The last of summer?

I am not going to get into the study to write this blog every week now that school is back. I am going to try a new approach & do a monthly round up of the things I think you will like the best. It hasn't been the best of weather but we have had a reasonable return from the garden considering. And even a few more outdoor meals. We did all Phoebe's favourites one night. Vegetable skewers - red onion, green & yellow courgette, button mushrooms, capsicum yellow, red, green & orange. Phoebe's all time barbecue favourite is watermelon, red onion, olives, feta & parsley. And she doesn't even like onion, olives or parsley. This really works as a refreshing salad on a hot day. Marinade the red onion in lime juice first to reduce some of the sharpness & bring out the pinkness. Dress with the lime & olive oil to taste. Grind on lots of black pepper.
When you have an abundance of tomatoes don't forget Jamie's Mothership Tomato Salad. This is the best tomato salad in the world. Use as many different colours & shapes as you can. I add a little sugar with the salt to bring out the flavour in the tomatoes. I use my rosemary sugar.


For lamb & kumara lovers we discovered the best lamb salad in an old Cuisine: Lamb salad with spinach kumara & capsicum. We did it for visitors from the UK. I used different types of kumara to give it some variety. If you don't have vincotto maybe try some kind of fruity balsamic.
Another salad which is now firmly in the repertoire is a beef salad with yellow split peas. Cook about 1 1/2 cups yellow split peas in chicken stock until just tender, drain & spread out to cool. Don't overcook or they will turn mushy - I did this the first time & I just froze them to use later as a dip or dahl and started again. It was worth it. Make a dressing in the food processor with 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, zest & juice of 1 lemon, small bunch of flat-leaf parsley. Pan grill a piece of sirloin to your liking and after resting cut into cubes. Mix the split peas with diced capsicum, celery & red onion & mix with half the dressing. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the steak & serve side by side on a platter scattered with watercress.
I recently bought some quinces and poached them in an amazing liquor. There are lots of recipes. Give it a go. We used muscat and spices. The colour is incredible. They are very rich and you only need small servings - but delicious.

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.

Summer Salads

We have had a few days of summer weather, and have been eating accordingly. We have even eaten outside a couple of times. Louisiana Chicken salad, originally discovered at Lois Daish's Mt Cook Cafe, is an old favourite of ours which has now become part of Phoebe's repertoire. Lois just served the chicken with greens but we have added everyone's favourite salad ingredients & our version is quite a colourful meal. Marinade diced chicken for at least an hour in about 1/4 cup tomato sauce (A Bit of Everything July 5) mixed with 2 tbsp grainy mustard, 2 tsp paprika, pinch cayenne, crushed garlic, thyme, salt & pepper. On a platter or a large bowl arrange a variety of salad leaves - don't overlook herbs such as basil & flat leaf parsley - diced capsicum, radish, halved cherry tomatoes. I just use whatever is in season. Saute the chicken. Toss some lemony vinaigrette through the salad. Arrange the warm chicken on top and in season I usually top with slices of avocado. A friend crumbles bacon over the top as well. I even used to replace the chicken with falafel for Harriet when she lived at home.
Another old favourite in our house is tuna pasta. I use tri colour pasta but any small shapes will do. I think twists or shells work best. In a large bowl, mix the cooked pasta with a tin of tuna and after that put in whatever you like. I add spring onion, capsicum, radish, peas & corn, hard boiled egg, feta, sprouts. Mix though some mayonnaise sparingly. This was one of my father's favourites & he always wanted the recipe but he couldn't cook from - put in whatever you like, so I always made it for him when I visited.
I've been experimenting with different salad leaves. Try baby spinach with a few radicchio leaves. Add segments of lime, lemon & orange. Peel & segment, then slice each segment out of it's skin covering. Add sliced avocado & grilled haloumi. Dress with a dressing of olive oil, a drizzle of honey, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 tsp sumac, 50g toasted crushed pine nuts.
Phoebe has become very artistic with the arrangement of her berries on her cereal so I thought I'd share.