Watermelon with Thyme

I can’t decide if this is a starter or a dessert. The boy thinks it’s a snack. Whichever way you go, it’s very refreshing. The Greek & Turkish shops where we live all sell watermelons whole or halved, and they all look good.

500g watermelon, peeled and seeded

2tsp coarse sea salt

1tsp fresh thyme leaves

3tbsp olive oil

Very simple. Cut the watermelon into large cubes. Place on a serving plate and chill for 30 minutes. Get the boy to cut a couple of sprigs of thyme from the pot outside the door, and pull the leaves off. Discard any that are looking a bit dry (shouldn’t be too many after all this rain).

Take the watermelon from the fridge and sprinkle with the salt thyme and oil. Toss gently and serve.

I think this would be a great palate refresher between courses but the boy is still going for snack.

Chilli Sauce & Garlic Sauce (for kebabs)

When we’ve exhausted ourselves with museums  and know we’re not cooking, Lowell has enjoyed comparing the Kebab shops on Wood Green High Road. They’re all good, it tends to be the service that differentiates them. Most of them consider speed of assembly the most important factor. When they ask if you want Chilli or Garlic sauce, I always want chilli – sometimes I want both. Always I ask for more than they initially give me. Here are authentic versions for making your own.

Greek Chilli Sauce

1.5kg ripe tomatoes, peeled

2 onions, grated

½ each green & red pepper, finely chopped

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp sweet paprika

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cayenne (though I would double this)

3 cloves

 1 small stick cinnamon

1 tsp mustard powder

250ml red wine vinegar

Garlic Yoghurt Sauce

250ml Greek yoghurt

2 cloves garlic, crushed  (I’d use three)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp Dill, finely chopped

Salt & white pepper.

Start with the chilli sauce. Put the tomatoes, onion and peppers in a pan and boil gently for 25 minutes. Pour into a blender and process until smooth. Return to the Pan and add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer until thickened. Remove the cloves and cinnamon and allow it to cool.

For the garlic sauce, simply combine everything and chill in the fridge.

Both suit lamb cooked any way. But back to kebabs. 8 things that make good kebab places stand out:

1)      Proper Greek or Turkish  bread, rather than the standard Pitta bread

2)      The lamb is crispy and tastes of roast lamb

3)      They’re not stingy with the chilli sauce

4)      The pickled chilli tastes either mild or hot and not just of vinegar

5)      You get a lemon wedge to squeeze over the salad

6)      The onion is dressed with parsley

7)      The kebab is double wrapped in paper to keep it warm

8)      They take their time assembling it, listening to what you want. (This is rare).

Once, when the place was busy, we were invited to sit down and were given free Turkish tea because we would have to wait until the lamb was crispy enough. Since then I’d forgive them most things.

Basil Oil

This is the taste of Summer – it goes on anything, and keeps for a week in the fridge. It looks like green sludge but tastes amazing.

3 large bunches basil

2 cloves garlic

Sea salt & black pepper to taste

200ml extra virgin olive oil

Since this is so simple, use the best ingredients you can find. Ideally the basil will be from the garden and the olive oil as green and grassy as the basil.

The boy is in charge of the basil plants on the patio. They want to flower, but nipping the flower heads off will force them back into leaf production.

Remove the basil leaves from the stalks and place in the food processor, along with the garlic, salt and pepper. Once it’s finely chopped, slowly pour the oil in, keeping the motor running. 

Let it rest a few minutes – the blending will have introduced a lot of air so it needs a while to settle before you taste it. Adjust the seasoning. The boy likes this on barbequed lamb chops, baby new potatoes,in a sausage sandwich, on peas or stirred into pasta.

My tip on growing Basil easily. Buy some supermarket “growing herbs”. Lift it out of the pot (it will be so compacted it will come out in one piece). Split it at the root into 3 or 4 pieces and plant each a few inches apart in the same pot. It will flop and look as if you’ve killed it, but give it some water and plenty of bright sunshine and it will perk up again. You’ll soon have a big, bushy basil plant that will keep going all summer. Pick the flowers off to keep it producing leaf.

Eat on the patio with Faure’s requiem playing at a decent volume.

Vietnamese Grilled Prawns

It’s surprising how something so simple can be so good. The boy has discovered that we can get 10 limes for one pound at our local grocer. Which got me thinking about this. Its proper name is Tom Cang Nuong.

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic. Finely chopped

1tsp chilli flakes

450g raw tiger prawns

The Dip

1tsp salt

1tsp pepper

Juice of 1 lime (or more)

Surprisingly the boy likes peeling prawns so he is doing this.  Mix the onion, garlic, chilli flakes and oil and add the prawns to the mix as he hands them to you. Marinate in the fridge for about three hours.

This gives you plenty of time together. Grill the prawns for 5 minutes, turning them once.

