I hope you had a lovely Easter. Mine was very pleasant. After a few days in Cambridge we went up to Yorkshire to see my in-laws and did some wholesome egg-painting/rolling activities. I clearly won the rolling but had to pretend I didn’t and give the prize to a child.
We arrived home yesterday and I more or less went straight back out to teach a Fermentation Workshop at the Dusty Knuckle in Dalston. It was great fun with a lovely group of people who asked plenty of questions. My May class there is sold out already but there will be more dates coming soon so keep an eye out. If you’d like to come along (and I’d love to have you!) then the best thing to do is to sign up to follow the Dusty Knuckle Eventbrite page and you’ll get notified as soon as tickets go on sale. If you can’t wait, then get in touch to organise a private class! I’ll hopefully have some class dates in my home kitchen coming soon too. You guys will be the first to know.
So. If you made the pink pickled turnips from Issue 1 then they should be ready by now. They’ll last for a while. If you put the bay leaf in - as instructed - the turnip batons will stay crunchy for a long time. But, just in case you were nearly finished with the jar, I wanted to give you something to do with the beautiful purple brine.
Any brine from a fermented pickle is of nutrients and flavour so it’s always a shame to just tip it down the sink and wash the jar out. You can always use it to start a new batch (this is called “backslopping” a disgusting term for a useful practise and somethign we’ll talk more about in the future). If you’re keen on preserving the probiotic health benefits then using brine in salad dressings is a great idea (I’ll be bringing you some recipes soon) or just drinking it. I particularly like this purple brine diluted with sparkling water. But, although you lose the probiotics, cooking with your brine is a great thing to do to as it really makes the most of the flavour. This easy pasta dish is a particularly dramatic way of using the brine of any beetroot-based fermented pickle.
This was inspired by Nigella’s Ruby Noodles from her lockdown classic Cook, Eat, Repeat. She cooks spaghetti in beetroot juice, adding sesame oil, ginger and garlic and eating them cold. It’s totally delicious and such a great idea.
In the book she tells the story of how her recipe was sparked by one from Felicity Cloake in The A-Z of Eating (it’s actually on the cover). Her version is hot with goats cheese, walnuts and kale. Also very tasty. In turn, Felicity got the idea from an American food magazine (history doesn’t seem to relate which one).
Either way, it makes sense. We’re use to the idea of salting pasta water to season it (if you’re interested in a deep dive into exactly how salty pasta water should be, there’s a good one on Serious Eats) but why not add more flavour? We often do when cooking grains or pulses. Nigella and Felicity use beetroot juice for their noodles (which are both worth trying) but I wanted to use the equally-dramatic looking but more complex-flavoured brine.
This is how recipes change and evolve and spread. One thing sparks another and so on. Isn’t it wonderful? I have two versions for you. A Cloake-esque hot pasta with goats cheese and hazelnuts and a more Nigella-like cold noodle salad with smoked mackerel and herbs. I hope you’ll take the idea and riff on it too. If you try, do let me know what version you make and how it turns out.
Recipe: Pink Pasta
Serves: 2
Ingredients
150g spaghetti
1 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, grated/minced/finely chopped
pinch chilli flakes (optional)
200ml brine from pink pickled turnips (torshi left) or fermented beetroot
For the hot spaghetti with goats cheese
100g soft goats cheese
1 handful toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
2 sprigs dill
For the cold noodles with mackerel
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp extra brine
1 fillet smoked mackerel
small bunch dill
2/3 sprigs mint
Method
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the spaghetti. Cook for 5 mins.
Meanwhile put a tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan and add the garlic. Cook for 1 min, until fragrant then add the chilli flakes (if using) and the brine. Heat gently until just bubbling.
After 5 mins, drain the pasta and add it to the pan with the brine and increase the heat until the brine bubbles. Cook for a further 5 mins, or until the spaghetti is al-dente, stirring occasionally. The brine should be absorbed by the pasta which will turn purple. If it has all disappeared and the pan is dry before the pasta is cooked, add little water.
Chop any herbs.
If eating your purple pasta hot, transfer to bowls, dot with the goats cheese and scatter over the chopped nuts and dill
If eating cold, allow to cool then chill until ready to eat. Just before serving stir through a tbsp olive oil and a tbsp extra brine along with the herbs. Divide between bowls and top with large flakes of mackerel.
Notes
I used Korean chilli flakes (gochugaru) which have a slight smokiness to them. They worked really well, especially in the cold version but use whatever you have or leave them out.
Both recipes include dill as I am really into it at the moment. If you are a dill hater then that’s fine (although I am sad for you) - you can substitute any other soft herb you like. Parsley would be good with the mackerel, basil with the goats cheese. Tarragon is delicious anywhere in my opinion but possibly even more contentious than dill…
Cultural Fun
Whilst in Cambridge I saw the Lucy Rie exhibition at Kettles Yard which was wonderful. My pictures are a bit rubbish as it’s hard to take photos of things behind glass cases. I was mainly trying to steal inspiration.
I find her sgraffito bowls (decorated with a distinctive scratching technique) particularly elegant and also loved these bowls with oxides around their edges. And I was interested to see some teapots that were originally made for Heals (once the family business but sold around the time I was born).
There was more Rie in the equally lovely exhibition The Art of the Potter: Ceramics and Sculpture from 1930 to Now at the Hepworth Wakefield which I saw whilst visiting my in-laws on the previously-mentioned trip to Yorkshire. Lots of other great stuff from the collection including things by Bernard Leach and his son David and - possibly my favourite - this large round vase by Yorkshire sculptor Barbara Cass from 1955. Look at that gorgeous textured herringbone decoration!
The gardens at the Hepworth are also looking beautiful. Loads of blossom and bulbs including variegated tulips and classy white daffodils. A helpful blackboard identified the all the species so I now know that I’m coveting toto and thalia daffs for my own garden next spring.
Bye! See you next week!
In the meantime, if you felt like sharing In Good Taste with friends or family who might enjoy it, you can do so with the button below. It would mean the world to me. Thanks so much.
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.
Thanks for reading In Good Taste! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
