This time last week I was writing to you from Venice after eating all the risotto and drinking all of the espressos in Milan. I had exactly eight hours to come home, swap suitcases before heading to Helsinki for a quick work trip. After Italy, Finland seemed so quiet and calm. It's the third time that I've been there for work and each time I go, I love it more. 

Finnish cooking is so informed by their neighbours of Russia and Sweden but it is entirely it's own. From blueberry pie to salmon soup and plenty of smoked fish and cured meat, I ate so well. I've added spending a few hours in a traditional smoke sauna, swimming in the ice-cold sea and then wrapping myself up in cashmere and a coat and walking to a beloved restaurant to my top five feelings list. I was alone most of the time and after a busy month, it was heaven to just have myself for company. Nights in silky hotel sheets watching comfort films like Julie and Julia while eating a mixed bag of Finnish sweets and mornings listening to music and wandering around Helsinki's antique shops really reset my brain. 

November is arriving and with it lots of exciting new things including a new job, watching this on repeat and topping up the whiskey on a jar of fruit for my Christmas cake. Something Helsinki-inspired is coming next week so stay tuned for that and some other surprises. Also, my interview with The Spoken Woman Podcast is out now and you can listen to it here. I talk to the lovely Zoe about everything from cooking and ingredient inspiration to writing and this newsletter of course. 

Thank you as always for reading, for writing to me and for sending me photos of the recipes you recreate, I appreciate you all more than you could ever know.

 

I must make this spaghetti at least once a week. Use any olives you can find, tinned or jarred will both do. Use a bit of the olive oil or brine that they’re packed in to add to the sauce too instead of more salt. Olives and anchovies are the ingredients that make tinned tomatoes sing and so I always make sure to have them in my pantry for nights when I have little effort to be imaginative. 

Olive & Anchovy Spaghetti

• 1 large tablespoon of butter
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• A big pinch of chilli flakes
• Roughly half a tin of anchovies
• A handful of pitted olives (whatever you have but I like either green Sicilian ones or Greek salt-cured black ones).
   

• 2 tins of tomatoes
• A pinch of sugar
• A packet of spaghetti
• As much Parmesan cheese as you desire
• A bunch of fresh parsley

In a heavy-bottomed pot fry the garlic in the olive oil on medium heat. Add the anchovies and chilli and break them down with the back of a wooden spoon. Once you can smell them all sizzling, add in the tomatoes and olives and turn down to a low simmer. Let it bubble for ten minutes then taste before you season, there's a lot of salt in both the olives and anchovies so will only need a little bit of salt and perhaps a pinch of sugar. Boil your pasta to packet instructions and toss while hot with the spicy salty sauce. Completely cover in parmesan and chopped parsley. Eat immediately.