The Small Things That Make Me Smile

You may wonder how I'm going to have time to write a new blog when A Brit's Dish a Day has dwindled to A Brit's Dish Every Few Days... When I Get A Moment To Write Them Up but I now want to post about all of my life - not just what occurs in my kitchen. Hence, The Blog of Small Things....

Of course there will be food on t'other blog (and plenty of it) but these posts will be mixed with musings on shopping (my other great love), art, flowers, interiors, shoes, car boot sales, perfume...

Do stop by if you're so inclined, I would love you to follow me there.

Alex x

Salad of Middle Eastern Chicken with Bulgar Wheat and Pomegranates

Sometimes I get the urge to entertain, purely so I can put together a menu. Sexy S was the recipient of this dish, which was meant to be accompanied by Baklava Berry Tarts (I was doing a Middle Eastern theme!) but unfortunately we had to make too with Berry Ice as an emergency schlep to West London with my book (portfolio) meant I ran out of time. Sorry S.

But back to mains: This was a scrummy warm salad of chicken, bulgar and pomegranates from my go-to Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons. It was prepared in these easy stages...

1) Marinade skinless chicken breasts in olive oil, pomegranate molasses, runny honey, ground cumin and crushed garlic cloves. Later, roast the breasts 'til done, slice and serve warm.

2) De-seed two pomegranates and toast some walnut pieces.

3) Make a dressing with lime juice, runny honey, harissa and extra virgin olive oil.

4) Saute a finely chopped red onion and garlic clove then add bulgar wheat, stir and coat with oil, then add stock and season. Cook 'til the grains are tender. This should be one of the warm components of the dish.

5) Mix the bulgar, chicken, seeds, nuts and dressing with watercress and chopped parsley and coriander and serve. Garnish with more pomegranate seeds and a dollop on Greek yoghurt on the side. Mmmm.

Mr F bravely dined with us - he's not keen on watercress, pomegranate or walnuts. I think it was rather tasty (a selfish supper?) and I hope S did too... Although there was definitely too much of everything - particularly the bulgar. Our plates were laden! Dessert barely got a look in.

Flapjacks

On receiving a bumper delivery of Mornflake goodies - seriously, I've never seen so many oats in my life! - I had to do something other than eat them for brekkie (although they do make a rich, creamy porridge...)

Flapjacks were the obvious answer. I like them with fruit and nuts. Mr F doesn't. As I'm such a good wife I decided to make them plain so my darling husband could enjoy them. I followed the recipe in How to be a Domestic Goddess: Mix oats with soft brown sugar. Melt butter with golden syrup and then combine with the oats and sugar. Press into a tin and cook for 25 minutes (although my oven is fierce - like my heels - so I cut down on the time slightly).

They were good. Very dense (could have done with some fruit to break up the oaty mass) and slightly hard around the edges... but still good.

Salmon wrapped in filo pastry

Wrap a piece of skinless salmon in a few sheets of filo pastry they said. Brush with lots of melted butter and cook it for 15 minutes they said. Don't, I say...

Well, do but only use a couple of sheets, season very well between the layers - or shove something in there - and definitely cook for longer than 15 minutes.

The fish was moist (that's a plus) but the pasty was bland and the thickness meant some remained claggy. I didn't wait for a score from Mr F but gave myself a paltry 4. The samphire I served with wasn't a big enough portion either. Tsk.

My lunch

The weekend saw me bent double under an umbrella, harvesting clumps of samphire. Most was pickled but there was plenty left over which made a lip-puckeringly salty and simple lunch, pan-fried in butter. I think that it was a little late in the season as a few stems had grown a hard stalky centre, which I had to spit out. Luckily I was dining alone so Mr F didn't get to see my charming habits (I did it delicately, promise!).

Chicken, pea and bean salad with coconut dressing

A scrumptious salad - I'd had the recipe for ages (Diana Henry from Stella) but it seemed apt for tonight. Whisk flour into a dash of coconut milk to thicken. Heat more coconut milk to simmer, stir in the thickened paste and cook for five minutes. Cool and later add 2tsp of fish sauce, 1tsp of sugar and the juice of 1/2 a lime.

As with all salads, this is really flexible - you need little batons of crunchy cucumber, a mix of beans (I used mange tout, sugar snap and French), peas, leaves (I used baby pak choi and pea shoots). I also added mint and coriander which were pretty crucial to the overall flavour.

