Summertime courgette pesto pasta

Summertime … of course just at the very word THIS is draping it’s sumptuousness into your mind right now …

You know those days when it’s so hot, so still, so languid …. that you really absolutely cannot bear the thought of the oven being on for even a second?

Today was one of those.

I did brave the hob though - just for five quick minutes mind you, to boil the fresh penne pasta.

But the delicious courgette pesto is all raw so no unnecessary over-heating going on over here at all.

This is pretty much exactly as one of my very favourite food writers, Diana Henry, shared it, but I made a couple of tiny changes to it.

Her original recipe is HERE.

And I’m also putting the link to her books HERE too as I’m a huge fan so why not share the love?

I used her recipe as a starting point but didn’t really measure what I was using, so here’s kind of what I used to make a very lovely simple summer evening dinner for two …

1 courgette, peeled (mostly) and grated using a box grater

1 small garlic clove, peeled, squashed and roughly chopped

small handful of pine nuts, perhaps around 20-30g

handful of basil leaves, torn

small green chilli, chopped (optional, totally optional, I just like a bit of chilli in things)

salt and pepper

a little slosh of olive oil

Put everything into a blender or food processor and whizz up to a lovely soft paste. I like this to be quite soupy so added a little water too.. Basically, just make it perfect for you and exactly as you like it. You might need to stop a couple of times to push the mixture down the sides and get it all mixed up together.

Pour into a shallow dish and scrape all the mixture from the sides of the food processor or blender.

Add a good handful of freshly grated parmesan and some salt and freshly ground black pepepr.

Stir this lovely fragrant mixture together.

The sauce is now there, happy waiting for the pasta - so time to make the pasta!

Fresh I think is best for this dish and mainly because it’s super-quick and won’t make us too hot on this of hottest of days.

My fresh penne needed just five minutes on a low boil, then drained it was ready to put straight into the bowl of delicious courgette pesto sauce.

I just mixed it all in together, tasted - seasoned a little more - and it was ready.

I added a little more grated parmesan, a little more black pepper, and a few basil leaves to garnish and that was it.

So simple.

So delicious.

So good for these sweltering evenings when you really want to limit having the oven or hob on!

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Courgette leek salad with (possibly) the best dressing ever

This one’s firmly based on a recipe from one of my favourite cookbooks, The French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook by Mireille Guiliano.

I love her writing and her recipes but I do usually change them up just a little bit, as with most recipes, as here.

This is the most beautifully simple dish that would be an utterly elegant side dish but I’m on a focused lose-the-lockfown-weight THING so I had this for lunch.

And I’ll be having it again soon. It was DELICIOUS.

The dressing makes enough for two so I have my second portion (this image) in the fridge ready for tomorrow’s amazing salad lunch idea (that I have already).

Honey, mustard, olive oil, lemony dressing = AMAZING.

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To make it the way I did and to make a glorious, sunshine, light, gorgeous, healthy lunch for one, you’ll need:

FOR THE SALAD

2 leeks, cleaned, any tough outer layers removed, most of the green part cut off (use in soup another time) and the white piece remaining cut into a few smaller pieces

1 courgette, washed, peeled if you prefer, cut horizontally into slices and then these halved again

FOR THE DRESSING

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp runny honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

FOR THE MAKING IT ALL AMAZING

salt and pepper

fresh parmesan cheese, grated into little slices

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Bring a big pan of salted water to the boil, throw in the leeks and boil on a fairly gentle boil for five minutes.

Add the courgettes, bring it back to the boil and give it another two minutes.

Drain and leave to cool.

Make the dressing while the vegetables cool by mixing all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl (to be honest, I started eating it straight from the bowl with a spoon). Obviously taste and adjust the quantities so it’s exactly right for you.

When the vegetables are cool, tip into a bowl and season with salt and pepper to your liking.

Toss and add some of the dressing and toss again.

Taste again!

Crumble or peel or grate on some parmesan cheese.

When it’s perfect, just pile it all up and dig in …. this is SO SO GOOD.

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So simple, so good - & it's just aubergine, tomato, onion, chickpeas

Yep I did actually pretty much write a whole recipe in the title!

So let’s write this recipe quickly too so you can just get on with making and eating this.

It’s so simple and so good.

I bought a beautiful glossy aubergine the other day - just because it was so beautiful and so glossy … and then didn’t know what to make with it.

i asked my friends on FB for their suggestions, recommendations and recipes and chose to make the simplest - sent by my friend Amoul.

