Chorizo, choritzzo, schoreetho, however you say it I love it.  That red spicy warmth pervades any ingredients that get in its way and frankly makes most things taste that little bit better.  Usefully it has a great shelf life and as such I often keep it in the fridge and that is how this lunch started out.  Our plans changed the other day and I found we would be home rather than out for lunch and that the fridge was looking pretty bare but fortunately contained a pack of chorizo.   The beans, both runner and French, have been very successful in the garden this year and we haven’t done badly for tomatoes or potatoes.  So following a rustle around I had one of those serendipitous moments when although completely unplanned, the ingredients I had available went together fabulously.  So much so that I made this again a couple of days later with the addition of boiled new potatoes.

Whilst barely a recipe I offer it here in its original form which we had with a lovely loaf of   bread which managed to be both crusty without and squidgy within, a perfect combination.  On the second occasion I added boiled sliced new potatoes to the mix and they worked a treat too so go for whichever you prefer.

By the way, not only does it taste magic but it looks fantastic as well piled up on a white plate – a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy (if that is not a bit cheesy)?!

Chorizo, tomato and green bean salad

180g-200g chorizo (the cooking sausages rather than the thin sliced salami type) chopped

200g green beans, you can use French, runner or bobby or a mixture, topped and tailed

200g tomatoes, halved or quartered

1 tablespoon good olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Bunch of parsley (optional)

Fry the chorizo in a large pan until cooked and a little crispy in places.  Cook the beans in boiling water until just (I mean just) cooked but retaining crunch.  Tumble the tomatoes and beans into the pan with the chorizo, add the oil and vinegar and turn gently until thoroughly mixed and then put on a large serving plate.  Sprinkle salt and pepper and with chopped parsley if you have some.  How quick and easy was that?

Enough for 4.

I made these before the holidays but didn’t get a chance to pass the recipe on.  My son’s class at school were having a Food Festival and parents were asked to contribute cakes that had been made with a vegetable as an ingredient.  I made these, some little courgette and vanilla cakes and also some blackcurrant and avocado cakes.    The beetroot and chocolate were not only the favourite of the ones I made but also won the first prize out of all entries – the children loved them, even those who professed not to like beetroot (quite a few).   I was delighted and very proud.  To keep me in my place however, one little girl did stop eating her cake the moment she heard it contained beetroot and could not be persuaded to continue with it……

I don’t think it is a new thing baking with vegetables, carrot cake has been around for a while after all, but it seems to be enjoying a boost at the moment.  The veggies do add a delicious moistness to cakes and in most cases reduce the fat content.  Perhaps it also eases our conscience that there is veg in our treats, a cunning way to increase that five a day and I am all for that.

So you could try these because they are maybe a little better for you than the usual chocolate cupcakes or just because they are extremely good to eat.

Chocolate and Beetroot Cakes

160g beetroot, cooked and peeled

40g cocoa

120g plain flour

160g caster sugar

2 eggs

140ml oil

1 heaped tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180.  Line a bun tin with cup cake paper cases .  Sift the cocoa, flour, baking powder and mix with the sugar and salt in a bowl.  Puree the beetroot, add the eggs and oil and whizz again.  Mix with the dry ingredients, put into the paper cases and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  This made 12 and I had a little mixture over for some mini ones which I only cooked for 10 minutes.

One year the courgettes I grew in the garden seemed endless.  Everytime I went out there were two or three ready to pick.  This year I have had two – one, small and perfect which I chopped up raw into a salad.  The second had been missed beneath the leaves and was enormous, a small marrow in fact.  Courgette and mint soup for that one.

Fortunately though, courgettes are plentiful and cheap in the shops at the moment and this salad is one of my favourite things to do with them.  The slight charring can be achieved on the barbeque or griddle pan, whichever suits you.  It is this cooking process though that seems to transform the flavour of the courgettes into something delicious that my children will happily eat whilst a steamed disc of the same would fill them with dread.