While the main element (two chicken breasts) was roasting I cooked the legumes. Keep everything crunchy then cool instantly under cold water. Just before serving, I tossed the beans and leaves with the juice of half a lime and a dash of toasted sesame oil. I mixed this with the coconut dressing and piled it onto our plates, topped with slices of the roast chicken.

This got another 10 points! I think it would make an elegant starter next time we are having pals round for supper - with smaller portions of course...

Chorizo 'tortilla'

Inspired by a dish in Annie Bell's Gorgeous Suppers this is a simple, delicious, savoury bake.

Thickly slice some potatoes, briefly fry them in olive oil and then add water to the pan - cover and simmer until just tender. Drain and cover. Next fry some sliced onions (I fried mine in paprika-spiked oil from my preserved lemons, which are still languishing on the shelf) until they are "silky and smooth".

Grease a tin with butter and brush with beated, seasoned egg. Grate over a fine mist of parmesan. Next layer in the potatoes, a layer of chopped chorizo and a layer of onions. Top with more potato, more grated parmesan and pour over the remaining egg. Bake for thirty minutes. Serve with something fresh and green.

I get the feeling I'll be making this regularly this Autumn... Mr F awarded it a 10.

Broad bean, fennel and artichoke risotto

I think risottos are one of my favourite things to cook - there are infinite variations which the lazy cook can claim as their own. One such version is this, with broad beans, Mummy's home-grown fennel, and home-marinated artichokes. Mr F said he thought it was my best risotto yet. I used carnaroli rice instead of my usual arborio and it took longer to cook and absorb the stock.

Beef rogan josh

Instead of the usual lamb rogan josh I had some beef languishing in my freezer so thought I'd make this version instead. I know that this beef takes forever to get tender so it took a long time - but was worth it.

Fry a small onion, add the beef and brown then stir in 1 very large tsbp of rogan josh paste and cook off for a couple of minutes. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and some stock and simmer til the meat is tender (1 1/2 hours at least). Keep topped up with stock and just before serving stir through a little plain yoghurt and some chopped coriander. Serve with an extra dollop of yoghurt on top and extra coriander leaves.

To go with, we ate this with lovely warm, fluffy naan bread and a cucumber salsa with black onion seeds. The perfect Saturday night supper. I loaded my plate up with extra sauce, hence the sloppyness of this pic.

Fairy cakes

Unlike my last attempt at making fairy cakes (an unmitigated disaster) these were a success and good enough to serve to my refined pal F for afternoon tea! Of course I hid got rid of the less than perfect ones before her arrival.

I followed the basic 4oz rule of sugar, self-raising flour and butter with 2 eggs. Instead of vanilla essense I used rosewater and instead of loosening the mix with milk, I used more rosewater. I cooked the cakes slowly at a low temperature and they came out incredibly light (smug smile).

I iced them with baby pink, rosewater-scented icing and unlike the last batch they do actually have enough of that mysteriously floral scent. Mr F ate a bag of the off-cuts (where I'd sliced off the tops to get a flat base to decorate) in one go!

Prawn Laksa

I always pile Mr F's plate with more than mine (I like to make sure he eats well - he thinks I'm trying to stuff him like a foie gras goose). Tonight, however, I was hovering over his supper to see if he wanted to share any leftovers with me. He didn't and proceeded to lick his plate, almost.

I was blown away by the flavours of this dish. So complex and satisfying - rich but still fresh, creamy yet light, totally umami, totally moreish and so simple. I followed the recipe straight from delicious mag...

Cook a nest of noodles. Soften 2 chopped shallots in oil, add 1tbsp Tom Yam paste and fry off for a minute. Next, add coconut milk and stock. Bring to a simmer then add sugar snap peas, beansprouts, raw prawns and simmer 'til cooked through. Put the noodles in two bowls and top with the beans, prawns and sauce. Finish with chopped spring onions, coriander leaves and limes. Try to serve more neatly than I did, please.

I can't wait to make this again but Mr F says we must wait so as not to get bored with it!

Ginger-glazed duck or Too Many Noodles

As well as following recipes verbatim, sometimes I pick and choose the elements I'm going to focus on. From an Alex Mackay dish in Sainsbury's magazine, I simply cribbed a glaze for duck legs (which he'd used for a whole duck, in conjunction with roasting sweet potatoes, making giblet stock and doing other things I found highly unappetizing).

