Island life continues, Easy chocolate sauce, Spring finds for my kitchen & Hello to Irina Georgescu

All the sunshine

As always Thank you for subscribing free to ‘Shore to Shore’ on Substack. Thank you so much for being here I love sharing my recipes, stories and style inspiration with you. If you subscribe for free then why not think about upgrading for as little as £4 per month. I would love you to join me. You will have access to all my writing, exclusive content and my entire archive of recipes and style. Thank you so much for your support. Emily x

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Pine trees frame the beaches and palm trees stand tall, Caribbean blue seas and all the sunshine you could imagine. Island life continues and I am soaking up all the wonderful culture and adventure of living here. Time moves quickly although island life is slow, a place for high days and holidays, where people flock to the white sandy beaches and tropical living. I will be home for Spring soon to Cornwall and Bordeaux as I start my book promotion and book tour with signings, festivals, pop ups and events. With childlike excitement I will return to our house in France to bring you more adventures from there.

Island life reminds me of Cornwall (climate aside) small island living (I have always felt that magic of crossing the Tamar. Cornwall feels like an island very much on its own) the Caymanian way is laid back and friendly and always dreckly or rush slowly too.

I am enjoying so much of making a life here meeting new people and making new friends. A pinch me moment as one day I will look back and say to myself “do remember when you lived in the Caribbean and headed up the most soulful beautiful restaurant” I never imagined for a second I would be asked to be part of such an adventure. Calypso Grill the restaurant with the biggest heart.

OH la la love is in the air this week and if you need one recipe it is my chocolate sauce, super easy and quick it will a “je n’ai ce quoi” to your evening. Pour over ice cream simply perfect.

If you celebrate Valentine’s or not here are some recipe ideas that are perfect for two or there is nothing better in my view than making it an excuse for cooking for friends or ones self yes you, YOU deserve it. Take a look at through my archive recipes here.

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RECIPE: Chocolate sauce

Rich but perfectly sweet chocolate sauce that I always serve with vanilla ice cream, or I could drink it straight from the jug. A highlight of any menu and a delight. Easy to make if you need a sauce to add a little dazzle.

Photo Credit Kristin Perers

Ingredients
375ml water
125g dark chocolate (70%) broken into small pieces
330g caster sugar
300ml water
125g cocoa powder
1 ½ tbsp cornflour (slake first)
knob butter
pinch sea salt

Method
Put the dark chocolate, water and sugar into a heavy-based pan over a low heat. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate has melted and sugar dissolved. Remove from heat. In a bowl mix the water, cocoa and cornflour until combined and pour into the pan with the melted chocolate, sugar and water. Slowly bring to the bowl, stirring until thickened.
Add a knob of butter and salt, to give a glossy sauce.

Cook’s note - This chocolate sauce freezes well. Ps melted mars bars with a dash of milk makes the most delicious quick alternative.

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Say hello to wonderful Irina

I am so pleased to introduce you to my friend Irina and so happy she is pulling up a chair at my kitchen table this week. Welcome to Shore to Shore Irina so lovely to have you here. Irina is so inspiring and we have much in common with our ethos and approach to cooking. Irina has a beautiful new book called Danube that you simply must know about. Emily x

Photo credit - Issy Croker

Q&A with Irina hello to you!

First, just for fun, some ‘this or that’ questions:

Breakfast or dinner? Breakfast
Eat out, or dinner in? Dine in
Sweet or savory? Unfortunately, both.
Tea or coffee? Coffee
Flowers or chocolate? Flowers

How do we know each other?

I’ve admired your work and your books for quite a while. Now, by chance, we are with the same publishing house and have the same commissioning editor to bring our projects to life. It’s an incredible coincidence, almost like sharing a godmother.

If you are planning to have friends for dinner, what is your go to dinner party menu?

