Whether you love or hate the Duchess of Sussex’s new lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan, it’s already affecting the way we’re shopping for food. Waitrose has reported that since the series dropped on Netflix on Tuesday morning, searches for edible flowers and crudités are up 200 per cent, while for truffle salt they’ve seen a leap of 3,200 per cent.
But is there such a thing as too many edible petals, is double truffle ever necessary, and what’s new about a crudité board? We tried some of the recipes and styling tricks that Meghan demonstrates in the show, to test whether they’re worth your time. Here’s our verdict.
In episode one, Meghan puts a dried corn cob in a paper bag and microwaves it to make the popcorn. I can’t find a dried corn cob anywhere, so I use regular popping corn instead.
Prep time: 2 minutes
Cook time: 2 minutes
Ingredients
- 20g popcorn per person
- truffle oil, to drizzle
- truffle salt, to serve
How to make it: Place popcorn in a paper bag, roll the top down then microwave for 2 minutes. Pour into a bowl, drizzle on the truffle oil (£5.50 for 250ml, Waitrose) and truffle salt (£4.50, Waitrose).
Silvana’s verdict
I don’t think there’s any need for double truffle. It’s the same flavour – why add it twice when the ingredients are so expensive? I’d use one or the other. And don’t bother with a whole corn cob as regular popping corn is so cheap.
Achievability: 5
Would you do it again? Yes, I liked it more than I thought I would but I’d only use truffle oil and flaky sea salt, not truffle salt as well.
Ladybird crostini
Meghan suggests making these as a canapé for a children’s party in episode two. I’m doubtful about this; they look very cute, but how long would it take to make enough for a party of marauding kids, and would they appreciate the effort?
Prep time: 30 minutes
Makes: 16
Ingredients
- 1 rustic baguette
- olive oil
- 8 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 8 pitted black olives, sliced into quarters
- 1 small bunch of basil leaves
- 1 large pack of mozzarella (or two regular packs), sliced
- balsamic glaze
How to make it: Cut the baguette on the diagonal to create long slices and toast. Drizzle each slice with olive oil. On each crostino, place a slice of mozzarella, followed by a basil leaf, then half a cherry tomato, cut side down, to make the ladybird body, and an olive quarter for the head. Dip a cocktail stick into the glaze and dot on to the cherry tomato to make the ladybird spots.
Silvana’s verdict
These are a sweet way to serve a caprese salad, but adding the dots with the toothpick is a total faff and too time-consuming. If you have a pipette or syringe, that makes it quicker and easier – and the spots will be more defined too.
Achievability: 3.5
Would you do it again? Yes, but only for a small gathering, certainly not a large kids’ party when you’ve got a million and one other things to sort. It would be a fun activity to get children to help with.
Hummus and crudité board
Meghan makes a crudité board in pretty much every episode. It’s certainly not a new idea, but presentation is everything here. Look for veg in a rainbow of colours and arrange it on a nice-looking board; it’s as simple as that. I wouldn’t include raw broccoli like Meghan does: people just don’t like it.
Ingredients
- A selection of veg in different colours. We used: little gem lettuce; chicory; baby cucumber; rainbow carrots; green olives; peppers; cherry tomatoes; radishes
- 1 large pot of shop-bought hummus
- olive oil, for drizzling
- seeds (Meghan uses hemp seeds)
How to make it: Prepare the veg and arrange on a serving board. Place a small bowl in the centre, spoon the hummus into the bowl and stir it to create some texture. Make a small well in the centre and drizzle in some olive oil as well as over the surface of the hummus. Sprinkle on some sea salt and hemp seeds.
Silvana’s verdict
Obviously this is not rocket science, but what I like about a sharing board is that it changes throughout the year, depending on what’s in season.
Achievability: 5
Would you do it again? Yes, but I’d add more flavour to the hummus – a sprinkle of sumac or pul biber – and you don’t need to use hemp seeds, any seeds will do.
Single-skillet spaghetti
In the début episode, Meghan makes a one-pan spaghetti with tomato sauce. Although Italians were quick to mock, cooking pasta in one dish along with the sauce ingredients isn’t a new thing. When food writer Anna Jones published A Modern Way to Cook in 2015, it was the one-pot spaghetti that immediately captured my attention. Was it really possible to cook everything in one pan, with the juices from the cherry tomatoes, a good slug of olive oil – plus hot water from the kettle – producing a lovely silky sauce to coat each strand? The answer was a resounding yes.
The most noticeable difference with Meghan’s dish is the addition of some chopped garlic and a sprinkle of chilli flakes, plus – in a nod to thrift – the chopped kale stalks. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same as Jones’ version. There’s no actual recipe and Meghan is a bit vague with the quantities and timings on the show but I tried to copy what she did.
Silvana’s verdict
I was sceptical about this dish as I thought it might be gloopy and I didn’t like the idea of not frying the garlic first but actually it was fine. I wouldn’t bother with the rocket – just the kale or chard leaves would suffice. Meghan cooks the spaghetti with the lid on which made the sauce quite wet so I gave it a couple of minutes without the lid to give the right consistency.
Achievability: 4.5 because you do have to pay attention to the pasta, adding more water if needed or removing the lid and letting the sauce reduce down if it’s too wet.
Would you do it again? Yes, it’s a quick midweek recipe that saves on washing up.
