Cornichon shortage leaves British sandwich shops in a pickle

With their sharp flavour and crunch, pickled cucumbers are an essential component of any sandwich worth its salt.But an unexpected shortage of cornichons has caused consternation in sandwich shops across the country as cafes scramble to get their hands on jars of the small green pickles.A favourite sandwich of hungry office workers is the simple jambon beurre. A staple across the Channel, the French sandwich contains ham, a generous amount of butter, and, crucially, a sharp, crunchy cornichon to cut through the fat.Sandwich chain Pret a Manger brought it to popularity in the UK, and a jambon beurre retails for about £4 in its shops

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for chilli eggs with miso beans and spinach | Quick and easy

My go-to cheat ingredient for a dash of heat is White Mausu’s peanut rāyu – it has a gentler flavour profile than, say, Lao Gan Ma crispy chilli in oil, and works perfectly in this dish of creamy, lemon-spiked beans and eggs. I recommend using jarred white beans for the speediest cook time. For an easy, get-ahead breakfast, make and chill the spinach and beans the night before, then reheat the next morning and crack in the eggs when the beans are piping hot.Prep 10 min Cook 20 min Serves 2-32 tbsp neutral oil 2 onions, peeled and roughly sliced2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated200g baby spinach, roughly chopped570g jar white haricot or butter beans, drained and rinsed (400g net)2 heaped tsp red miso paste (white will work, too) 150ml single cream Juice of ½ lemonSalt (optional)2 eggs 2-3 tbsp White Mausu peanut rāyu, to tastePut the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan on a medium heat, then add the onions and stir-fry for five minutes, until just colouring around the edges. Stir in the garlic, turn down the heat to low, then partly cover the pan and cook for five minutes, to soften

The US small town coffee shop that created a viral drink: ‘I still don’t understand how it went so far’

A viral coffee drink created by a little college town coffee shop on the outskirts of Minneapolis is now making its way around the world after its inventors decided to give the recipe away for free.After Little Joy Coffee’s raspberry danish latte, a spring seasonal drink, went viral in March, the shop’s owners decided to encourage coffee shops to rip off the recipe directly and add it to their menus.Posting both a home recipe and step-by-step instructions for coffee shops, they asked shops if they wanted to be added to a map of places that will serve the raspberry danish latte. Hundreds of shops quickly signed up. A map of the shops shows a presence on every continent except Antarctica, with pins in dozens of countries

Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, London WC2: ‘A rollicking list of cosy British joys’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

The British may not have the most sophisticated palates, but we are adorable in our culinary urgesAs we sit awaiting the beef rib trolley in the Grand Divan dining room at the whoppingly sized Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, we fizz with ideas of how to describe its wildly unfettered quaintness. “It’s all a bit Hogwarts, isn’t it?” I say to my friend Hugh.He’s been four times already, but then, Simpson’s is that kind of place: a handy-as-heck, posh canteen a short stroll from Covent Garden. There’s a twinkly, ye olde cocktail bar upstairs as well as Romano’s with its more European-style menu. But, for now, let’s concentrate on the Grand Divan

Benjamina Ebuehi’s sweet and salty chocolate chip cookies recipe | The sweet spot

Everyone has different ideas on what makes the perfect chocolate chip cookie, with everything from thickness and chewiness to the amount of chocolate up for debate. In my opinion, no cookie is worth eating if it’s not well salted; without it, everything feels a little off balance and flat. My not-so-secret way of salting cookies is to use a bit of miso. Not so much that it becomes a miso cookie, but just enough to bring a slightly savoury, umami vibe that makes the cookies a bit more complex-tasting and not sickly sweet.Prep 5 min Cook 30 min Chill 3 hr+ Makes 12100g unsalted butter, softened 110g dark brown sugar 110g caster sugar 35g white miso paste 1 large egg 220g plain flour ½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 100g milk chocolate, roughly chopped100g dark chocolate, roughly choppedPut the butter and both sugars in a large bowl and beat for two to three minutes until creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl often

Gentleman’s Relish is toast after its maker axes the pungent anchovy spread

Fans of traditional British cuisine were heartbroken by news that Gentleman’s Relish was being discontinued by its manufacturer.But Jeremy King, who last month reopened Simpson’s in the Strand, has instructed his chef to create a version of the pungent anchovy-based condiment almost identical to the real thing for the 198-year-old London restaurant.King, who has run famed establishments including the Ivy, the Wolseley and Le Caprice, told the Guardian: “We actually make our own, due to the difficulty in obtaining, so are able to continue to serve it.”Simpson’s, which offers traditional fare including spotted dick and roast beef carved on a silver trolley, serves the relish on toast for £6.50