The sun is out, the BBQ is on and I’m being strong-armed into drinking fizzy alcoholic drinks. Well … that’s if ‘strong-arming’ now means being absolutely delighted at the sight of a glass of fizz. Mmmm. All those delicious bubbles tickling ones tongue, surely we should all drink fizz all day long?

Anyway, back to the BBQ. I was invited to a friend’s house for this festival of charcoal, meat and meat substitute burgers, only to find the hostess with the most-ess standing in a mess of paper bags, bottles of booze and shopping. She was in a right flap. “I haven’t got everything ready yet,” she cried as the tears threatened to fall. “I’ve got to make salads!” And I was put to work, singing for my fizz-y supper indeed. So I chopped tomatoes, sprinkled salt on potatoes and lit the fire. Hah! A sister is doin’ it for her self. I can BBQ – hear me roar.

In amongst all of this (semi) chaos I was directed to the purple pile of aubergines, with instructions to “Ottolenghi the s*** out of them.” So I did what I was told with the limited resources available to me.

Aubergine ‘Salad’

 4 x Aubergines

As much garlic as you like

Salt

Pepper

Cumin powder

Olive oil

• Firstly cut the aubergines into 1cm thick round slices, and lay them on a baking try.
• Chop up the garlic, finely and sprinkle them on top of the rounds of the aubergine.
• Sprinkle on salt, pepper, cumin powder and olive oil.
• Massage all the ingredients into both sides of the aubergine.
• Put into a 200°C oven for 45 minutes to an hour, turning occasionally.
• Once browned and squishy, serve hot with crusty bread to mop up the sauce.
• For the lattice look you see in the picture, cook on the BBQ!

The patron Saint of Wales hails the start of spring and (to paraphrase Wordsworth) a host of golden daffodils. To celebrate this rainy cold start of the month, which will bring the Spring Solstice and Easter, the good people at British Leeks have many recipes to share with us.

Below is a recipe from British Leeks that I think will work very well in this weather.

Chicken, Leek, Prune and Caerphilly Pie

Serves 4

Prep 25 minutes

Cook 40 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 Spanish onion chopped

3 cloves of garlic sliced

4 boned chicken thighs cubed

200g leeks sliced, white parts only

2 tbls flour

150ml dry white wine

1pint chicken stock

200ml double cream

2 tsp English mustard

100g prunes halved

150g Caerphilly cheese crumbled

50g mixed chopped tarragon and flat leaf parsley

500g ready rolled puff pastry

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon of double cream

Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC / 350ºF
2. In a medium sized saucepan melt the butter and oil then fry the onions and garlic until they start to colour, about 10 minutes
3. Then add the chicken and cook for a further 5 minutes until the chicken is sealed
4. Add the leeks and flour stirring continually until they are well combined
5. Add the wine and chicken stock slowly until the sauce has thickened
6. Add the cream and mustard and then season
7. Take off the heat and stir in the prunes, cheese and herbs
8. Place the pie filling into a medium sized pie dish
9. Mix the egg yolk and cream together and then brush around the pie dish. Cover with pastry and cut around the sides with a knife
10. Brush the remaining egg mix over the pie
11. Poke a couple of small holes in the pastry to let out the steam
12. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes, remove from the oven and serve

Sunny, bright and cold days are perfect for enjoying the delights of warm salads, you get to imagine it is summer whilst trying to navigate your utensil use under layers of jumpers. My favourite warm salad is made with smoked salmon and what ever else you can find in the fridge. 

This salad in particular came about by a (un) happy coincidence of no readily available food to be had other than an old tin of mixed beans that had been sat at the back at the cupboard awaiting the end of time with a stoicism that one expects from tinned goods, a wilting lettuce and some smoked salmon on it’s last best before date. Armed with only an onion, a chilli and some capers I managed to make a delicious treat that will now be paraded around dinner parties and the like until my next discovery. You could add some boiled potatoes to it and make it a posh salade niçoise but it’s very enjoyable with out. Plus you get to be smug as the carbohydrates are all of the pulse variety and therefore ‘healthy’.

Ingredients:

1 x can of mixed beans in water

1 x onion roughly chopped

1 x chilli pepper

1 x small lettuce

1 x tsp of capers

1 x glug of olive oil/or any vegetable oil you like to use

A handful of smoked salmon to lie on top of the beans

Salad dressing to taste – I used extra virgin olive oil,

a glug of lemon juice and salt and pepper.

Method:

• Chop the onions finely and pop into a pan of hot oil, allow to soften
• Drain the beans and rinse them under some cold water, then add them to the pan with the chili and capers, let everything warm through on a low heat
• Meanwhile wash the lettuce and tear into pieces, arrange on the plate
• Cut the smoked salmon into strips and leave on the side
• Once the bean, caper, chilli and onion mixture is heated up take off the heat and pour on top of the lettuce
• Pour over the salad dressing and then sprinkle the smoked salmon on top. Finally add a little cracked black pepper and there you have it. Enjoy!