Basically, roast your meat until almost done. Next spread a glaze made from 2 tbs of sugar, the juice of a lemon, a tsp of Chinese five spice and a grated finger-length knob of ginger over the meat and briefly pop back in the oven to caramelize. It's a good idea (and something I'll be doing next time) to brush the glaze onto the meat over a different plate so the excess doesn't drip into the roasting pan and start to burn. Thanks to Mr F for calming pointing out the carnage in the oven (which he'd just cleaned the day before!).

Accompanied by noodles (which I must admit do look rather unappetizing) which were stirred through with chopped red chili, spring onions, dark soy sauce and sesame oil. A total of 7/10. Mr F liked the flavours but deducted marks for method. He's tough!

I'm Kreativ

Lovely Nora, the Kitchen 'Splorer awarded me with the Kreativ Blogger award recently. Wow, thanks Nora!

As well as a pretty picture to stick in my sidebar there are rules...

1: Thank the person who has given you the award. Can you believe some people wouldn't?! Tsk.
2: Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3: Link to the person who has nominated you for the award. But of course!
4: Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting. 'Might' being the operative word.
5: Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6: Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7: Leave a comment on each of the blogs to let them know they've been nominated.

So, the facts you might find interesting about me...
1) My favourite meal is fish and chips. A perfectly battered piece of white fish, served alongside crispy yet softly yielding-in-the-middle chips, fresh peas, tartare sauce and ketchup. The chips would be drenched in malt vinegar and sprinkled with salt (salt first, then vinegar). I'd eat this at the coast (Southwold or Aldeburgh) in bright sunlight with a burra wind whipping the slate grey sea into frothy white horses.

2) I pray every night. Although I often fall asleep halfway through...

3) My karaoke song is Cameo's Word Up.

4) I made a very small (both in stature and credibility) pop tart cry once. Guesses as to who in the comments box.

5) I wear high heels in meetings to have the upper edge, psychologically.

6) Mr F and I sleep in an Edwardian bed.

7) My fantasy job is that of florist. One day, maybe...


The blogs I nominate as 'Kreativ' - although I'm using this guise to flag-up my must-reads - are:

1) The pictures on Sara's Kitchen are so crisp and clear. The recipes are also all scrumptious-sounding.

2) With Knife and Fork. Linda's username includes the word 'shoe'. I like shoes, and I love Linda's blog! 'Nuff said.

3) The best header image, ever, can be found on Rich's blog, Them Apples.

4) Dan from Essex Eating is an Essex Boy. I'm an Essex Girl. Solidarity. And also a huge amount of delicious recipes and reviews.

5) Artichoke is all about seasonal, British ingredients with vibrant pictures that set my mouth watering.

6) The winsomest blog name, A Pot of Tea and A Biscuit is full of comfort food I want to cook.

7) The original, and the best, vegetarian blog out there: Tinned Tomatoes. Also adoring the photos of Holler's awe-inspiring weekend walks.

Stuffed pasta shells

From delicious mag - something new to do with pasta.

Oversized shells were cooked, stuffed with crumbled feta, chopped pepper antipasti, artichokes and black olives then baked on a bed of halved cherry tomatoes (covered) for ten minutes followed by a ten minute session uncovered.















The problems? On boiling the pasta several shells split and broke, they were also very prone to sticking together (of course I used oil in the process!). On eating, some of the shells were also quite hard, but Mr F said that was purely the nature of the dish and nothing I'd done wrong (thanks darling). Presentation was deemed "excellent" and the whole dish scored an incredibly high mark of 9/10.

Quinoa, walnut and parsley salad

My entry in this month's No Croutons Required challenge (the first time I've got my act together for the event!). This is something I often whip up for lunch while pottering at home. During winter I live off vegetable and pearl barley soups for my solo lunch-time sit-downs but summer sees me mixing up myriad salads with quinoa as the main element.

The thing I love about salads is that, like stews, they don't need precise measurements. You can throw in anything you like, in any proportion that takes your fancy! Grains, and particularly quinoa, are deliciously filling and so quick to cook.

This salad contains Quinoa cooked in Marigold bouillon for extra flavour, broken up walnut pieces, finely chopped up homemade paprika-preserved lemons, flat leaf parsley - used as a salad leaf, as in Middle Eastern dishes, some baby leaves and crumbled feta. I drizzled the salad with a dressing made from a bashed garlic clove infused in white wine vinegar and olive oil. The leaves and nuts were mixed into the grains just before serving with a crunchy topping of salt and pepper - and no croutons.

