Learning about herbs

Yesterday - 19 th August the chapter was headed " To the coast and a bunch of thyme"
Mr Slater talks to us about herbs at the start of this chapter, in particular thyme which "......gets better,stronger and more pungent as the season progresses" .
( I have to agree, mine is thriving at the moment whilst the coriander has just about finished and the dill is struggling.)
I didn't realise that there are so many varieties of thyme. The first recipe was Roast tomatoes, thyme and goats cheese, which we had for lunch. We found it a little too salty but maybe that was down to the variety of goats cheese we used. This would work well with other soft cheeses though.

The second recipe was A thyme and lemon cake.

Couldn't wait to taste this as I have never put herbs in a cake before. A simple to make cake mixture including thyme, lemon and ground almonds and baked in a loaf tin. As soon as it is cooked a sugary lemon and thyme syrup is spooned over and soaks in. Mr Slater says leave to cool and serve with thick yogurt. Just waiting for hubby to arrive home so we can sample it.  Let you know tomorrow, smells heavenly.......can I wait?

This weekend

This weekend 17 th / 18th August  I made a chicken dish and A peach pie with lemon pastry.
The first dish made on Saturday was a hot spicy chicken dish, the marinade/sauce made in seconds and the chicken baked in 40 mins. Good, quick and easy and served with ice cold beer as Mr Slater suggested.


The second dish , made today was the pie. A chapter entitled "Rolling pastry" and lots of advice on rolling a butter rich pastry. This pastry proved to be very difficult to roll out, not so bad for the base were a bit of patching up goes unnoticed but more difficult to do the lid. Still I did end up with a reasonable looking pie.
Pies are never my favourite desert but I love peaches. The pastry was crumbly, buttery soft and almost like shortcake with a hint of lemon. The filling of peaches still firm with a hint of orange zest.
Not sure I like my peaches in pie , definitely prefer them au natural. Gave slices of pie to various members of the family and it had a mixed verdict. Half, including my husband, loved it, and the other half, like me, didn't think peaches should be in a pie. Try it and see what you think.

Cold or hot?

August 15 th - Thursday' s tea was Thyme and garlic chicken wings.
A chapter headed " Sweet and sticky, and as good cold as hot".
And that's exactly what these chicken wings were. Very tasty and juicy, and I could recommend some crusty bread to mop up the sticky juices.
One downside - it takes ages to pick off the thyme leaves, quite a painstaking chore but worth the end result.

Yesterday (16 th August) we had Carrot and cockle soup.
A chapter headed " A new shop and a tub of cockles"   Mr Slater tells us about a new fish shop ( that's fresh fish not fish and chips!) that has opened near where he lives. " I have everything from razor clams to sushi grade tuna on my doorstep....."
How I envy him as I trail from supermarket to supermarket or make the 20 mile or so round trip to source my ingredients . ( My last attempt to buy mussels for the soup which should have been made on 8 th July was another failure , apparently the warm weather results in smaller mussels so -
according to the supermarket - they are not worth buying in!!!!! Hey-Ho.)

Sorry I digress - today's recipe Carrot and cockle soup actually uses cockles in brine so no problems there.
Not sure about cockles , never really eaten them, love mussels though so here goes. Tasting as I season I'm not very keen. However my husband loved it and managed to polish off the whole lot!!!!

Plummed out!!!!!

Today's chapter is headed "More plums"
My heart sinks, never one of my favourite fruits and we're plumed out so to speak. Mr Slater makes a tart with a classic almond filling. No recipe given so I didn't attempt this one.

Today's recipe however was right up my street Mozzarella salad with tomato crumbs.
This was excellent. As Mr Slater says ".....all the elements that make a pizza an everlasting success......but without the weight of a dough base"
I am becoming very popular with girlfriends - this was a  deliciously divine - and less fattening than pizza- girlie lunch

Using up !

No particular recipe given for August 9th, just a way of using up things most of us have in the fridge.
Amazing what can be done with a few left over green vegetables ( mine usually end up on the compost heap!), onions and chilli sauce.
A simple idea on pg 306 produced a scrummy lunch.

August 10 th and a chapter headed " A marinade in minutes" . An interesting insight into marinades and how they work.
Yesterday's recipe was Grilled lamb with lemon harissa.
This marinade was a spicy paste and the lamb steaks were marinated in it overnight. We were away in the caravan so we took this with us for dinner on Saturday night. As such I served them with a basic Greek salad and flatbreads.
The yoghurt mint sauce to accompany the lamb steaks had the addition of ground cumin seeds which gave an interesting twist to the flavour.

When you can't be bothered to cook!

For lunch today I made Smoked salmon and cucumber spread.
This recipe is one Mr Slater makes, when exhausted from a day's cooking and filming , he needs something quick and easy to eat.
It is certainly made in minutes, the longest time being the 20 mins waiting for the water to drain from the cucumber.
I served this on dark rye bread ( my daughter's future mother- in - law brings it over from Germany )
I think you could serve it on almost anything - crispbread, bruschetta , bilinis, toast, fresh floury white baps ( the list is endless) or even on a bed of rocket leaves as a starter for dinner. ( it will definitely go in my husband's lunch box tomorrow!!!!)

Plum Pie

Today's recipe is a traditional plate pie, made with plums and raspberries. The pastry is a simple butter shortcrust which, although not having the richness of a sweetened egg pastry, melts in the mouth. I think the secret is to roll as thinly as possible and not o overwork the pastry. Whilst it might not look restaurant standard it tastes divine!
The filling consists of juice soaked plums and raspberries, sharp and sweet at the same time.
Served hot, with rich Jersey cream - wonderful!!!!