Mix the lime juice with the salt and pepper – you’ll need to decide if one lime is enough. Pour into a small bowl. This is your dipping sauce. Serve the prawns on a bed of romaine lettuce, hoping the boy will eat it . He almost certainly won’t.

Penne Arrabiata for tired boys

It’s been a long day; I’m tired and just want something simple. The boy arrives home 10 minutes after me and looks wiped out too. I ask him if he fancies penne arrabiata and it would seem he’s up for it. The chilli will lift it just enough from being boring.

Penne for 2

1 can chopped tomatoes

6-8 basil leaves, torn

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

3tbsp olive oil

2tsp chilli flakes

Salt & pepper

Grated Parmesan to serve

Really simple – put the penne on to boil – I can usually tell from his body language, just how hungry the boy is. I do think penne is the right pasta shape for this, though I don’t know why and I don’t suppose it matters that much.

Gently heat the oil and heat the garlic – don’t let it brown, but just soften it gently. I find listening to Mendelssohn’s string quartets in the kitchen helps keep the pacing right. Some Boccherini guitar quintets would be good for a summer night too! Add the chilli flakes. Again, you could judge whether to up this or not. As we’re both tired, I’m not going for a shock to the system. Don’t burn them, just let them aromatise in the warm oil.

Tip in the chopped tomatoes – you will all know that I like Cirio brand, but you usually find that of tinned tomatoes, chopped are better quality than whole ones. (Whole tinned tomatoes are usually canned whilst slightly under ripe in order to keep their shape). Anyway, use whatever brand  you have handy. This is about an easy meal with what you have, rather than sourcing the finest ingredients.

Heat all through and season well. Start checking the penne. When it’s done add a spoonful or two of the starchy water to the tomato sauce and then drain the pasta and tip into a serving bowl. Toss with a little more oil to stop it sticking. Tip in the sauce and toss well and finally stir in the basil.

Serve and top each bowl with a generous amount of Parmesan.

He’s not getting away without a side salad, though it’s a simple one. Lambs lettuce, thinly sliced fennel and green olives dressed in lemon juice and olive oil. He does eat it all and yet again I feel a sense of comfort in having got him to eat at least a few raw vegetables.

Malay Duck & Mango Curry

A Malay curry and a Duck Malay Curry at that! Duck is one of the boy’s favourites, and so is curry, so what could possibly go wrong? Another brilliant creation from Yotam Ottolenghi.

4 duck breasts, scored lightly on the skin side

120ml oil

Salt

50g palm sugar

180ml coconut milk

280g green beans, blanched

2 mangoes

1tbsp lime juice

Spice Paste

½ tsp chilli flakes

2 ½ tsp sambal oelek

3 red chillies

30g ginger, sliced

1tsp turmeric

12 small shallots, sliced thinly

10 garlic cloves, sliced thinly

Make the paste first – just grind it all up in a mini processor. I like the sound of the word sambal oelek very much. It might need a little oil to get to form a paste, so judge how much it needs.

Add 150g of the spice paste to a bowl and add the duck. Marinade for a couple of hours. The boy has nosed his way into the kitchen and spotted the duck.. He wants something to do so he is peeling the mangoes and cutting them into large dice. One of ours is very ripe and the other is still a bit firm. I think the contrast will work nicely.

Heat a heavy pan. Scrape excess paste from the duck skin and add it back to the reserved paste. Fry the duck for a few minutes each side - don’t worry if the spice coating catches.  Once seared take them out of the pan and set aside.

Cook the remaining paste slowly for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently until it turns a darker colour. Add a little water if it needs it. Get the boy to put the rice on about now. We have a rice cooker otherwise there's no way I'd trust him to get it right. Return the duck, skin side down, to the pan, with the salt and 250ml water. Simmer for 6 minutes, turning once.  Remove the duck again. Add the coconut milk, palm sugar, beans and mango and simmer for 3 minutes. Slice the duck and add it back to the pan along with the lime juice. Two or three more minutes and it’s done.

It does seem like you’re constantly popping the duck in and out but Yotam’s the man so we do as he says.

Courgette & Parmesan Salad

I like fatty things to eat – especially piggy fatty things like slow roasted pork belly or butcher’s pork chops with a thick layer of fat. Even a good home made sausage will do. But they do need something very fresh to balance things out. This is delicate but full of flavour, and very easy.

4 courgettes

A large handful rocket

A small handful of basil leaves

Juice of 1 lemon

2tbsp of freshly, finely grated parmesan

6tbsp best extra virgin olive oil

Flaky sea salt & black pepper

The boy is plundering our basil plants on the back patio. They are starting to flower now so he’s picking the flower heads off to force them back into leaf production.

I’m slicing the courgettes at an angle on the thinnest setting on the mandolin. If you have good knife skills you don’t need one. The boy isn’t allowed anywhere near the mandolin. Anyway, as thin as you can.

