quite breakfast, not quite lunch, but elegantly supplanting both at once, brunch is about as efficient and fun as domestic catering gets.

Easter brunch is unbeatably relaxed and satisfying, but the best thing? It practically forces you to wake up late and do it in your PJs.

The brunch menu featured in the April issue of The Simple Things:

Spinach & bacon baked eggs

Smoked salmon caesar salad on toast

Hash browns

Custard tartlets

Brioche hot cross buns

Green smoothie

Brioche hot cross buns - makes 12

Ingredients:

375g plain flour 3 eggs 100g unsalted butter, melted 45g sugar 1 pinch salt 100ml milk, lukewarm 45g sultanas 1 tsp grated nutmeg 1 tsp grated cinnamon 1 packet (7g) dry yeast

For the glaze:

1 egg yolk 1 tbsp milk

For the icing:

100g icing sugar 1 tbsp water

Method:

1. In a large bowl mix together flour, salt, sugar and spices. Sprinkle yeast over milk and allow it to prove for 5-10 minutes. Pour milk, yeast, melted butter and eggs into flour and stir well.

2. Transfer the dough onto a work surface and knead for 10 minutes. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with cling film for an hour or until it doubles in size. Pinch back the dough on a work surface and lightly knead for a minute. Add the sultanas.

3. Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Place balls of dough 1cm apart from each other on a baking tray lined with baking paper and let them prove for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 190C (170C fan), 375F, gas 5. Just before baking, brush buns with egg yolk and milk mixture.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until nicely golden. Remove from oven and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

5. Prepare icing by mixing sugar with water. The icing should have the consistency of a smooth paste. Spoon it into a piping bag or use a ziplock bag with a small hole cut in a corner. Pipe and draw a cross on top of each cooled bun. Allow icing to set before serving.

Turn to page 28 for the rest of the recipes.

Buy The Simple Things now, or have a look through the digital sampler for a taste of the April issue

Wonderful walnuts

Plant now and spend future Christmases feasting on homegrown walnuts

Did you know a mature walnut tree can produce 50kg of walnuts a year? Plant a grafted tree now and within a few years (yes it does take a while but all good things are worth waiting for, right?) you'll be harvesting your own Christmas crop of these lovely little fellows.  Another inspired idea from The Simple Things expert gardener, Christopher Raeburn. Read more in Issue 18 out now..

Mistletoe auctions. Who knew?

mistletoe

It is a truth universally acknowledged, mistletoe livens up the Christmas festivities!

Its pretty colour and distinctive shape looks gorgeous in homemade garlands and wreaths, and let’s be honest, who among us doesn’t like to loiter under a bunch of mistletoe every now and again? The only downside is that it can be expensive. Luckily there are special mistletoe auctions that take place during December in Tenbury Wells in Shropshire, which means you can buy it at wholesale prices.

Taking place on 3rd and 10th there are also themed events and activities that take place, so it’s a great day out too!

If you can’t get to Tenbury Wells, visit online stores like The English Mistletoe Shop, Kiss Me Mistletoe and Intermistletoe to bag your berry gorgeous supplies!

Exclusive! Behind the scenes on our new cover shoot

People are at the heart of The Simple Things, so we decided to put them on the cover...

The urbanite who takes the time to show us round their city, the expert who shares their wisdom on specialist foods, the writer who helps send us off to bed, it is stories of life and people which fill our pages and make The Simple Things what it is.

Meet Teyha, Laura and John. Parents, friends, cooks, and the cover stars of this month's issue of The Simple Things.

Teyha lives with her daughter Isa (pictured below) in Nevada City California, where John works as a chef and lives with his girlfriend Laura and their son Desmond (also pictured below). The friends recently got together to share and enjoy a tasty Mexican buffet, a gathering we share inside Issue 8.

 "It's always a pleasure to get together a bunch of friends for a lazy afternoon of cooking..."

"Mexican food for me is all about enjoying family..."

We use real people in our mag not models because The Simple Things is about life, and we wanted to celebrate that on the cover. What do you think?

Inside The Simple Things Issue 7: the Collector

On Facebook and Twitter you've all been telling us how much you enjoy the collector feature inside The Simple Things. We do too. In seven Issues we've looked at all sorts of weird and wonderful collections from radios to valentines cards, and each one has been unique with a special story to tell. This month we take a look inside Michael Tyler's Cuban political poster collection, a series of stunning and powerful images in which artistic freedom meets the struggle for freedom.

1: 'Day of the Heroic Guerrilla', Helena Serrano, 1968 2: 'Day of World Solidarity with Laos', Andres Hernandez, 1972 3: 'Radiant Che', Alfredo Rostgaard, 1969

4: 'America Latina: Week of Solidarity with Latin America', Antonio Perez (Niko), 1968, 5: 'Day of Solidarity with the People of Venezuela', Faustino Perez, 1969 6: 'International Campaign of Solidarity with the People of Korea', Gladys Acosta, 1969.

To read more about Michael Tyler's Cuban poster collection download Issue 7 now or order a copy online.

Issue 7 (March 2013) is currently available in UK shops, subscribe here.

Things to wake up and want: the Valentines edition

This 14th February treat your Valentine to something extra special whether it be homemade chocolates or a simply stunning scent...

Light bulb vase by London Garden Trading (available on Not on the Highstreet)

Mini heart-shaped bowls by Golemdesigns

Rose 31 by Liberty London

Follow your heart coin www.kutuu.co.uk

Big Love Valentine timbergram Anthropologie

Hazelnut macarons and chocolate truffles: both recipes are found in The Simple Things issue 3 available here.

Friday night dinner for two (behind the scenes)

As it's a Friday and only 7 more days until Valentines,  we thought we'd share a few more captured moments from our dinner for two special (p104 - p111) in this month's The Simple Things.

Duck with spinach and pomegranate recipe found in this month's magazine.

MENU

Aubergine with pistachio

& sesame seed crumbs

*

Duck with spinach

& pomegrante

*

Poached pear with

gingerbread biscuits

Have you tried any of these delicious recipes? Leave a comment below or hop on Facebook and share your perfect romantic meal menu with us.

Happy Friday all!