OK, confession .

Even though I have eaten in Amoul’s restaurant and so tried her wonderful food, and not just once, oh no …

But I STILL read the simple recipe she kindly shared with me on my asking for help and I read it and I thought, ‘mmmmm I’m not sure about this, it sounds a bit bland’.

I asked her several questions, almost like I wanted it to be more complicated, like I didn’t really get that this much simplicity would be so delicious.

But hey - I have eaten her amazing food and I see her mouth-watering posts and I know she knows all about simple delicious food.

So I trusted.

And oh my goodness, it was utterly delicious.

My dinner didn’t even make it to a bowl or plate, I ate it straight from the pan.

Then I stopped and tipped the rest into a dish so that I would have some the next day (this is enough for two portions).

And then I got the spoon again and dug right back in again.

Amoul suggested serving with rice.

Not a chance here! I tried it and I couldn’t stop eating it.

This is definitely a new regular dinner over here and I hope you love it too. I think it would also be a very lovely accompaniment to some simple baked or pan-fried white fish.

Also - go follow Amoul …

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Oops sorry, chatted on there more than I’d meant to.

This will make enough for two but if you have rice with it maybe more. Or maybe just make as much as you can as it’ll keep in the fridge a couple of days anyway.

Here’s what you need …

one white onion, peeled and finely chopped

a tablespoon of olive oil

one lovely beautiful glossy aubergine (eggplant) washed and diced

a tiny crumble (maybe a quarter) of a Knorr stock cube - but just omit if you don’t have/don’t want

three nice happy large vine tomatoes (more if small) peeled and chopped

salt and pepper

one tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

rice to serve, if liked

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Saute the onion in the oil over a low heat, stirring often, for AGES - or it feels like ages anyway.

Don’t let it burn or stick so add a splash of water if needed.

Just go gentle, this is a very gentle dish.

Let it saute at its own pace - maybe up to 10 minutes - until soft and translucent.

Add the diced aubergine and the little crumble of stock cube, if using, and a little splash of water and stir.

Cook gently with a lid on the pan, stirring every now and then, for 6 or 7 minutes.

Check that the aubergine is really softening and cook a little longer if not.

Add in those lovely peeled fresh tomatoes and also now’s when to add the seasoning - so salt and pepper to taste.

I’d go a little tiny bit more heavy handed than you might normally do, but remember you can always add more, can’t take away.

Cover the pan again and simmer - gently - for another five minutes then stir and taste.

Add the tin of drained, rinsed chick peas, stir.

Add a little water if needed but it shouldn’t need.

Cover and simmer - gently - for a few minutes, maybe three.

Take the lid off, turn up the heat a little if it’s very liquid and cook for another minute or two.

Taste, add more salt and pepper if needed.

Try not to eat the whole thing straight from the pan yourself but let others also have some dinner ….

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Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino (garlic, olive oil and chilli)

I’m just in love with the simplest food right now.

I had the most delicious grilled salmon yesterday at a Thai restaurant that I’ll be recreating at home. It was served just with al dente asparagus and a red curry sauce that you actually wanted MORE of (and not less as is so often the case).

I’m going to be trying that one at home very soon.

Last year I also recreated a sauce similar to the one they serve with their delicious grilled squid - again, another dish defined by both simplicity and flavour.

I’m reminded while cooking right now of Coco Chanel’s edict to ‘take one thing off’ before leaving the house.

It’s so tempting to add more (and more). And more.

We all do it.

And unless that is absolutely your style thing - and I’ve definitely seen and admired those who DO pull it off - most of us would benefit from a little paring down.

In our style, our look, in how we spend our time, in our food. In everything.

This recipe could not be more simple.

Yet could also not be more elegant - not just elegant in a cold way but elegant and also very sexy.

Very sensual.

It has to be when it’s just four ingredients, four perfect ingredients, cooked together to create a perfectly simple, elegant, luscious, sensual dish.

The recipe is from a very good book, Made At Home, by the wonderful Giorgio Locatelli.

He talks a little about the dish before sharing the recipe.

He also talks about ‘the sexiest scene’ in a film called Chef (that I am definitely watching as soon as I’ve posted this).

He talks about how in the film the Jon Favreau character cooks this dish for the Scarlett Johansson character and he says,

‘…. winding it round a big toasting fork and handing it to her in a little bowl, then watching her as she is totally seduced by the flavours. it is a moment of genius. The way she watches him making the spaghetti and then he watches her eat it … ‘

Such sensuality from the making and giving and receiving of the most beautiful, simplest food.