The parmesan really should be freshly grated as the flavours here need to be fresh and vibrant. Place in a very pretty bowl and combine everything. Don’t drown the salad – lightly dress it rather. Happily the boy views this as a tasty side dish rather than an attempt to get him to eat enough salad.

Pho Bo

The boy loves Vietnamese Pho (pronounced Fir) – it’s a proper slurping soup with beef and noodles. We’re cheating a bit on the stock, but I think it should be light and delicate, rather than rich and strong

350g flat rice noodles

6 shallots, thiny sliced

1 Pak choi sliced

2 spring onions, finely sliced

3tbsp chopped coriander

1 litre beef stock

1 thumb of ginger, bashed

2 sticks cinnamon

1/2tbsp coriander seeds

2 pieces star anise

1tsp each salt, pepper, sugar

2tsp nuoc cham or fish sauce

200g skirt steak, sliced very thinly

To Serve

200g beansprouts

1 lime cut into wedges

A fresh red chilli, sliced

Sprigs of mint and basil

Make the stock. If using cubes or the like, make it slightly weak. Perhaps not the whole cube. Add the bashed ginger, cinnamon, coriander seed, star anise. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the  sugar, salt, pepper and fish sauce. Strain and keep it warm over a low heat. Add the pak choi and spring onions.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the noodles. Place some into each of your serving bowls. Get the boy to find the Chinese soup spoons and chopsticks.

Add some of the shallots and coriander to the noodles in the bowls and top with the raw beef. Ladle the hot broth over, so the beef starts to cook. It’s essential that it’s very thinly sliced.

Arrange the herbs, chilli, beansprouts and lime wedges on a plate and use them to customise the soup to your taste. I like the herbs in my soup but the boy likes to nibble them in between. You’ll need the chop sticks to delve for noodles and slices of beef, and the spoon for the broth. I’m always amazed at the boy’s adeptness with chopsticks given he can be quite clumsy at the best of times. Needles to say, adeptness is not elegance, and this is a messy dish for slurping. The tablecloth can be washed.

 My final recommendation would be a small bowl of chilli sauce to dip the beef into. The authentic Vietnamese kind is called Srirracha. The best brand comes in a plastic bottle with a picture of a rooster on it. I can’t get the boy to stop calling it Hot Cock Sauce.

Hari (Coriander) Chutney

Just found out that my next book club meeting will be featuring an Indian menu. The boy is always curious as to what we’re reading but shows no inclination to join in. I’m going to make this Coriander (Cilantro) Chutney to take along. We use it in loads of recipes – the boy has a particular liking for pakoras and likes to dip them in a mixture of this chutney and yoghurt.

1 large bunch coriander

3 green chillies

An inch of ginger

A pinch hing (asafoetida)

1tsp cumin

1tsp sugar

1 ½ tsp salt

1 tsp oil

3tbsp lemon juice

3tbsp water

Trim the end roots of the coriander but leave a good amount of stem. I think the fat mild chillies would work well here.

So easy. Put everything but the coriander into a blender and give it 30 seconds.  Add the coriander and blend again until you have a smooth, runny paste. It should pour out of the blender at a consistency similar to single cream. You can always add a little water if you think it’s too thick.

That’s it. Keep it in the fridge and make cheese sandwiches sing. Mixed with yoghurt it even makes a nice salad dressing for onions and tomatoes.  Drizzle on poppadum’s. We always have some ready. I think the boy would actually complain if we ever ran out.

As the recipe doubles up easy I’m tempted to make two batches – one with an additional hot chilli for the chilli-heads, and the other let down with yoghurt for those who like it cooler. Will make it at the last minute so the boy doesn’t have chance to use it all up. It’s easily done.

Broad Bean & Ricotta Bruschette

An awesome starter from the Polpo restaurant in Soho. We have our own young broad beans and I think few things are more satisfying than podding them.

2 large handful podded broad beans

4tbsp olive oil and more for the toast

1 lemon, zested and  its juice

15 mint leaves, chopped

Flaky sea salt and black pepper

4 slices sourdough bread

½ clove garlic

6tbsp ricotta cheese

The boy is outside picking the mint. I’m putting on a CD of Bach cantatas.

Boil the broad beans  for 5 minute, drain and re-fill the pan with cold water to stop them cooking. Peel the outer skins off.

Put the beans in a bowl and dress them with the lemon juice, most of the zest, the mint and the salt and pepper.

Toast the bread – ideally it will have a few charred crunchy bits on the outside will still be slightly soft in the middle. Really thick slices will help.

Rub one side of each slice of toast with the garlic and then drizzle with olive oil.

Season the ricotta with the salt and pepper and mash it lightly with a fork. Spread on the toast and top with the broad bean. Top with the remaining mint.

This turns out to be the perfect late afternoon snack for the boy, though it would usually be a great starter.