A day of good food

Hi everyone! Yesterday Patrick came over to visit and we had fun while Jenny had to work on her essays. The weather is PHENOMENAL! You would think we were living in mexico (or somewhere equally as sunny and warm). In fact it might be too warm... but Im sure I will rue this moment in the rainy weeks to come. So apart from playing loads of squash and swimming we also did some cooking. Here is what we made:

1. I have been craving asparagus... in a big way. In fact on friday night, lying bed all I could think about is how hungry I was and I needed to eat asparagus... weird, I know. Maybe I have a sulphur deficiency or something (and I know I dont think thats possible either). So here is what I made for lunch.

Ingredients (serves 2):

6 Asparagus spears

6 Bacon rashers

2 Eggs

salt, pepper, olive oil

Directions:

Heat your oven to 220 celsius. Wrap asparagus spears with the bacon. Pop them in a roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil. In the pre-heated oven for ten minutes. Soft boil some eggs when the asparagi are almost done. Then enjoy with some crusty bread.

2. Smashed broad beans and peas on toast (a nice summery starter)

Ingredients (serves 4):

150 g shelled peas or 500g if still in their pods

250 g shelled broad beans or 700g if still in their pods

Small bunch of mint leaves

sea salt and black pepper

olive oil

50g pecorino cheese or parmesan (freshly grated)

juice of one lemon

4 pieces of nice bread

1 clove garlic

2 large balls of buffalo mozzarella

Mash up your peas with your mint leaves (either in a pestle and mortar... or food processor if you own one... we tragically dont). Then add the beans and mash some more. Add a pinch of salt and a few table spoons of olive oil. Give it a further bashing. Stir in the cheese and 3/4 of the lemon juice. Have a taste and season with some pepper or more salt or more cheese. Toast the bread and then rub with the piece of garlic (cut it in half first and peel). Then add the pea and bean mix, finishing with half of the mozzarella, and a drizzle of olive oil and perhaps a dash of cheese.

3. OK burgers should really get a post of their own... but at the same time everyone knows how to make burgers! Its the easiest thing ever and its one of those dishes that you should spend a life time perfecting and the one time you do it perfectly you have to forget what you put in the recipe. But Im going to write down what I do (mainly for myself so I dont forget), with the caveat that my burgers haven't reached perfection yet.

Ingredients (serves 2):

250 g beef mince

1 clove of garlic

2 tsp dijon mustard

1 tuc cracker (finely crumbled)

1/2 of a whisked egg

1/2 a chili (finely chopped)

1/4 of an onion (finely chopped)

salt (or soy sauce) and pepper

olive oil

ciabatta (or hamburger breads, but jenny and I currently have a love affair with ciabatta)

accoutrements (up to you, we added some of the left over pea and bean smash... tasty)

Directions: Mix everything together (using your hands). Then make some patties. Throw these on the bbq (in which case brush with some olive oil).

Im not going to do the traditional taste, price, difficulty. They are all super easy, all super tasty, and reasonably priced.

xy