Trout with lentils and peas

A collaborative effort. Mr F pan-fried the fish while I took charge of the accompaniments. The warm salad of lentils and peas is based on Nigel Slater, from Real Food Fast. It's uber-easy and fine to sit around while your husband gets on with cooking the trout. Ahem.

Rinse Puy lentils, bring to the boil, salt and simmer for 20mins until soft but still with bite. Cook frozen peas in olive oil with spring onions (no water = no need to drain, yay!). Combine. Yum. As that annoying meerkat would say, simples.

Veal, samphire and fennel and celeriac salad

No picture, sorry, but simply a description of the best supper ever.

Mr F found some British veal, which he breaded and fried off to perfection. I hadn't eaten veal since the Eighties (I was a precocious child) but I'm sure it didn't taste like this back then... Rich, with an almost cheesey gameiness, each mouthful was a joy. It must have been a happy calf.

To go with, a salad of grated celeriac, grated fennel and lemon zest. Aniseed and lemon are my favourite flavours and this side dish sung with zingtastic tang.

And finally, hand gathered (by Mr F and I) samphire from Mersea Island. Simply pan-fried, it tasted of ozonic greenness. Pure salty and from the sea. Sublime.

Prawn Fattouche

Having sumac (at last!) meant I could make this prawn fattouche, snipped from Xanthe Clay's pages in The Telegraph, by David Herbert.

Cucumber, cos lettuce (or little gem), radishes, red pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes, flat leaf parsley and mint went into a bowl and were dressed with sumac and olive oil. I briefly crisped up some oil-brushed pitta bread and broke chunks off the bread and tossed them into the salad. Dressing was lemon juice and olive oil. The veggies were piled onto our plates and topped with a pile of lemon-soaked prawns. Very good indeed.

Lamb meatballs

An amalgamation of two recipes - one by Rick Stein, and the other anonymous (Jamie?) both snipped from Sainsbury's Magazine. A tasty supper, but one which Mr F added extra salt too (perhaps scarred by the previous night's shenanigans I underseasoned).

So, lamb mince was mixed with a red onion, chopped parsley, ground coriander, ground cumin and chilli flakes. I worked the meat into weeny little balls and then fried them. The balls were stuffed into warmed pitta bread, doused with a minty, yoghurt sauce and an avocado and cherry tomato salad. I'm allowed to make them again! With more salt, of course...

Greek herb pilaf with feta and prawns

If we were to meet and eat, I think Diana Henry and I would bond over our similar palates. I'm consistently inspired by her recipes in Stella and Pickled Lemons, Crazy Water would be one of my desert island cook books (regardless of the fact I would probably be lacking ingredients, utensils and even a cooker on my palm-fringed prison). Always full of tangy, citrus and sweet flavours, DH's recipes are truly mouthwatering to me. Mr F, on the other-hand, isn't so wild about her style (although enjoys them in abundance).

This herby pilaf with a mix of surf and curds was last night's supper. Scrumptious.

Soften a finely chopped onion in oil and butter. Add a crushed clove of garlic and chopped tomatoes (DH says deseed, I think the jelly-encased seeds are the best bit). Cook 'til the tomatoes are soft then add chopped dill, mint and flat-leaf parsley, rinsed basmati rice and stock. Boil hard until the rice becomes pitted and the liquid has disappeared. Cover the pan with a tea towel and put the lid on. Cook on a very low heat for 20 mins then fluff up the rice, add more of the three herbs, crumbled feta, black olives and seasoning. (Beware: I over-salted and didn't consider the salty olives. Oops). Simultaneously pile onto plates and in a frying pan, quickly fry off prawns on a very high heat. Squeeze with lemon and serve.

Mr F said he thought this dish had crab in it, due to the fine strands of rice. Erm, it didn't. He didn't eat it all but I think he's now wise to the fact I always pile his plate with double... Hello leftover lunch!

Olive roasted salmon

One for the 'don't bother' file. From an ancient issue of Red Magazine, this fish dish purportedly included all the ingredients of a good Martini ("great!" I thought). Instead it was bland and dull. Basically baked fish with some olives on top. I chopped up olives and lemon zest and sprinkled it over two salmon fillets with a slug of vermouth and a drizzle of olive oil. The fish was wrapped in foil parcels and baked while I cooked baby new potatoes and sliced courgettes to go with. I can't convey how disappointed I was with this supper - I was expecting the verve and scintillating flavour of a great cocktail, mixed with rich meaty salmon but cooking beat all the tang out of the taste.

