Good Things # 3 | Comfort eating when it's hot
Including recipes from Sophie Wyburd's new book Tucking In.
Featuring recipes from another cracking new cookbook, thoughts on spending money in London’s restaurants, this month’s kitchen gadget recommendation and more.
This is ‘Good Things’ — a monthly roundup of good things to cook and to eat.
The bulk of it is for paid subscribers. I’d love for you to become one of those. It’ll mean you see all paywalled recipe posts in full (i.e. the ‘On the Side’ and ‘In the Centre’ columns); can read this Good Things column without restriction; have access to the ever-growing archive of recipes and Supplemental roundups; and can enter cookbook giveaways. It also means you’re supporting Rocket & Squash, a Cook’s Digest more generally… And both you and I will sleep better for that.
While you’re here: have you got a copy of my latest cookbook Good Eggs yet? It’s a celebration and compendium of eggs — when they’re the centre of the dish, not just an ingredient — and so has you covered for the ultimate, speedy, low effort high reward meal, whether that’s breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Comfort food, but make it summery
When writing my cookbook Crave, I reviewed a lot of academic articles on the subject of ‘comfort food’. TLDR: it’s (obviously) subjective and not just chicken soup; buckets of ice cream don’t help break-ups; and it isn’t just an autumn/winter thing.
The all-season nature of (and need for) comfort food is evident when browsing Tucking In; A Very Comforting Cookbook. Yes, there are buttery, beans, savoury stews and pasta dishes that you’d dive head first into when it’s cold and damp. But also bright and fresh dishes that’d certainly provide me with comfort and joy on a sunny day. Not least creamy, cheesy prawn-stuffed Romano peppers, rolled pork belly with a fragrant cucumber and pineapple salad, spicy lemongrass sausage smash burgers, and the two recipes extracted here: the meatballs pictured above, and the crispy tofu, grapefruit and peanut salad below.
Tucking In is the debut cookbook by Sophie Wyburd. She’s was previously head of the food team and one of the faces at MOB, and you may subscribe to her Substack,
.I’ve been a fan for a while — I think she’s one of the best of the ‘new generation’ of on-camera cookery writers, and has a talent for creating joyful, flavour-first food that people want to cook and eat. The flavours are eclectic but homely, and Tucking In is exactly what I imagined it would be: uncomplicated and generous food that you’d happily share with others. Also, I’m a bit jealous of the title.
Paid subs, one of you can have a copy of the book sent to you by the publisher, Ebury Press. Just message me by midnight Sunday 23 June using the button below, and your name will go onto a list from which I’ll select a winner at random.
Right, without further ado: some thoughts on a deliciously expensive lunch, on splashing the cash in London, and then Sophie’s lip-smacking recipes (plus links to a few others). Sign up to read it all …