Two Summer Dishes.

Eeek. I have 10 seconds to choose ONE cookbook.  Just one?  

I thought this would be easy.  I thought I would just choose the book I always say is my favourite - Appetite by Nigel Slater. However, I actually can make all the things I like best from that book without having to refer to it anymore.  When I have to refer to recipes for some of the dishes I make often, I realise there is one or two each in a whole load of different books. So, how do I choose just one book? 

Dom from Belleau Kitchen challenged us to make a Random Recipe from the book we would grab if we had to flee from the house. In the end, I chose one that I refer to frequently at the moment.  It gives me inspiration for the season and lots of ideas I can dip in and out of. I chose Kitchen Diaries II by Nigel Slater.  Well, it had to be one of his books.  Even if I didn't make the recipes from it, just reading his thoughts on food will inspire.

I decided not to choose entirely randomly but to choose the recipe on the page for the date I would be making it.  That means it was still a mystery recipe to me but would be perfect for the season.

I made the meal on the 7th of August and the recipe on that date is for Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Spread.

This was a nice, easy throw-together recipe.  We had it for our tea but it would make a lovely lunch or a nice nibble with drinks.  Smoked salmon, cucumber, capers, cornichons and dill mixed with a lemony soured cream and then piled onto crispbreads.  Funnily enough, we happened to have a couple of packets of crispbreads from Ikea in the kitchen and these worked very well.

Now, I knew I had to get Steve involved in this one.  His favourite book is Moro and he does most of his cooking from it so I reckoned I would get a new Moro dish if I involved him.  It took his less than a milisecond to say the book he would grab would be Moro.  My husband is very predictable.

He opened it randomly and did indeed get a recipe he hasn't yet tried - Broad Bean and Dill Pilav.

It was served with a spiced yoghurt.  We had it as main meal like that and then had the leftovers the next day as part of a cold salad selection and it was great both ways.  Moro recommends serving it with lamb kibbeh.  They have a recipe for this later in the book and they describe it as "an oval outer casing of ground lamb and bulgar with a stuffing of spiced lamb and pinenuts inside". Sounds good to me - something new for Steve to try?  There are actually still loads of things in the book Steve hasn't tried yet.  Hope next month's random recipe theme will encourage him to do more.