Lemon biscuits

It's a little twee but I like to give homemade treats as thank you presents, like these lemon biscuits. Based on a recipe by Anjum Anand for Easy Lime Biscuits in Sainsbury's Magazine, I doubled the initial quantities and then freestyled.

Icing sugar was mixed with plain flour and the zest of a couple of lemons. I melted butter and stirred this into the dry ingredients until the dough came together - I had to add another lump or two of butter to get a decent consistency. I then shaped the dough into little discs and sprinkled them with extra lemon zest mixed with sugar and baked them for 10 minutes.

The result? Cute, I thought! They were very short - crisp and slightly crumbly - and excellent with a cup of Earl Grey.

Salmon, new potato and pea salad

It's now past Mid-Summer but this felt so fresh and Spring-like when I cooked it at the end of May. Boiled new potatoes, peas and flaked poached salmon (I did it quickly with bay leaves, peppercorns and water) were tossed with rocket and mint and doused with black pepper and olive oil. Simple.

Asparagus and courgette risotto

A quick supper that Mr F and I worked on together - he diced courgette and prepped the asparagus while I stirred, stirred and stirred the rice (with sauted onion and white wine). When the risotto was nearly done, I dropped the courgette into the rice and boiled the asparagus for a couple of minutes. Served with lashings of grated Grana Padano Mr F said it was of "restaurant quality". I fainted.

Ham hock and lentil salad

Another from Simon Hopkinson's Week In Week Out. A good one. No, a great one. Mr F deemed it "amazing".

While it seemed wintery (and was in a wintery section of the book) mixing the dish with light leaves and letting the components cool makes it perfectly appropriate for warmer weather.

Put a ham hock in a saucepan of cold water. Bring to the boil then drain and rinse the hock under cold water. Next put it back in the pot along with celery, carrot, onion, leek, bay leaves, peppercorns and a slug of cider (a substitute for white wine) and bring up to simmering point - and continue to simmer for another 1 1/4 hours. Mine needed more time as it was ginormous.

Once the meet is tender, strain the stock. Put 5 tablespoons of green lentils in a pan and cover with stock, cook until done (approx 20mins) then mix with chopped parsley and finely chopped spring onions. While the lentils are cooking pick the meat off the hock and set aside. Next make a dressing with white wine vinegar, olive oil, grainy mustard, English mustard, salt, pepper and a pinch of caster sugar.

To serve, lay leaves on a plate, lay on the meat, spoon over the lentils and drizzle over the dressing. I can't wait to cook this one again... Phenomenally good.

Spicy beef fajitas and guacamole

What a misnomer A Brit's Dish A Day turned out to be! I've barely had time to cook and eat, let alone factor in blogging about it. There is a backlog of dishes to post so it looks like the blog is back in action from today... but I've started a little side project which may overtake Brit's Dish in the long run.

However, back to the food...

This is the ultimate Saturday night supper. I love food that Mr F and I can have fun with: Curry with pickles, poppadums and raita... Pizza we can decorate ourselves... and now these spicy beef fajitas, vaguely cribbed from Delicious suppers by Valli Little. On receiving this book a few months a go, I wasn't wowed, but on flicking through again I've found more I want to eat from it...

So: Cook a chopped onion until soft then add beef mince and brown. Next I added red kidney beans, some passata and dried chilli flakes and simmered everything for a while. At least I think I did. During the slight gap between eating, cooking and posting my memory has failed me. Oh yes, diced red peppers went into the pot about five mins before serving and garnishing with beaucoup de coriander.

Warmed corn tortillas, sour cream, lime wedges and guacamole (mashed avocado, a grated clove of garlic, lime juice and crunchy sea salt) went with. Mr F was impressed. Or was it just the copious amounts of tequila I'd been plying him with that made him so appreciative?

Morrocan vegetables

Again, a very very quick supper. Chop up an aubergine into inch-size chunks, slice a red onion in moon-shaped slivers and toss some cherry tomatoes onto a baking tray. Drizzle with oil, balsamic and cumin seeds and roast, turning once, for about 30mins. Then mix the roast veg with a tin of chickpeas, chopped parsley and a tablespoon of harissa. I also added some black olives (although wished that I hadn't). I served the mixture in bowls lined with spinach leaves.