The combination of the salty feta and fresh mint with the lemony dressing completes the picture.  We ate this with chicken thighs marinaded in a bit of chilli and garlic then cooked on the barbeque (sorry South African husband, the braai) and new waxy potatoes dug from the garden just before supper.

The treat of the brand new freshly dug potatoes makes up for this years disastrous courgette crop!

Courgette, feta and mint salad

6 courgettes, thinly sliced lengthwise

100g feta, cubed

A handful of fresh mint leaves

Juice of one lemon

A clove of garlic, crushed

4 tablespoons good olive oil

Mix the sliced courgettes with one tablespoon of the oil.  It seems very little but they only need the merest coating then griddle or barbeque until lightly charred and floppy.  Put aside on a large plate.  Mix the remaining oil with the lemon juice, crushed garlic, some pepper and a little salt (remember the feta with be salty).  When you have cooked all the courgettes, tumble them onto a large serving plate along with the feta and pour over the dressing.  Mix it carefully together and then top with the mint leaves.  Enough for 4.

This cake has been to the beach (several times), to the cricket and to London.  Not the same cake of course, what I mean is that I make it often as it is always goes down well and travels happily (useful when it is hot and sunny).  It is heady and spicy with the ginger, rich and slightly damp (in a good way) and keeps well.  At least I think it keeps well, it never has the chance with us.  Children love it despite (or because of ) the gingery heat and the current record holder is George with 4 slices in one sitting.

To make it is the matter of minutes, some melting, weighing and mixing and then it sits happily in the oven for an hour.  This is the cake I mentioned in Summer Lunch (Part 1) as it is perfect for a picnic.  However,  should the weather disappoint it makes a fabulous pudding and, with the addition of a quick butterscotch sauce and some vanilla ice cream becomes the thing of dreams.

*A friend of mine made this and forgot to put the egg in – it still rose and was delicious (I know, I tasted it) so a bonus if you need to make an egg free cake (well done Hayley!).

Ginger Cake

110g butter

110g brown sugar

110g golden syrup

1 egg  (*can be egg free – see intro)

Pinch of salt

175g plain flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

150ml milk

Preheat the oven to 150 and line a loaf tin with baking parchment.  Melt the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a small pan.  Measure the flour, cinnamon and ginger into a large bowl.  Add the butter mixture to the flour and beat well until combined and put the milk into the pan to warm. Beat the egg into the mixture then put the bicarb into the warmed milk and then add this to the batter.  It will seem rather liquid but don’t be alarmed.  Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the middle of the oven for an hour or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Leave to cool.

The sun is out, the day is warming up and the children are running around.  Very soon there will be calls for drinks, something cool, quenching and refreshing.

So out with the lemons.  I try and eat what is in season but lemons for me are an all year rounder.  We don’t grow them here and as I could not imagine cooking without them I simply buy and thank the warmer climes where they flourish.  Their lemony fragrant zip brings life to so many dishes, sometimes a few drops can literally transform the flavour of food in the way a few crystals of salt can.  Lemons are equally at home in savoury and sweet and I rarely go a day without the squeezing of one.

With very little work and a brief simmer on the hob you will be in possession of this sharp, tangy sweet cordial.  Sometimes I add a chunk of peeled ginger when this is heating, sometimes I don’t and occasionally add a bruised mint leaf or two on serving.

We get through masses of this in the summer and it even won me a first at last years Horticultural Show.  That aside it is the perfect refresher on a hot day and ideal for a picnic.  Take the cordial in a small bottle or jar and dilute just before you drink with icy cold sparkling water.

Lemonade

4 lemons juiced and the peel of 1

200g sugar

125 ml water

Put the sugar, water and lemon peel into a pan and heat.  Let it simmer for 10 minutes and then add the lemon juice.  Bring back to the boil then take off the heat and leave to cool.  Strain into a suitable bottle or jam jar.  I dilute this one part cordial to three parts cold sparkling water.

Note – lime juice is delicious combined with the lemon juice but I only heat lemon peel, when I tried heating the lime peel it gave the cordial a weird taste.