It will have to be an Eastern European menu... more or less. In fact, let me rephrase this: it will be a menu mainly from Eastern Europe. In Romania, we love to serve the starters in a sharing style, which includes vegetable dips and spreads, such as roasted aubergines or whipped butterbeans, but also cheese, which we serve at the beginning of a meal, and charcuterie, especially lardo and sausages. Ah, and we’ll have to raise a glass with a shot of the famous brandy, called țuică. After this, I would serve a clear soup; we call it zeamă or ciorbă, and I love it because it has a tangy, sour element, such as vinegar or sour cream, which makes it really refreshing. My favourite is made with lettuce and spring onions, cheese and an egg poached in the broth. It’s fantastic. I always like to include something surprising in my menus. As you can see, I cook for a whole village when I have guests. My go-to main dish is a chicken pilaf made with rice and potatoes, and I love to add grated raw courgette on top. It’s my comfort food and I’m lucky that also everybody loves it. It’s the kind of food I eat and write about in my books. Dessert would be something simple, maybe some seasonal fruit with sabayon, or an apple strudel with vanilla sauce. Or just a fruit compote, which in Romania, is actually poached fruit. It’s delicious, simple, and, when served chilled, is fantastic at the end of a feast.

Image credit - Issy Croker

…and if you were inviting four guests to dinner, this could be anyone, who would it be and why?

Do you mean people who have inspired me? I would invite Nigella, she is tremendously supportive of authors like me, who are still at the beginning of their careers. I will ask Naomi Duguid to join us, her books on Central Asia are remarkable. I’ll ask Regula Ysewijn, whose books on British and Belgian culinary history are phenomenal. Naturally, if I could work a miracle to have Mum with us, it would be fantastic; I think she would enjoy seeing me cooking for a change. And, of course, Emily! 5 guests, and with me, 6 people at the table. I can’t cook for 4.

What are your favourite tools to use in the kitchen and why?

Having a great set of knives and a sturdy wooden chopping board is all I need to feel fully equipped in the kitchen! With a knife, I can peel, slice, chop, crush, and even make a paste. But I also have a food processor, a hand-held blender, a mixer, and other things we don’t really need, including a garlic grater and a citrus juicer. They make life easier.

Tell us which ingredients you could not live without?

Garlic. Garlic. Garlic. I can’t cook without it. Well, I don’t put it in desserts, but the rest has to have garlic. It’s good in many ways, especially in the form of a sauce or vinaigrette that we call mujdei in Romanian. Served with anything fried, it cuts through the richness of the oil, or enlivens any raw or steamed vegetables in a salad, and makes a creamy dish more interesting. Roasted garlic is amazing on toast!

What is your go-to dish to prepare when you are short on time?

I love fried fish, so if I have a sea bream that I coat quickly in flour and cornmeal and fry whole, that comes together really quickly. I usually have it with polenta or a salad and a garlic vinaigrette. It’s fantastic.

How did you begin a career in food, and what was it that ignited your passion?

I learnt to cook at my mum’s knee, so to speak. Cooking and talking about food were important aspects of our life as a family, but it was only when I moved to the UK that I fully understood the food of my culture. I was in my thirties when I came here, and I remember that it was around Easter time. In Romania, we celebrate Easter later than in the UK, usually there are two weeks in between (but not always; it varies each year). So, for my Romanian Easter, I wanted to cook the dishes I would have had at home. There are many culinary traditions around this time of the year, and cooking the recipes three thousand miles away meant a lot to me. People loved the dishes… and this is how it all started. I realised that I could tell Romania’s story through its culinary traditions. I’m not a professional chef; I’m a home cook, but I know the cooking techniques in Eastern Europe. My career was in marketing, which, at first, supported this hobby. Later, the hobby turned into my career as a food writer and author.

Can you tell us about a specific memory or highlight from your career so far?

Receiving the James Beard Award in 2023 in the United States has been the highlight of my career. I consider it the most important achievement of my life as an author.

In terms of produce and ingredients, what is your favourite season and what kind of dishes do you like to cook?

It’s hard to answer this question because I love all the seasons. I love the comforting dishes of the cold months and the BBQ-style food of the summer months. I cook a lot of soups, ciorbe, even in the summer because I can put any seasonal ingredient in them. Then, a dollop of sour cream, and you have a delicious meal. I sometimes serve my soups with polenta, called mămăligă in Romanian. We cook a lot with cornmeal in Romania, making all sorts of dishes from starters to mains and desserts. If you allow the polenta to cool, you can slice it like bread. In fact, we use a thin string to cut it, so the slices retain the initial texture.

