Melon, tomato and oregano salad
Now here’s a combo I’ll bet you never saw coming. But jeebus, is it delicious or what? And we don’t have much more to say than that... and nor is there really a recipe. It’s more a concept. You know, the vibe of the thing. “In summing up, Your Honour, it’s melon, it’s tomato, it’s feta, it’s rightness, it works, it’s the vibe..
Plum (or whatever you like) upside down cake
This is an oldie but a goodie recipe – it’s not fancy, but we don't really do fancy anything. Certainly not cake. It’s easy and tastes great and isn’t that enough? Use pear wedges, banana slices or even canned pineapple rings (retro!) if you’ve missed the plums already…
Lemon ricotta pasta with parmesan crumbs
Here’s a cheese-heavy pasta dish that’s the kind of simple thing to make when you can’t be arsed to properly cook… which, if you’re anything like us, is maybe quite often. All you do is cook some dried pasta (a tube-y one works great), then heave it into a large pan with some of the pasta cooking water, lemon, herbs, ricotta, a bit…
Chicken with pecorino, oregano, and vinegar
Can we talk about chicken skin? (That’s a rhetorical question; we’re bloody talking about chicken skin). Peruse supermarket fridges where assorted poultry parts lurk, witness the pallid, pink, skin-free horror and you’ll be asking the same question as we regularly do... where the heck does it all go?…
Muhammara
This Syrian-Turkish dip-spread is so full of intense flavour, it’s ridiculous. It’s not hard to make but, lest you think charring and peeling capsicums is tedious, it’s their exact sweet, smoky flavours that make this so amazing. So don't be tempted to skip this step. If you have a gas cook-top, just hurl your capsicums straight on the flame whole, then turn them regularly so they char all over…
Emulsified vinaigrette
Platter up! Grab the nicest of what’s in season, cook it simply, hurl it on a big plate, then do the ‘come help yourselves’ holler’ like a fishwife. We love a salad Nicoise and, while salmon might not be a traditional inclusion, it’s perfect with everything else. The recipe here is all about the emulsified vinaigrette…
Tomato risotto
Lately, we’ve been making tomato sauce like there is no tomorrow; maybe there is no tomorrow? Existential crisis/neurosis aside, our freezers are full of the stuff. When it’s winter, and fresh tomatoes taste like shite, we’ll be ever so glad of a never-ending supply of sauce for pasta…
Salmorejo
When the weather turns torrid, it’s time to make like the Andalusians and blend up some silky-suave salmorejo. Yep, the southern Spanish know a thing or two about sweltering and chilled, rich, tomato-loaded soup is one of their ways of giving it the big Eff You. It’s SO delicious. If you ask us (and nobody has), salmorejo is the nectar of the bloody gods…
Eggplant- lentil stew with pomegranate molasses
Ah... Paula Wolfert. Or should we say... ah, Musa Dağdeviren. If you don’t know, Wolfert is a legendary American food writer who came to prominence thanks to her extensive knowledge of Moroccan food. Her seminal book, The Food of Morocco, reworked a decade or so ago, is essential for any keen cook; I’m sure Felicity at Cook the Books…
Peaches in rosé-thyme syrup with creme fraîche
Nab the last of the peaches now (sob); we mean, how much of a bugger is it when they march out of season? Not. Particularly. Peachy. As a parting shot to stone fruit lusciousness, whaddabout making this super-simple peach number, where the fruit is cooked in rosé and thyme syrup, then served with creme fraiche…