Mackerel by the sea, little gem tarts and summer salads, chilled rosé, cordials, strawberries & ice cream for days
What’s in Season June Edition
Hello and welcome to “Shore to Shore” my Kitchen Journal a place I share my life in food, style and travel. So lovely to be here with you. As ever I share my recipes, stories and style from Bordeaux, Cornwall and beyond. Seasonality, provenance and enjoying the simple things life has to offer at its heart. How I think and feel and what brings me joy. I hope to inspire you in your own kitchen from using new ingredients, making that list, thinking about how you cook, not making it a chore but something to look forward to whatever day.
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Our Bordeaux adventure continues. Everything is beginning to feel a little more familiar. The air warm with sunshine that lingers on the honey coloured stone walls and the scent of jasmine in bloom reaching for the sky. Bordeaux wakes slowly, café is sipped not rushed and there is always a moment to look up and soak up the rich culture of this city. Market mornings, paper-wrapped cheese, crusty bread, the vendor who knows your name and the beauty of routine that I have never known before. My stumbling french and awkwardness… well I will keep learning. Every day feels like an invitation to feel more deeply, eat more slowly, and live just a little more beautifully.
What’s in Season June Edition. Oh the excitement of Summer days are here. The magic of early summer, the days stretch out longer and everything feels sweeter. In June hails the first real taste of the season and promise of more to come. Mackerel by the sea, tarts and summer salads, chilled rosé, cordials, spontaneous picnics and ice cream for days 🌿
- Mackerel
- Crab
- Lettuce & Garden leaves
- Strawberries
- Elderflower
- Make Ice Cream
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June (a table in bloom)
June is when the English countryside feels abundant with so many ingredients. Ingredients here in Bordeaux are a month ahead so I have been enjoying strawberries everyday and the stone fruit is starting to appear in the markets now. This month, I lean into all that that reflects the lightness of the season, recipe ideas that are simple and let every ingredient sing.
What I am Cooking and Eating in June
Peas & broad beans
Podded with a bit of sea salt, or gently warmed with mint and melted butter.
Courgette flowers
Fried lightly, filled with soft goat’s cheese and lemon zest and always Courgette flower risotto (one of my favourites) see recipe from my archives.
Mackerel over coals
Caught that morning if you are lucky, kissed with good olive oil, sea salt, and fennel. Charred on the barbecue until blistered eaten on torn bread with pickled cucumbers and wild garlic mayo or here with ribbons or my raw courgette and Nastursium salad.
Strawberries & cream (always)
They need almost nothing. I serve them with a drizzle of elderflower cordial or ribena (all the nostalgia) or fold them gently through whipped double cream and crushed meringue for a fool that tastes like childhood.
New Potatoes with dill & brown butter
Simply boiled and dressed warm. Eat with grilled fish or a lemon and thyme roast chicken.
Lettuce, garden leaves & Nasturtium flowers
Dressed with mustard vinaigrette, a few radishes sliced paper thin and Nasturtium flowers (I am obsessed with Nasturtium flowers btw)
Recipe: Strawberries with Elderflower Cream
Super quick and simple not really a recipe as such but always the most delicious summer pudding.
Ingredients
300g ripe strawberries
150ml double cream
1 tbsp elderflower cordial
Method
Whip the cream until it just begins to hold soft peaks. Stir in the elderflower cordial. Serve with halved strawberries in small bowls or glasses.
Events:
Rock Oyster Festival
Friday 25th July 2025 & Sunday 27 July 2025 - See you there 🎡
I am returning to the mighty Rock Oyster Festival not for just one day but two days this year. On Friday I will be on the Pearl Demo Stage and signing copies of my new book Home Shores. On Sunday I will be cooking with my friend Ben Quinn from Woodfired Canteen, we have curated a delicious three-course menu (+ a nibble) to share down long tables. Good food, wine and conversation, how every Sunday should be.
About Long Table Banquets:
“We’re cooking up a very special treat for all those attending Rock Oyster 2025. This year, we will be serving up a brand new four-course feasting experience with some of the UK’s finest chefs and restaurateurs within the convivial surroundings of our glorious Banqueting Tent. Fire-cooking legend Ben Quinn, and his Cornwall-based Woodfired Canteen team, have invited a different guest chef each day, co-designing these very special menus together.
Tickets are £79 + booking fee and include a welcome drink, pre-dinner nibble and a 3-course seated lunch is served on sharing platters. Table wine is also included.”
My Long Table Feast Menu
Sunday 12:00pm in the Banqueting Tent
Sittings are 2.5hrs
See you there!
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