I thought you might like this…

A short film about Venice and a date to cook together

Hello! This is a quick one from me. I’m typing from behind the till on the shop floor. Side note: if you’re in London, please do come say hi! 48 Elizabeth St SW1W 9PA - we’re here until Saturday 7th June (included) and I’m in the shop most days. One of the best things about having a shop (I’ve discovered) is people popping in to say hello: it literally makes my day!

Anyway I digress from the point, which is this: a few months ago, I worked on a short film with Conde Nast Traveler about Venice and the challenges the city faces with chronic over-tourism. It’s a short little film: less than 15 minutes long, although it took us three full days to film and lots more time beyond that for the team to edit the footage etc, which in itself I found a fascinating insight into how these things work and is probably a whole post in itself. But the video is now finished and I thought you might enjoy watching it, so I’m sharing it here:

Also, while we’re here, I thought it might be good to get another date in the diary for a cook-along together, as it’s been a while since we’ve done one and I always enjoy them so much. So! If you’re up for it, please pop next Thursday (29th) at 5.30pm (GMT) in your diary!

I thought we could make a nice, summery baby tomato and mozzarella tart, some asparagus with crumbled feta and toasted almonds, and then THE BEST (you can tell me what you think when we make it on Thursday, but I really do feel strongly that this is THE BEST) no-churn chocolate ice cream. The ice cream won’t be ready to eat straight away because (obviously) once we’ve made it, it needs a few hours (let’s say 6 or so, to be on the safe side) in the freezer to chill, but depending on what time you like to have your supper then you should be able to eat it for pudding on Thursday night, or anytime from then. The rest of the menu is very good to eat either warm or at room temperature so you could happily serve it for dinner that evening (either straight after we wrap up or later on), or at a push even for lunch or supper the next day. If you’re cooking for more than a few people, then you might want to think about doing a salad too: here are my thoughts on how to make a really good salad in case useful.

To join me live, you’ll need to download the Substack app (if you don’t have it already - you probably do at this point); then enable notifications, and the app will notify you when I start the live on Thursday at 5.30pm GMT. Just tap that, and you’re in. I’ll share the recording of the cook-along afterwards as well, so you can watch it later if you prefer. And if you would like to cook along with me in real time, this is what you’ll need:

FOR THE TART

500g baby tomatoes
Olive oil
Dried oregano
300g mozzarella cheese
320g sheet of ready-rolled shortcrust pastry
1 small onion, chopped (I’ll use frozen onion)
140g mild Cheddar cheese, grated
Pitted black olives
Basil
Salt flakes and black pepper

FOR THE ASPARAGUS
Green asparagus
Flaked almonds
Feta cheese

FOR THE CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM
250g dark chocolate
1 x 395g tin of condensed milk
1 tsp Bovril
40g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
400ml whipped double cream
Salt flakes

So looking forward to it and hope to see you there! And in the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!