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.

Pain au chocolate and Chicken.

Steve made pain au chocolate at the weekend which was lovely.  And rather impressive, I think!  

He also made his rather lovely spinach and pork paella from Moro.  He makes this quite a lot because I love it.  Here is a picture of Rufie (2) eating it up.  I don't think he ate an awful lot but he did give it a try.

One night I was really lazy and made salmon fillets with Uncle Ben's Express lemon rice and some frozen peas.  Needless to say, this was the meal that went down best with the kids - they wolfed it down!

And here is a picture of the wee one after some Innocent smoothie.  They like that - gets some goodness into them although I don't usually have much trouble getting them to eat fruit.  I do sometimes make smoothies myself but buying the ready made stuff means I don't have to get out the blender.

Yesterday for lunch I just grilled some chicken and served it with couscous salad from Jamie Oliver's first book, some cucumber and melon.  Adam ate some chicken and some couscous.  Rufus ate loads of melon and cucumber but nothing else.  One day I'll get them both eating a balanced diet - hopefully.  Any tips?

BBQ Lamb and flatbreads.

So, sometimes I get frustrated that I make nice food for all the family and the wee boys (Adam, 3, and Rufus, 2) hardly touch any of it.  But they are definitely getting better and sometimes surprise me with what they eat.  They both love to help me with the cooking or baking and we really enjoy spending time together in the kitchen.

This Saturday I decided to try something new from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries - Lamb-filled Flatbread.

My husband, Steve, made the flatbread for me.  He used the recipe from Moro as that's the one he usually uses.  We got the Moro book as an engagement present from my friend, Pam, and we both immediately fell in love with it.  I have made very little from it, to be honest, but I love salivating over the recipes.  Steve has made a few things from it - all lovely!

Back to the lamb - I barbecued it and we ate outside even though it was pretty windy and cold.  I also served it with some marinated mushroom kebabs that I picked up from the butcher when I was getting the lamb.

Actually went down pretty well.  The flatbreads were scoffed by both kids and they both had one or two bites only of the lamb but I was glad they had tried it.  I don't think either of them ate the mushrooms.  Oh well - it wasn't a bad effort overall.  Steve and I loved the meal.