Sea and Shore By Emily Scott Cookbook Review
Sea and Shore By Emily Scott Cookbook Review
Take a culinary trip to Cornwall in Sea and Shore by Emily Scott
I’ve gotta put my hands up and say that I’ve never been to Cornwall. But flicking through Sea and Shore by Emily Scott makes me feel like I know it.
It’s a cookbook to while away a rainy afternoon, preferably by a roaring fire. I don’t have one of those, so I’ll just stick the heating on ;)
What I really like about Sea and Shore is how it makes you look at England in another light. A fresh one. Where going to Cornwall is about being near the most amazing ingredients, both from sea and land.
And although whatever I make will only be an imitation, seeing as I’m neither near sea nor near farm, it’s still a taste of the good life. It almost makes me want to pack up life in London and go to the beach!
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What are the recipes like in Sea and Shore by Emily Scott?
Emily lays out the recipes nice and easy, and most of the things I’ve ended up making are simple enough. Or maybe that the good thing about this book – nothing requires too much faff.
So far, I’ve made half a dozen recipes, and been able to find most ingredients. I might need to pop to a proper fishmonger for some things though (turns out Morrisons don’t sell John Dory or Lemon Sole). Who knew?
That’s the other thing I like about this cookbook – it makes you want to go to a proper butcher and get a bit of meat different to anything you’ve had before. Or to go pick berries at a farm. You know?
Each recipe takes up about a page, and I’d say around half have pictures alongside them. The photography is gorgeous – all moody, and matte, and dark. There are pictures of the finished dishes as well as the Cornish landscape.
Flicking through them, you can almost feel the wind in your hair, the rain on your cheeks. Makes me feel like Heathcliff, searching for Cathy out on the Moors. Oh wait, that’s another part of England. My bad.
English cucumber sandwiches with salted butter
I flicked through this at first and smirked – cucumber sandwiches?! As if I’d make those. Reader, I made them.
And they’re bloody hard. Much more difficult than you think. Do you realise how wet cucumbers are? Especially when you slice them thin.
The recipe tells you to drain them for a full half hour with some salt and, by all that is holy, that’s exactly what you should do. And even then, my sandwiches slipped about here and there. I have newfound respect for cucumber finger sandwiches and promise not to laugh at them anymore.
Granola with almonds and pecans
Hubby and I have been on a bit of a healthier-eating kick, well for breakfast anyway. So we set about making this granola.
Turns out granola goes with just about anything. Mostly we’re eating it with Greek yoghurt and fruit, but I even had it sprinkled on some of my cheese on toast the other day.
It’s nice, and the Sea and Shore recipe has lovely little extras. Like the pecans, which puff up in the oven and give the most delicious crunch. I’m also a fan of the orange zest, and will be zesting oranges much more often now I know how delicious they make things.
Fennel and parmesan gratin
The fennel and parmesan recipe in Sea and Shore starts with a promise. And that promise is that this’ll be a lighter gratin than your usual.
It’s a promise that is met – this is possibly the lightest ‘rich’ dish I’ve ever made. And it’s because there’s no double cream.
Instead, you get the unctuousness from parmesan and breadcrumbs, but it’s still light enough to not feel too naughty. I also found that you can halve the amount of butter, and it still tastes ah-mazing #winning.
Spring roast chicken with wild garlic and new potatoes
Roasting a couple of baby chickens is my favourite thing to cook. So whenever I see a whole chicken recipe I always just use a few smaller birds and reduce the time. The theory works well for Emily Scott’s spring roast chicken recipe and, again, you can also safely halve the butter.
I really like her recipe for new potatoes too, which use a helluva lot of fresh rosemary and thyme. Both make a massive difference to how the potatoes taste, and I’ll be doing the same much more often.
Cornish crab linguine with chilli, lemon and parsley
From the get-go I knew I was never going to get actual Cornish crabs, but my local shop does tinned crab so I used that instead. I really enjoyed the combination of crab with just-cooked linguine, the pasta water and lemon juice bringing everything together. The parmesan works surprisingly well too.
But the finished dish would work better with fresh crab. If you can plump for better than tinned, then I’d do it. I think having big chunks of crab would make the world of difference to how this dish tastes, seeing as it’s so simple to begin with.
Hot artichoke dip
Now here is a recipe that you can reliably turn to a tin for. Take one tin of artichoke hearts, blitz them up with a few other things, bake and voila! Hot, delicious, artichoke dip. I had this for lunch one day with an olive bread roll and some spinach. It is very good!
But it is also on the oilier side – so you need a couple of greens to lighten things up and add contrast.
Buffalo mozzarella, broad bean, olive, lemon and rocket salad
Sea and Shore is filled with things you really wanna cook, and for me this is a one of them. I loved the look of it on the page – all shiny, green and fresh. And I’m a sucker for buffalo mozzarella so I was always going to fall hard.
It’s a gorgeous salad, filled with a mixture of textures. The broad beans are lovely and thick, and they sit well alongside the rocket. Black olives add an earthiness, and a mustard dressing pulls it all together. The cheese is just the cherry on top of a lovely meal.
Overall thoughts on Sea and Shore by Emily Scott
I’ve enjoyed getting to know Cornwall through the eyes of local, and a local chef at that. Emily has a knack for putting together recipes that are very of the place. Happily, they also translate to wherever you happen to be, so you can join in the fun too. Perfect!
Buy Sea and Shore by Emily Scott.
Have you tried Sea and Shore by Emily Scott? Do you have any favourite recipes? Let us know :)
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