Some quantities and timings we used for this recipe are based on an estimate as they are not provided in the programme.
In episode three, Meghan bakes doughnuts and decorates them with icing and dried flowers. I didn’t have a doughnut mould to make the baked doughnuts from scratch (who does?), so I bought two packs of ring doughnuts from Lidl (99p for four) and made the icing. I ordered some dried edible flowers from Amazon.
Makes: enough for 8 doughnuts
Ingredients
For the glacé icing
200g icing sugar
2 tbsp buttermilk
To serve
Dried edible flowers (small ones, ideally)
How to make it: For the glacé icing, put the icing sugar in a small bowl and stir in the buttermilk to give a thick but pourable consistency. Then, dip the top of each doughnut in the icing to about half way down. Tip it on its side to allow the excess to drip off then place on a wire rack to harden. Work quickly or the icing will start to set. Finally, sprinkle with edible flowers and leave to set.
Silvana’s verdict
I wouldn’t bother making doughnuts from scratch but these do look very pretty. The buttermilk gives the icing a good consistency and a really glossy sheen. When I offered them to a friend’s children, they picked the dried flowers off before eating them so these probably aren’t aimed at kids.
Achievability: 4.5
Would you do it again? Yes. You’ll only use a tiny bit of the buttermilk, so either make an alternative by squeezing lemon juice into milk – or use up the remainder in another recipe, like these puddings with rhubarb.
Floral ice cubes
To recreate this hack from episode 5, we found edible flowers at M&S (£2.50 for 7g, M&S or Ocado), but if you can’t get hold of them, mint leaves and strips of lemon peel are an easy alternative. Using pre-boiled or bottled water ensures the ice cubes will look as clear as possible so that you can see the flowers inside.
You will need:
- Bottled or filtered water (alternatively, boil water in the kettle and leave to cool)
- Edible flowers, or strips of citrus peel, mint, lemon balm
- An ice cube tray (I used a silicone one)
How to make it: Pour water to half way up the ice cube tray and float the decorations on top. Freeze until solid (about three hours). Then, remove from the freezer, top up with more water then return to the freezer for at least three hours or preferably overnight. Pop the ice cubes out of the tray, put a few in a glass and top up with sparkling water or your drink of choice.
Silvana’s verdict
Personally, I think this looks a bit twee.
Achievability: 4.5
Would you do it again? Probably not as they’re not really my style but they were easy to do and they make a simple glass of water look a bit special.
Shop-bought bouquet arrangement
Trialled by interiors editor Jessica Doyle
In episode five, Meghan visits a flower market and puts together an enormous floral centrepiece for brunch. In episode six, she does something a little more relatable – deconstructing a shop-bought bouquet and rearranging it in a bowl (although her shop-bought flowers are certainly higher end than anything you’re likely to find in your local Sainsbury’s). We found an M&S bouquet for £20 in a similar palette of colours – creams and pale peach, with sprigs of greenery including eucalyptus.
You will need:
- A bunch of shop-bought flowers – look for a mix of flowers and greenery
- A bowl
- Sticky tape (Meghan uses washi tape)
How to make it:
- Stick strips of tape over the top of the bowl to make a grid – this will hold the stems in place. Separate the flowers and greenery into bundles, and trim the stems, cutting at a diagonal angle. You will probably need to cut quite a lot off the stems as you go, depending on the size of your bowl.
- Start by arranging the greenery (these should be your longest stems). Stick stems of greenery into the holes in the grid at a horizontal angle, allowing them to flop over the sides of the bowl.
- Take the largest flowers from your bouquet and trim the stems so that they are quite short. Add to the arrangement so that they sit close to the rim of the bowl.
- Build up the arrangement with the rest of the flowers, trimming the stems further as needed so that it sits relatively low, and interspersing smaller flowers among the larger ones. Play around with the arrangement until you’re happy with how it looks. Place a few stems of greenery at random and, if it’s included within your bouquet, a spray of gypsophila or limonium.
Jessica’s verdict
This was nice to do, and I like the mix of pale tones together. One bunch of supermarket flowers doesn’t go very far though – you need several quite large flower heads to make the arrangement work (this was quite a big bunch). If you get a standard bunch of carnations and the like, as Meghan suggests (hers appear to be heavily mixed with peonies), you’ll need to use quite a small bowl.
Achievability: 4. The tape grid takes a bit of extra time – putting some scrunched-up chicken wire, if you have it, in the bottom of the bowl is a little easier.
Would you do it again? Yes, it does look better than plonking a ready-made bouquet in a vase.
Place setting with flower
This is a very quick way to make a place setting look a bit more “done”. You could use sprigs of rosemary or greenery snipped from the garden instead of flowers.
You will need:
- A side plate
- A napkin
- A flower
How to make it: Take the napkin and fold it diagonally once, to make a triangle shape. Pick up the napkin from the centre of the long side of the triangle using your thumb and forefinger, then lay it down on the plate so that the folds of fabric drape over each other. Place a flower on top to finish.
Silvana’s verdict
I liked the ease of this. I think it only works on soft linen-style napkins to create a more fluid look and maybe isn’t so good for stiffer fabrics.
Achievability: 5
Would you do it again? Yes, it only took seconds and makes a change from the folded napkins I usually lay out.
With Love, Meghan is on Netflix.