Sometimes in Summer I make a variation of this dish with red wine vinegar instead of balsamic and serve it with proscuitto cruddo briefly warmed in the vegetable juices and tossed with basil. But now? I'm too tired for all that faff. Work? Gotta love it.

Make yourself a Goddamn Quesadilla Napoleon

Knowing this week would be manic Mr F and I are dividing kitchen duties. Ish. Control freak me still wants to cook every night, natch, but I skipped Tuesday's Dish a Day and Mr F whipped up sea bass with the sweetest baby leeks instead. Tonight I'm back on the pass and I tried out one of Xanthe Clay's Five Minutes to Table dishes. Five minutes? Yeah right. Ok, I admit I am rather slow with a knife - but still...

So, pop a tortilla in an oiled frying pan. Grate over Edam, add torn slices of Chorizo, a diced tomato and chopped spring onion*. Add more grated cheese and top with another tortilla. When the bottom tortilla is golden brown (note to self: golden brown not black), turn it carefully and brown the other side. Cut into wedges and serve with a diced avocado salad (doused in lime juice and salt), some leaves and a dollop of sour cream sprinkled with chives.

It was tasty... but messy and incredibly unhealthy (all that cheese!). It would work best as a late night drunken snack for a student - sniff - so I don't think I'll be making it again very soon.

* my addition
** one of the best lines from one if the funniest films ever

Duck Salad - A Perfect 10

No, not me sillies (I'm obviously a perfect Zero) but this supper got a perfect score of 10 from Mr F. My first full marks! Vaguely inspired by Nigella, but padded out by moi to make something more substantial.















Roast two duck legs then shred the meat into chunks and set aside. Make up a sauce with the juice of half an orange, the juice of half a lime, a knob of grated ginger, a dash of fish sauce, a slug of sesame oil and a chopped spring onion. Cook the green beans until just done. Then start assembling by covering the plates with baby spinach leaves. Next a bundle of green beans, followed by the shredded duck. The juicy sauce is drizzled over the top.

I really wasn't sure how to present tonight's supper - mixing the leaves and beans seemed like a good idea, but perhaps too messy so I went for the layered option. To finish I sprinkled over a few grains of ground dried chilli (fresh slices of a red chilli would obviously also be very pretty).

Mr F loved the sauce with it's citrussy hits of orange and lime but suggested that the beans should have been halved (they were particularly long, I must admit). It would make an excellently posh starter.

Tomato, basil and goat's cheese pasta

Hitherto our #1 pasta accompaniment was smoked salmon, lemon, cream and peas but this has been usurped by the following dish... Inspired by a recipe I'd cut out and kept from the Sunday Times' Style years ago, I set about updating (ie: implementing shortcuts) the method













I had worried that Mr F would complain that I was making him eat hot pasta on such a balmy evening but the intro claimed that this dish was equally tasty eaten hot, warm or cold. When the cold sauce was spooned over the hot pasta, it quickly all became pleasingly luke warm.

So, dice a roasted red pepper (the recipe instructed me to roast my own but hey, if there's a jar ready and waiting...) and put into a bowl with a good dowsing of olive oil, a few splashes of white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, finely chopped garlic and lots of torn basil leaves. Next peel a few tomatoes by pouring boiling water over them and leaving for a few minutes so the skins split (I love doing this!). Once peeled, dice the toms and add to the peppery vinaigrette. Cook some pasta in an adjacent pan and, when ready to serve, quickly crumble soft goat's cheese into the sauce and spoon everything over the pasta.

Mr F gave this 9/10, particularly loving the tang that the vinegar imparted and the Summery taste of the (very ripe) tomatoes I'd used. Next time I'd include an extra pepper, as the pepper's flavour was rather faint under the basil and garlic.

NB: Today Mr F and I ventured Up West to visit the National Portrait gallery to view an installation of found portraits of Saint Fabiola. It was in turns creepy and hilarious (most of the works were by amateurs and their attempts at painting were, frankly, risible). However one of the works that stood out was a picture made entirely from beans, lentils and seeds. Totally un-appetising but worth mentioning - this is a food blog after all...

Fabiola image from lacma.org

Edamame

Something savoury to snack on, on a Saturday night. Edamame, tossed with coriander and soy sauce. Not a patch on the beans you squeeze out of the pod, I'm afraid.