Can we ask for more from food, from anything really?

So go on then …. let’s make this.

The recipe is pretty much exactly from Giorgio Locatelli but the words here are mine.

Just four ingredients and a very different way of cooking to my usual way.

I’m usually stir frying things quickly over a high heat.

I need to use an oil with a high cooking temperature - like rapeseed or grapeseed. I need to hear things sizzle and to move them around quickly.

Not this langourous dish.

It takes its time. Well, it does just here at the start when we’re cooking that garlic to infuse the big fruity oil with the big garlic flavour before we heat them both together to form the base of the sauce.

So those four ingredients include the oil - it needs to be a virgin or extra virgin olive oil.

Usually I’d say these oils are for dressings as they cook and burn at a relatively low temperature.

But here we want that gorgeous rich fruity flavour.

And we want garlic, lots of it.

And chilli, lots of it. Scotch bonnet would be amazing and what’s recommended in the recipe - as it’s so fruity and delicious but I didn’t have any and so used bird eye.

You could also use dried chilli flakes which I have done since and have to admit I kind of prefer it - I use just about 1/2 a teaspoon as mine are really spicy!

So that’s three.

1. Olive oil

2. Garlic

3. Chillies

The fourth is the pasta itself.

Get a big pan on the heat with lots of water and a little salt - give it lots of room to breathe.

When boiling add the spaghetti and cook for ten minutes for it to be that perfect bite between al dente and soft (well, that’s what’s perfect for me).

While it’s cooking put a big non-stick pan over a low heat and add a tablespoon of the oil.

Tip in the garlic, stir for a few seconds, pull the pan away from the heat, stir and add a little more cold oil.

Return to the heat, stir into the warmth.

Just before it sizzles or starts to colour, pull the pan off the heat, stir, cool it down slightly.

Return to heat, stir and allow the oil to start to gently sizzle and the garlic to just just just just just turn colour.

Then add the chilli and cook, stirring, quickly and briefly.

Pull the pan away from the heat and add a ladleful of the pasta cooking water straight from that boiling pan to this - watch out because it might spit.

Return to the heat, turn the heat to the lowest setting and stir - keep it just there on the boil until the spaghetti has finished cooking.

Retain another ladle of the cooking water in case you need it, and drain the pasta then tip into the pan with the oil, garlic and chilli and toss thoroughly so it’s all coated.

Add a little more of the cooking water if needed.

And that is it. That simple.

You could add some lovely fresh parsley and grate in fresh parmesan - both of which would be absolutely delicious - but I had neither of these today so just had the very simplest way of eating this.

And I loved every silky full-flavoured mouthful of it.

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Thai-style salade nicoise

I had eggs and I had tuna and I had green beans.

So it was looking like a salade nicoise ... but I was STILL hankering after my favourite salad dressing of the moment, which goes with EVERYTHING!

I've had it with roast beef, with sliced steak, with chicken.

Why not with tuna and egg?

Here's how to make my Thai-style version of a (kind of) salade nicoise (give or take the lettuce, olives, potatoes, French dressing ...) for two.

For the dressing, mix together to dissolve the sugar:

1-2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1/2 small garlic clove, minced very fine

1-2 teaspoons sugar, to your taste

the juice of 1 juicy lime

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

For the salad, whatever you like really!

I had tomatoes, spring onions, courgette (cored and sliced with a julienne peeler), cucumber (peeled and diced), radishes, green pepper.

What makes it really good is also to have some chopped fresh mint and coriander (or parsley if you don't like coriander) leaves.

Oh, and toast some almond flakes in a dry pan ready to add to the finished dish.

For the tuna - I decided I wanted the tuna to be spicy rather than all the salad or the dressing:

1 tin tuna, mixed with a few drops of soy sauce, a squeeze of lime juice and a finely diced red chilli (just use a few slices or half a chilli if you don't want it too hot).

And finally, you'll need:

some fine green beans

2 eggs

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Put a pan of water on to heat, add a pinch of salt and when boiling carefully add the eggs.

After two minutes add the green beans and boil for a further four minutes.

Immediately remove from the heat and rinse and rinse in cold water to prevent the eggs or beans cooking further, then set aside.

Combine all the salad ingredients, add the salad dressing and mix - I just use my (clean!) hands to scrunch it all together.

Put the green beans on top, then the tuna mixture and peel, halve and add the eggs.

