In Good Taste #48: Field-to-Ferment Green Summer Kimchi

A summer kimchi from my inaugural Oxfordshire workshop; hobnobbing at the Guild of Food Writers awards; coming late to Chris Van Tulleken

Well, hello there! How are you?

Good I hope. Thank you so much for being here.

(Not up for the chitchat? Completely get it. Click the email title to go to a web-based version then jump straight to the recipe or Cultural Fun.)

I’ve had a fun week. My inaugural Home Farm Roots workshop in Oxfordshire on Friday went like a dream. We were so lucky with the weather and people were blown away by Anita’s home and what a perfect venue it was. Harrison of Worthy Earth explained his “no dig” market garden philosophy before we picked beautifully fresh beetroot, chard and cavolo nero straight from the field. We also had access to some gorgeous herbs and wonderfully crunchy, peppery radishes from Harrison’s site at Bleinheim.

These became kraut, kimchi and pickles which people took home to tend, along with vinegar made from local ale and SCOBYs for kefir and kombucha. Anita made us a simple seasonal lunch of soup and homebaked bread and it really was completely idyllic. This week’s recipe is the kimchi we made from that freshly picked chard which I’m sure would be good made with bought leaves too.

Thanks to everyone who came and to Samuel Callan for capturing the magic. The feedback was great and I can’t wait to do it all again on the 28th June - there are still tickets left if you’d like to join us.

I was also lucky enough to spend Wednesday evening gadding about at the Royal Institute for the Guild of Food Writers Awards. I wasn’t up for anything (next year, maybe?) but it was nice to catch up with fellow fermenters James Read (nominated for his wonderful book Of Cabbages and Kimchi which I’ve mentioned before) and Caroline Gilmartin (whose new vinegar book I want to cover in a future issue).

I met Mark Diacono and Claire Ruston (aka Aunty Bulgaria) IRL, having loved their newsletters for a while, chatted to Bee Wilson (one of my all-time favourite food writers who won the General Cookbook Award) and made the acquaintance of Peter Gilchrist who took home the Best Newcomer trophy for his work on traditional Scottish foods. Plenty of other lovely people too numerous to mention.

I also drank a lot of a delicious sherry on ice and saw Prue Leith be presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by Sandi Toksvig. Plus a lady on the tube complimented my necklace on the way home. I was having too much fun to take many photos but an excellent evening!

On a semi-serious note, if you are also a food writer, the Guild is a great institution. I only joined recently but they’ve been very supportive so would recommend it to anyone, whatever stage of your career.

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Recipe: Green Summer Kimchi with Chard, Cavolo Nero & Radishes

Makes one 500ml jar

This turned out really well. Using softer, greener leafy greens in a kimchi rather than the traditional napa cabbage gives an iron-rich, distinctly vegetal result which I really liked. The distinctive brassica flavours of the chard go really well with the spicy kimchi paste and it tastes like it’s doing you good. Once it was ready, I ate the whole jar in just a couple of days.

Ingredients

• Approx 12 rainbow chard leaves, stems intact (see note)

• Approx 6 cavalo nero leaves (see note)

• 8 radishes

• 30g salt

• 10g glutinous rice flour (optional - see note)

• 1⁄2 inch ginger, minced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 4 spring onions, finely sliced

• 3 tbsp fish sauce (for a veggie option replace with 2 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp miso)

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 2 tbsp gochugaru Korean chilli flakes (or to taste)

Method

1. Wash and prep the veg. Slice the chard into inch wide ribbons. Strip the cavolo nero leaves from the stem and slice them into ribbons too. If you want to use the cavolo nero stems chop them very finely. Halve or quarter the radishes lengthways.

2. Put the veg in a bowl and add the salt and a splash of water. Toss to distribute and set aside for a couple of hours.

3. Prepare the kimchi paste. Put the glutinous rice flour in a pan and add 80ml cold water. Whisk to combine then bring to a boil over a medium heat. It will thicken and look like wallpaper paste. Set aside to cool then add the garlic, ginger, spring onions, fish sauce (or soy and miso), sugar and chilli flakes. Mix to combine.

4. Wash and drain the veg. Get rid of as much water as possible.

5. Massage through the paste. Make sure each piece is evenly coated.

6. Pack into a jar.

7. Leave at room temperature for three days, regularly “burping” and tasting then store in the fridge. The kimchi will continue to develop, even in the fridge, becoming softer and more sour. Make sure to eat it whilst its flavours and textures please you.

   

   

Notes (If Ifs And Ands Were Pots And Pans…)

• We used beet tops instead of half the chard since we had picked beets for a pickle. Whatever you use, try to get something with nice fat stems.

• If you use the cavolo nero stems be sure to slice them very, very finely or they will be tough and fibrous.

• You could thinly slice the radishes or chop them however you like. I left mine in halves and quarters as the leaves are softer than napa cabbage and I wanted my kimchi to have a bit of crunch and texture.

• The glutinous rice flour isn’t essential. You could just use the other paste ingredients and loosen it a bit with water but the paste helps everything coat the leaves really well.

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Cultural Fun

A friend lent me Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield and I basically inhaled the whole thing over about three days. It was smart and funny and I enjoyed it (perfect holiday read if you’re looking for something light but not brainless for summer).

But, but, but… Something struck me as off. I felt like I was having my buttons pushed in a way that wasn’t entirely healthy. It’s the story of Sally Milz, a writer on a weekly sketch comedy show and a connection she develops with hunky pop star Noah when he guest hosts the show.

I’m a sucker for things set on thinly disguised versions of SNL (30 Rock obvioul;y but there’s even a place in my heart for rare Aaron Sorkin misfire Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip) so I really enjoyed all the stuff about the process of writing comedy sketches to an unforgiving weekly deadline.

But even though the book seems like a commentary on what we want from romantic fantasies, it also is a straightforward romantic fantasy. I liked it but I felt a bit guilty afterwards. Would love to know what you thought if you read it.

Also I finally read Ultra Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken (just out in paperback with an updated end section). I found it totally riveting and utterly infuriating.

I guess the headline - “junk food is bad for you” - isn’t exactly news. I knew about the hyperpalatability of ultra-processed food, it’s softness and easiness to eat that leads to excess calorie ingestion. And I knew that the consequences of UPF-heavy diets have an outsize effect on thoe living in poverty. But I didn’t know the details of how its made. Nor that the companies that make their money from it are so embedded in funding nutrition research and “advising” the government on public health. And I hadn’t made the link with the environmental consequences.

Sometimes being angry is useful…

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Bye! See you next week!

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In Good Taste is a Sycamore Smyth newsletter by me, Clare Heal.
You can also find me on Instagram or visit my website to find information about my catering work, cookery lessons and upcoming events.