Shed Life, Part 1
there are certain triggers –
which move you to make change in your life – and in the early spring of 2016, mine was a panic attack in a car park when I crumpled to the floor. Which is why I quit my first ever salaried job and moved into a shed at the bottom of a local boat builder’s garden.
As you do.
I won’t lie and say I wasn’t thinking about how romantic this would look. Admittedly the optics of a white-painted wooden shed, complete with a wood burner and greenhouse attached, hidden in a secret patch at the bottom of a garden, located opposite a small creek and my beloved Constantine woods was quite dreamy. If there was an image in the dictionary next to the phrase ‘for the gram’, this would probably be it.
One thing I learnt about cooking while at the shed is how to create meals for any number of people on just one working hob and occasionally the top of my wood burner. Living in one room did not allow for large cooking appliances, so my little cooker was the beginning and end of all hot meals. Which also meant I prepared a lot of salads and things on toast.
The Shed was where I enjoyed the simplicity of dressing a homegrown tomato with salt and olive oil; where I perfected my ritual of stovetop coffee before a morning swim; where I fell in love with fresh oregano because it grew wildly on the path leading to my door, and where I learnt how to grow peas, broad beans, radishes, mustard leaves and potatoes (mainly supervised by my friend Esther, whose green fingers were much more advanced than mine).
It was where I learnt how to be minimalist in my fridge provisions – I stopped doing ‘weekly’ shops, because who knows what you might want to eat on Saturday, and also, where would I put all that food?
I spent that first summer in the shed serving up stovetop porridge with hot compote and mint, broken eggs dressed with yoghurt and herbs straight out of the pan, grilled peach salad with feta or burrata, countless risottos topped with whatever greens I could pull out of the garden and a lot of whipped ricotta on toast.
Now, even though I love my life in London, complete with things like a full size fridge, dishwasher and more than one sink – I miss the days of drinking coffee on the doorstep, wine on the garden bench and cooking up dinners for friends with the stable doors wide open at sunset.
Small space living isn’t for everyone. Cooking where you sleep might not be your bag. But for someone who dreams in food, flavours, recipes, and hosting, rolling out of bed and straight into the kitchen – it was perfection.
Until next week, when I'll recount the second summer I spent living in The Shed. Enjoy the sun and your morning coffee sitting on the doorstep. I still do it now (much to my neighbours' confusion).
Cat x
a typical shed dinner.
If you were coming to the Shed for dinner, you’d probably get some variation on this (or a risotto, but we’ve already gone there). The art of shed style dining is that there are multiple dishes and they can be interchanged depending on the mood. Again, bread is always invited to this party (and is great for mopping up the bits here). Would also recommend a simple garden salad with fridge dressing to offset the richness of the dairy here. But for ease (and less scrolling), we’ll do three.
– yoghurty courgettes
This dip is a variation on an Ottolenghi recipe. In a non-stick frying pan/cast iron, sweat down 1 whole courgette (cut into rounds, then halved), 3-4 crushed garlic clothes, 2 banana shallots (or ½ red/white onion – thinly sliced) and ½ tsp red chilli flakes in about 3 tbsp oil on a medium heat. Once they start to soften, put a lid on and turn the heat down a little. You want everything to caramelise and be so soft it melts into the pan. After about 15 minutes, add some salt and pepper to taste. Then add the courgette mixture to a bowl with about 1 ½ cups of yoghurt. Add the juice of ½ lemon, lemon zest and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and mix it all together.
– grilled peach + feta
Shout out to Ben Quinn from Canteen who taught me the beauty of mixing stone fruits with dairy. Cut a peach in half, remove the stone then slice it into thick pieces. Get a griddle pan (or just a normal cast iron) pan really hot, then place the peach slices for about 2-3 mins on either side (enough to get a bit of a char). Place in a small salad bowl. Crumble feta and thinly sliced mint (pro tip: to chiffonade, stack a few mint leaves, roll them, then cut the roll – shout out Uncle Keith at Canteen for teaching us that). Add a little squeeze of lemon, loads of lemon zest, a heavy grind of pepper and then add a squeeze of honey/agave over the top. If I have it to hand, I add the tops of fresh lavender. You could also add the tomato oven dressing from a few newsletters back. It’s yum with that.
– potato + asparagus
Boil halved new potatoes (10, I’d say for a couple of people?! Of course I’d eat 10 on my own so I’m no judge of measurements) in a pan of salted water until a knife can easily cut through (but it doesn't fall apart). Add the asparagus right at the end, so that they still have bite. Drain in a colander. Place asparagus in iced water, while in a large mixing bowl, you add the potatoes and a knob of butter (or DF alternative), using a fork to mix it through while gently crushing the potatoes. Chop the asparagus into chunks and chuck them in the bowl. Add a big glug of extra virgin olive oil and add 1-2 cups of chopped herbs – dill, parsley, chives and oregano are good. Then add a handful of fresh rocket and some freshly chopped red chilli (deseeded, obv). Add salt to taste and a lot of black pepper. Lemon zest and parm, optional (but was always welcome at the shed).
food stories.
– Great piece on The Atlantic on why a pandemic is not the time for food snobbery.
– Samin Nosrat's latest podcast episode for 'Home Cooking' is great (the title is 'Guess What? Chicken Butt Is Delicious', case in point).
– Brilliant friends Issy Croker and Meg Abbot have curated a recipe e-book called Staying In, proceeds of which go to charity (feat. recipes from Anna Jones, Caravan and Melissa Hemsley)
a few leftovers.
Really into Diana Henry's Turkish take on pasta here
Will be ordering this braised artichoke wonder from the Little Duck, Dalston
If you don't follow Nud (of Breddos Tacos fame), you should
Sweet ricotta vibes with rose petals for the most 'grammable dish ever
Ordered a monthly coffee subscription from my fave Cornish roasters, Yallah
Need these confit tandoori chickpeas by Ottolenghi in my life
Not a baker but would 100% eat this turmeric cake (recipe by Alison Roman)
Shout out to The Cultured Collective who are keeping me in kimchi supply
Bought a plethora of artisanal Mexican goods from Cool Chile – tacos FTW
and finally.
would love my cupboards to resemble those of Tara O'Brady.
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