Top with the toasted almonds and a little freshly ground black pepper.

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Gai pad pong karee / chicken curry stir fry

It's a curry, kind of, a stir-fry, kind of ... and just a good, easy comfort-food dish really.

It uses curry powder rather than paste plus some nam prik pao - chilli paste in oil - for the heat, and it's all finished into a scrambled egg mixture.

OK, I can't say it's the prettiest dish ever, but when you need something warming, comforting and easy ... this would be a good choice, whether for brunch or a simple supper.

Serve with lovely hot fluffy rice and do cook the rice first - so it's ready to go.

For two, you'll need:
 

one egg

1 teaspoon mild curry powder

2 teaspoons chilli paste in oil (buy in Asian supermarkets or it's easy to make your own)

a good splash of fish sauce

a good big blob of oyster sauce

a good splash of almond milk (or use cow's milk if you prefer) - maybe 50-100 ml

cooking oil spray plus 1 teaspoon of the oil from the top of the chilli paste in oil

1/2 an onion, sliced

a few slices of red chilli, if liked

1 garlic clove, minced

1 chicken breast, cut into very small pieces

some vegetables, whatever you have and like really - I made it once with red and yellow peppers and spinach and then again with orange pepper, asparagus and broccoli - all cut up small

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Mix the egg, curry powder, chilli paste, fish sauce, oyster sauce and milk in a bowl and set aside.

Add some sprays of cooking oil and the oil from the top of the chilli paste to a non-stick frying pan and then add the onion, chilli (if using) and garlic and cook, stirring often, over a medium heat for a couple of minutes until the onion starts to soften. Add a little splash of water if needed.

Then add the chicken and cook for another three minutes or so, again add a little splash of water if it's too dry.

Next add the vegetables and cook again, stirring all the time, for another two minutes or so.

Then tip in the egg mixture and stir to cook and scramble - it'll take another couple of minutes or so until scrambled.

I forgot to take a photo of when the eggy mixture first went in! I'll add one next time I make this.

And that's it!

Something a little different and really easy - I hope you try it.

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Ruth's Homemade Chunky Guacamole

Whenever I talk to someone about food and life for this blog, I always ask them to share a recipe too ... and I honestly couldn't wait to try this one shared with me by my friend and huge inspiration to me ... Ruth Ridgeway.

For some unknown reason, I've never had a good guacamole recipe and now when I think about it, that seems really strange - I love all the flavours in this and I adore avocado.

But sometimes, maybe, perhaps  .... the reason I've never had a good one before because one day I would have this one.

And this one is my idea of perfection when it comes to guacamole.

Also, pretty much perfection in other ways.

In it's beautiful simplicity ... every ingredient is exactly what is needed and results in a big flavour, easily.

I also love those baby avocados now available - and just as well as now this seems to be a staple part of my diet - I don't want to be using half an avocado and having the other half go brown (no matter what I do, or tips I follow, it seems to still happen).

I've already made this twice in the last 24 hours!

Once to go with a griddled steak and some stir fried vegetables, which was amazing.

And then to top a piece of toasted ciabatta - with an egg on top of that, which was pretty much SUBLIME - and one of the best breakfast/brunches I've had for a long time.

I love this recipe ... I know you will too.

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“I just love things on a good slice of wholemeal toast - and this homemade guacamole is one of them ... preferably with a crispy fried egg too”

— Ruth Ridgeway

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To serve 2, you'll need:

1 avocado

1 tomato (flesh only) chopped into small cubes

A little red onion (or spring onions, either work) diced into small cubes

1/2 finely chopped red chilli

A little salt, a little pepper

Squeeze of lime (I used a good half a lime as I like it very lime-y!)

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Put everything in a bowl and mash with a fork until mixed but chunky.

Serve, eat, enjoy.

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But those avocado skins!  What to do with them?

I hate food waste and I love natural beauty ingredients, so the avocado skins went straight into my bath - yep, just as they are.

OK, it IS messy, there's no hiding from that, but I turn them kind of inside out and rub all that leftover flesh, full of gorgeous avocado oil, onto my knees, elbows, all over my skin, then soak in the bath with the pieces of avocado.

You'll need to pick the pieces out and clean the bath straight away but it does give you very soft skin - it's so good for you! 

There's something about using natural ingredients that just makes me feel really good too - as well as getting that deliciously soft skin of course.

Oh and I added a couple of drops of my favourite lime essential oil too - just to kinda recreate the guacamole essence in my bath :) 

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