Is this summer at last?

Smoked fish with roasted potatoes & egg is one of my absolute favourite summer salads. This is from the January 2006 Cuisine which has one of the best ever selections of salads & is one we return to every summer. We just call it "the fish issue". This year we have been using our home grown Swift potatoes. I recommend Swift for an outstanding crop of waxy potatoes. Try them. We like to get our smoked fish from the Coromandel Smoking Co. We get it from Olive Guy at Harbourside Market. You can probably find an outlet near you.

We recently tried a duck risotto. This was beautiful and we have decided to experiment more with duck so keep an eye out for more. Make a glaze with:

2 tbsp honey

a splash of sherry

2 cardamom pods, bruised

1 tsp cracked pepper, slightly crushed

1 tsp orange blossom water.

Using one duck breast per person, score the skin, season with salt & pepper and put skin down in a hot pan with a little olive oil. When the skin is golden (about 4 minutes), turn & cook a further 2 minutes. Tip away the excess fat - there may be quite a bit - and brush the skin with the glaze. Turn skin side down again & cook a final 2 minutes. Rest before serving. Here is quite a good description of the process for cooking duck. You could crisp up the skin under the grill if you like.

In the meantime make a basic risotto, including a cinnamon stick a a few strands of saffron with the rice. Add fresh peas (or frozen if you have none in the garden) & chopped parsley & celery leaves at the end. Top with the sliced duck.

I recently made broad bean fritters to eat with Turkish bread as an alternative to lamb meatballs. These were so divine. And perfect the next day as a spread on toasted Turkish bread. In the food processor, mix a big bunch of flat leaf parsley (you could use coriander) and a smaller bunch of mint. Add salt & pepper, 1/2 tsp cayenne. 1 tsp ground cumin, a sprinkling of chilli flakes, zest & juice of a lemon, and 500g defrosted broad beans skinned. I found they were easy to skin when they were part defrosted. (Use fresh in season.) Sprinkle in 1 tsp flour & pulse for a few seconds. Don't be tempted to add more flour - the mixture will be too dry. To make the fritters, use 2 spoons to make elegant quenelles. This is really easy, just roll a spoonful of mixture from one to the other about 3 times, try it. Then deep fry the fritters for about 2 minutes. When they rise to the top of the oil they are done. They will be brown on the outside and bright green within. These will be very popular so don't skimp. You could serve as a starter with a lemony yoghurt dip too.