Welcome to Rocket & Squash

What to expect

Rocket & Squash is a digest of tasty things by me, Ed Smith, a cook and food writer based in London.

I write award winning cookbooks, recipe columns for magazines and newspapers, create content on Instagram, and for over a decade ran rocketandsquash.com as a celebrated recipe and restaurant blog.

I’m here on Substack now, developing new recipes to share solely on this platform, while also digesting and chronicling the best recipes I see elsewhere as part of my ‘Supplemental’ newsletter — so that you can read and cook them too.

What to expect

There are 5 ‘columns’ that form the core of Rocket & Squash, a Cook’s Digest.

• On the Side — a dive into a single ingredient that works well as a side, then 3 recipes;

• In the Centre — standout centrepieces, sometimes a project recipe, other times a bit of technique and background followed by a recipe utilising what’s been written.

• Tomato Pasta — a recipe for a mid-week, budget and time friendly dish;

• Supplemental — a round-up of the best recipes in the UK papers, plus a few from elsewhere and a load from Substack.

• Good Things — typically featuring a new cookbook, an extract from that (and a giveaway too), write-ups of recent (good) restaurant visits, kitchen utensil recommendations and other miscellaneous good things to cook and to eat.

It’s one post a week, with each of the above on rotation.

The monthly Supplemental will always be free to all.

However, paid subscribers also get unrestricted access to:

• The 3 columns featuring my recipes;

• Cookbook giveaways and insider tips via ‘Good Things’;

• all the archived columns and recipes in the archive (free view posts are archived after 2-3 weeks, and from time to time I add additional recipes from my now retired blog, plus those featured in print magazines and my cookbooks).

Why become a paid subscriber?

If you would like to receive all newsletters and recipes without restriction, and to support my work more generally, please consider upgrading to a paid membership.

You’ll also get first sight of any juicy news, the opportunity to comment and converse, the odd competition or two, plus discounts to redeem against merchandise and signed books.

Above all, being a subscriber means that you are supporting my work in the round.

If you enjoy my content elsewhere — whether as a long time reader of my blog, newsletters, work across other publications and cookbooks, or of my videos and recipes over on instagram — then for less than the price of a sourdough loaf … you’ll help me keep at it.

It costs just £5 a month / £45 a year. Fees may rise, but the rate you sign up at is what you will always pay.

And if you like what you see, please consider spreading the word.