wild garlic and basil oil

it’s been a while since i made pizza but it was worth the wait to enjoy this version, which used a wild garlic and basil oil as the base sauce.

wild garlic is wonderfully flexible and i enjoy using it with pasta as well as risottos and pilafs. however, i have learnt the hard way that using it in a pesto can result in something too pungent to enjoy. the key is to mix it with another flavour – rocket is nice, as are other herbs. this time i used a 50:50 mix of basil and wild garlic.

i smeared this on the pizza dough, added thin slices of courgette, salami and mozzarella. the result was wonderfully fresh and spring like.

courgette and chickpea salad

i’ve been eating versions of this salad quite a lot recently – it has an eye towards brighter, warmer weather but still has enough bulk to make it suitable for a chilly day.

at it’s heart are courgettes, chickpeas, lemon, cheese and cumin. my chickpeas tend to come straight from the tin and if i want them warming through i just cover them with boiling water, after draining and rinsing them, while i prepare the rest of this dish. having said that, i don’t usually bother as adding the just-griddled courgettes to the salad tends to warm everything through just enough for me.

the courgettes are sliced, tossed with a little olive oil – 1 tablespoon is enough for 2 courgettes which, along with one tin of chickpeas and the rest of the ingredients tends to be enough for two people. i use the bowl that had the oiled raw courgettes in to assemble the salad as i go, so any excess oil forms part of the dressing. the cumin – 1 teaspoon of seeds, toasted and then ground, is sprinkled on the veggies and adds a depth of slightly spicy flavour to the dressing, which has the juice and zest of a lemon as it’s final components (just add these to bowl, while you cook the courgettes in batches, stirring as something new gets added).

for the cheese component i use whatever i have in – pictured are little cubes of smoked ricotta; last night i used some crumbled feta. other ingredients depend what i have in – crunchy red peppers as pictured above, or chery tomatoes are nice. you can also add garlic, chilli, shallots or spring onions for extra oomph and i always finish with a sprinkle of fresh herbs.  a nice and easy healthy dish. perfect too for fast days if you’re doing the 5:2 diet, coming in at c200-250 calories, depending how generous you are with the olive oil and cheese.

summer chicken

this was a very simple supper, created to showcase some teeny tiny potatoes that a friend provided me with from her garden. this is my first home grown (albeit not by me!) garden produce of the year and given how feeble my courgette and tomato plants are looking, it might be the last!

the potatoes were mixed with slices of both fennel and red pepper plus some shallots, garlic and chilli before being tossed with olive oil and lemon juice. the squeezed lemon halves were then cut into small pieces (1-2 cm) and they were added to the roasting tray too (they caramelise as they cook and taste delicious – eat the whole lot), along with my seasoned chicken thighs, to be roasted for 30-40 mins at 200c.

the accompaniments were asparagus (just boiled) and courgette chunks which i fried with garlic, chilli and strips of sundried tomatoes until they softened. very easy and very delicious.

orecchiette with aubergine, courgette & breadcrumbs

 

i’ve been eating a lot of vegetarian and vegan food recently. it’s not that unusual – i think i probably cook vegetarian meals about half the week but it is definitely more than that at the moment. this is possibly due to the shift in seasons, as i’m desperately taking advantage of those final summer courgettes and tomatoes which we have (no garden gluts for us this year so i have been grateful for both) whilst also loving the start of autumnal vegetables, cavolo nero and crown prince pumpkins in particular.

this pasta dish is on the cusp. it’s got a lot of fresh light flavours – courgettes, lemon and mint – but also has earthier flavours from the fried breadcrumbs, aubergine and olives.

the savoury crunchy breadcrumbs add a lot to the dish but it was actually the subtler flavours of the saffron and the preserved lemon that i really enjoyed – both quite unusual in a pasta dish. i fancy trying it with some cheese crumbled through it – perhaps feta or a mild goat’s cheese.

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summer prawn and courgette stew

this weekend was glorious – sunshine throughout and wonderfully warm temperatures. i didn’t really feel like cooking but equally i wanted to eat summery food that fitted the weather and my lazy, happy mood.

this stew was pulled together to use up the last few courgettes from our garden and various bits from the fridge. no real recipe but i’ll share what i did – uncooked prawns were marinated for about an hour with garlic, red chilli, torn basil leaves and olive oil. i then scooped most of garlic, chilli and oil out into a pan and used this as the base for slowly cooking a bulb of sliced fennel, until it was soft and beginning to sweeten (i added a glug of white wine to help it along, part way through).

i then added the courgettes and a handful of cherry tomatoes, also from the garden. once the tomatoes started to break down in went the prawns, the zest and juice of a lemon plus plenty more basil, until the prawns cooked through. i served it with a drizzle of olive oil and we ate it with warm ciabatta, sliced and smeared with butter, to mop up the juices.