The Weekly Gather: holiday cooking, bitter drinks and bananas

Plus a recipe for a glorious sauce for ice cream (that happens to limit food waste)

I love being waited on like a princess when I’m on holiday - bring me a spritz and some grilled fish and I’m happy as a clam. But honestly, I’m just as contented cooking. All that fresh produce, market-induced Stendhal syndrome, endless sundrenched ingredients and meal possibilities, eating gorgeous bread from dawn to dusk, breakfast rosé … and I get to channel Amélie in the markets. That’s why I loved the latest newsletter by the brilliant Kitty Coles for The Gloss magazine, where she shared the culinary bits and bobs that she packs when headed for a self-catering holiday. I always take a decent knife and a proper chopping board (why are rentals still doing glass ones?) She’s also rounded up some great tips from food-loving friends about what they cook when abroad. Her newsletter is always worth a read, crammed with the kind of stylish and doable dishes I love to cook (and wish I’d thought of). Also great travel tips now and then. Sign up here: Kitty Coles’ newsletter.

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Does anyone else love this stuff as much as I do? It’s new to me but has already earned a place in my drinks cupboard this summer because it’s got all the good things in it: Italian wine and alcohol infused with blood oranges, citrus peel and a pinch of clove. It’s gently bitter, properly orangey and perfect with tonic, soda or a splash of bubbles. It’s a kind of Aperol for people who like bitter drinks. Love it.

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Photo by Mike Dorner on Unsplash

The climate crisis is threatening the future of the world’s most popular fruit - bananas - so a new newsletter

Test. Taste. Repeat.

(from the team behind BBC Food Food Magazine) offers some great suggestions about how to use black bananas, and a reminder that they can be frozen if you don’t fancy making banana bread then and there. One of my fave black banana recipes is Banana Scotch Sauce, from my latest book Second Hedlpings. It’s quick and poured over ice cream makes a brilliant summer dessert. Recipe here.