Florence Blair: Things that make her heart sing!

+ Her recipe for special soda bread

Jun 27, 2024

A friend and her recipe to share with you…

I love - and you tell me you love - my monthly guest spots and ‘meeting’ some new and familiar faces via this newsletter.

Today, I’m thrilled to share this recipe for courgette, chive & cheddar soda bread from this month’s special guest and it’s the one I’ve most been looking forward to. It’s been a long time coming as it’s my cherished colleague turned dear friend, Florence Blair, who has been busy these last 12 months working with me, working with some food industry greats, oh and getting married and organising the most beautiful wedding and fabulous feast. It was the best food at a wedding I’ve ever enjoyed and a wedding cake I took home and reluctantly sliced into 3 and divied up between Henry and my Mum (I’ll try and get this recipe off Florence too!)

Florence is a chef, writer, food and prop stylist and recipe developer, amongst many other skills. She’s also a devoutly daily sunrise swimmer, mean tennis player, and brilliant at anything she turns her mind to, including her most excellent seasonally-led food newsletter that I know all of you here will want to subscribe to.

Florence and I briefly met 5 years ago (as one often does in the small world of food) but then 3 years ago, she sent me an out of the blue email asking if I needed any help as she had some hours free for part-time work. Her email landed in my inbox the day after a truly traumatic experience and I had a huge deadline imminent (my last book Feel Good). Florence was an angel swooping in to support at a very low time of my life and she couldn’t have been more helpful, patient and kind. She is still just as integral to all I do now, turning her (many) talents and creativity to working with me on my recipes. She helps with making my instagram reels, proofing my books, editing my rambling in these newsletters (Hi Florence), the list goes on. She is a beloved visitor to my home, baby rocking and soothing Summer (and me!) when my arms are falling out of their sockets.

If you’ve enjoyed Florence’s recipe and foodie tips (below her recipe are my questions on the things that make her heart sing), then you’ll love Kitty’s and Hugh’s…

Over to you Florence, we adore you!

Florence’s courgette, chive & cheddar soda bread

As with all soda bread, this is best eaten warm from the oven. After that, I find it’s best to slice up the rest of the loaf for the freezer then pop slices straight into the toaster from frozen as and when.

2 courgettes (about 500g)
125g mature cheddar
1 green chilli
Bunch of chives (about 30g)
400g white spelt flour
50g polenta
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp sesame seeds, plus extra for topping
1 tbsp nigella seeds, plus extra for topping
300g kefir or natural yoghurt

Coarsely grate the courgettes, sprinkle generously with salt and scrunch with your hands then set aside for 10-15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Coarsely grate the cheddar, finely chop the green chilli and finely slice the chives. In a large bowl, mix the flour, polenta, bicarbonate of soda, sesame seeds, nigella seeds and 1 tsp salt.

Using your hands, squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the courgettes. Transfer to a clean tea towel and squeeze out even more liquid. When you think you’ve squeezed enough, try to squeeze even more (this quantity of courgettes gives out about 200ml liquid). It’s really worth the elbow grease. Add the courgette to the dry ingredients and use your hands to incorporate until evenly distributed. Add the cheddar, chilli and most of the chives (hold back on some for serving) then mix again. Finally, add the kefir and use your hands, a wooden spoon or a spatula to mix.

Working as swiftly as possible, shape roughly into a round loaf, transfer to the lined tray and use a bench scraper or sharp knife to score a cross on the top. Top with extra sesame seeds and nigella seeds. Bake for 30 minutes then lower the temperature to 180C and bake for a further 10 minutes until deeply golden and hollow sounding when tapped on the base.

Allow to cool for about 10-15 minutes then serve warm with lots of butter, the remaining chives and flaky salt.

Things that make Florence’s heart sing

Three cupboard ingredients that make your heart sing and why?

I hope this isn’t cheating, but I’m going to take salt, pepper, and a nice olive oil as a given here. After those, I’d say

Tinned tomatoes. If I don’t have at least two tins on standby I start to feel a bit twitchy.
Fennel seeds. My favourite and most used spice.
Dijon mustard. Whether it’s dolloped alongside my morning eggs, whisked with lemon juice to dress salads, or slicked in a sandwich, rarely a day goes by where I don’t reach for dijon.

Three fridge ingredients that make your heart sing and why?

Lemons. I don’t think there’s much a squeeze of lemon doesn’t improve. And I often use the fruit in its entirety: flesh, peel and pith.
Herbs. My love for herbs knows no bounds, but if pushed for a favourite, it would have to be dill.
Yoghurt - thick Greek please!

Three freezer ingredients that make your heart sing and why?

Peas. I will happily eat a bowl of peas as a snack, simply drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with flaky salt.
Breadcrumbs. Whenever we have odds and ends of bread that have turned stale, I blitz them up into coarse crumbs and stash them away in the freezer. I use them straight from frozen to make crispy toppings for pastas and salads, for meatballs, and more.
Chicken stock. After making a roast chicken I always make a big pot stock and
this is just as precious as the roast chicken itself.

Go-to recipe for when you’re knackered?

Without a doubt, it would be cheese on toast. Doorstep slices of good bread. Extra mature cheddar or red leceister. Dijon mustard and plenty of cornichons on the side.

Go-to recipe for when you want to treat someone?

I’m sorry if this is very predictable, but it would have to be a roast chicken.

I always perch my chicken on lots and lots of onion wedges. As the chicken roasts and the buttery juices trickle down, the wedges directly below the chicken turn soft and jammy, while those at the edges of the tray caramelise and turn crispy at the edges.

With a lemony salad, salsa verde, maybe little new potatoes or my favourite polenta chips, I just don’t think you can beat it.

Food spots in London that make your heart sing?

I don’t eat out very often, so when I do it really feels like a treat. Towpath is my favourite and I also love Ducksoup.

We are spoiled for choice of bakeries where we live. I have specific favourites at specific places and will potter from one to the other to secure the goods. E5 for bread (the Hackney Wild or the walnut rye), as well as their currant and oat bun. Dusty Knuckle for their feta and honey swirl. Violet for their spelt and prune scones. The list goes on…

And finally, I couldn’t leave out the beloved Wilton Way Deli. It’s my favourite place for a glass of wine at the end of a long week.

Food spots outside of London or abroad that make your heart sing?

If I was picking an actual “spot” it would be Emilia in Ashburton. But really my favourite food outside of London or abroad is a crab sandwich (made exactly as I like it: more black pepper than you think is necessary, lots of lemon, lots of herbs, yoghurt in lieu of mayo) on the beach in Devon after a swim in the sea.

Places in nature that make your heart sing?

There is nothing that makes me happier than a cold sea swim, followed by a big cup of tea (or two, or three). I’ll dive in anywhere, but my favourite spots are in Devon.

A food supplier / farmer / grower or food hero you’d like to shout out?

I have waxed lyrical about Two Fields many times before but I’ll do it again! Their olive oil is so special and makes a lovely present - much more original than giving a bottle of wine, I’d say!

What you love about the recipe we are sharing of yours?

There is something about slicing into soda bread, still warm from the oven, that feels like such a simple pleasure. And it gives you an opportunity to adopt the double butter approach which, if you ask me, is an approach to live by.

Things That Make My Heart Sing by Melissa Hemsley

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