Like me, you have embraced the exciting world of Substack. Tell us what readers can expect from your Substack, and why did you decide to start it?

I focus on Eastern European cuisine, especially the culinary traditions of Romania. Readers can expect a great deal of historical context or explanations of each dish. I do the same in my books. People value the insights they gain, alongside inspiration for travel and the joy of preparing something delicious for dinner. Substack is merely a continuation of my work on similar platforms that were popular in the past. As a (former) marketing professional—although you never stop being one—I always incorporated e-newsletters or direct emailing into my communication strategy. Substack is better because it’s also like a social media platform; you can be discovered by like-minded people, and people can interact with you.

What are your plans for the future?

My plans are to continue writing books about my part of the world, Eastern Europe, and contribute to a better understanding of the countries and their identities through their cuisines. I will also continue to take groups to Transylvania on culinary tours, where we basically eat and explore the Saxon part of Transylvania… then eat again and chat about the story of the region. There is good wine too, as we have very good wines in Romania.

Emily, last but not least, thank you for having me as your guest on Substack. I loved chatting with you and hope people will enjoy the recipe.

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Recipe: Pilaf cu Pui, Chicken Pilaf with rice,  potatoes and garlic courgettes

Image credit - Issy Croker

This recipe is from Irina’s new cookbook Danube, Recipes and Stories from Eastern Europe.

Serves 4:

Ingredients

35 ml (2 generous tablespoons) sunflower oil
4 medium bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 large brown onion, finely sliced
300 g (10½ oz) potatoes, cut into thick chunks
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
250 g (9 oz/11/4 cups) long-grain white rice
1 litre (34 fl oz/4 cups) vegetable or chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 medium courgette (zucchini)
2 large garlic cloves
1 teaspoon chopped marjoram, fresh or dried salt

To Serve

Good olive oil
Lemon wedges
Tomato salad

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan (325°F/gas 3). Use a 23–24 cm (9–9½ in), 12 cm (4 in) deep casserole dish with a lid (otherwise, cooking times may differ).

Cover its base with the oil and heat well. Sprinkle the chicken with salt generously, and fry the thighs in one layer for 15 minutes, turning often. Keep the heat on medium so they don’t burn, then transfer the cooked chicken to a plate. Fry the onion with a good pinch of salt in the remaining oil over a medium heat for 8 minutes. Add the potatoes, combine well and fry for another 3 minutes, then add the vinegar and scrape the base of the pan with a rubber spatula to remove all those caramelised bits. Place the chicken thighs on top of the potatoes in one layer, then scatter the rice on top and add the stock. Taste the stock to make sure it’s salty enough; if not, add more to the dish. The secret to a good pilaf is using a generous amount of salt. Add the black pepper, then cover and cook in the oven for 25 minutes. It will make a rather loose pilaf. Alternatively, cook it until the stock is completely absorbed.

Meanwhile, grate the courgette and garlic together and mix with the marjoram. When the rice is cooked, spread this mixture on top, put the lid back on and leave the pan to sit for 5 minutes out of the oven.

Serve immediately with a drizzle of your best olive oil, wedges of lemon to squeeze on top and a tomato salad.

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Style (I love) Rosanna Corfe

I love finding new things for my home and these beautiful plates from Rosanna Corfe are so, so pretty. I love a mis match of plates, crockery and cutlery. Add linens, glasses and fresh cut flowers in vases. Rosanna’s collection of unique, one-of-a-kind pieces, inspired by the traditional ceramics of Granada and interpreted in Rosanna’s own unique style. Take a look, I think you will love them.

A few of my favourites:

Butter Dish: I love a butter dish it always make such a lovely piece to any table.
Oval Plates: Oooh I am never without a platter perfect for sharing food straight to the table, perfect for leafy summer salads. Warmer days ahoy.
Round Plate: Red or blue simply so pretty and will just bring beautiful joy to my table.

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Home Shores 100 simple fish recipes to cook at home (pre order now)

Home Shores by me Emily Scott and Forward by Nathan Outlaw will be published on May 15th 2025 and is available to Pre-Order NOW exclusively for my paid community here on Substack. Pre Orders make such a difference to the author and the success of the book. So I would love you to join me on my “Home Shores” adventure.