Olive Magazine July 2022

Seasonally, July is a high point in the year and this issue really makes the most of the ingredients you’ll be buying. We’re celebrating salads with a no-cook feature featuring fabulous looking and tasting recipes, such as the watermelon and prawn salad with chilli mint dressing on the cover. Look on p30 – the smoked mackerel caesar is exactly what a recipe twist should be, and the smashed peach melba (p33) is the dessert of the season. In this month’s effortless! feature we’ve planned a summer evening drinks party with a bellini bar (and crab and prawn rolls with crisps) that your guests will love. If summer means spending time tending a BBQ , discover what ingredients a butcher, a fishmonger and a greengrocer most like to cook over coals. And,…

looking at Vintage finds on @llgfound on Instagram. Sasha Wilkins has beautiful big blue and white platters and plates that I covet. reading My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi with Joshua David Stein (£27.93, Knopf). More than recipes, this book travels with French cookery trained Kwame as he investigates his family roots and explores the recipes and ingredients of the African diaspora. I’m planning on making puff puff next. eating My obsession with tinned fish continues with Thai brand Smiling Fish’s fantastically named crispy baby clams. Delicious on noodles and in omelettes folded over fresh mint and coriander. Available from several online retailers from £1.30.…

Gurdeep discovers... anardana powder Trends expert Gurdeep Loyal experiments with this sour, fruity Indian condiment What is it? Anardana powder is a pantry staple in Indian and Persian cuisines, made from dried and ground pomegranate seeds. It has a sweet-tartness and fruity tang that tastes a little like sumac and tamarind combined together. How to use it It adds sour depth to slow-cooked strews, a hit of sharp flavour to marinades – such as in this recipe – or can even be sprinkled onto salads as a zippy final garnish. Anardana comes in a variety of grinds which can vary from a finely crushed red powder to more of a purple coarse rubble and whole dried pomegranate seeds. It’s an ingredient used often on the menus of flavour-forward restaurants Jikoni and Kutir in London, and…

effortless! Itsu chicken tang’bao dumplings Ready in just three minutes, these dumplings have a hearty chicken and shiitake mushroom base with a bright note from the ginger. Serve with a homemade dipping sauce to enjoy an easy starter. £3.95 (280g), Tesco Squished Rescue blueberry energy balls Made from surplus blueberries, these sweet, tart snacks can be crumbled onto vanilla ice cream as a topping or served up as a healthier cake pop. £6.49 (5 x 40g), wearesquished.com Manomasa queso blanco & lemon drop chilli tortilla chips These tortilla chips hit first with a savoury cheesy flavour, followed by a citrus touch and slight heat that lingers. Delicious on their own, they also make an elevated nacho base. £2 (160g), Sainsbury’s Seggiano semi fresh herbs Teaming the convenience of dried herbs with a great freshness, these semi-dried herbs are…

What we’ve spotted Hong Kong-style french toast is a clever upgrade on the nostalgic weekend breakfast and hails, of course, from Hong Kong. Spongy milk bread slices are stuffed with peanut butter to create a thick sandwich, which is then shallow- or deep-fried in an egg coating, resulting in a crispy, golden creation that has a rich, custard-like interior. The french toast is then drizzled in condensed milk and topped off with a generous cube of butter for an indulgent sweet treat. Where to find it In west London’s Wun’s Tea Room & Bar, HK french toast is served with cheese and peanut butter, creating a rich combination. In east London, Sichuanese food restaurant Facing Heaven keeps it simple by adding malt powder alongside thick condensed milk. Meanwhile, milk tea specialist HOKO experiments…

WHAT’S NEW on the Olive podcast? Have you heard the new Olive podcast? Each episode, Olive’s deputy editor and podcast host Janine asks characters from the food world to share the top 10 things we need to know about their specialist subject, and there’s also a bonus Effortless! episode where they give us their best kitchen hacks, cheats and tips. Brand new episodes are released every Friday – listen out for John Gregory-Smith on clever kitchen shortcuts to make life easier, and Catherine Phipps on modern pressure cooking.…