Sun Fruits

Sweet, ripe fruits like these peaches and honeydew melon are luscious on a hot summer’s day. These particular ones were ripe almost to the point of being over-ripe, which made their flesh gloriously sweet and meltingly tender and their abundant juice burst out with each bite.

The aptly named honeydew melon does indeed have a honey-like sweetness to it with what I a can only describe as an underlying hint of banana, while the golden, red-orange flesh of the peaches is simply exquisite.

These fruits cry out summer and demand to be eaten greedily like a child, with juice running down you, whilst lying on the grass outside in the sun.

Just a Perfect Day

The wash-out of the past few months was long forgotten today as I lounged in my garden on a true midsummer’s day. Doors and windows were thrown wide open to bring in the fresh summer air, washing was hung out to dry - which it did in no time in the heat of the sunshine flooding the garden - and elderflower cordial provided the refreshment.

This afternoon Rob and I took a trip to our local farm shop for the week’s provisions. Our seasonal hull included pak choi, peas, blueberries and what is likely to be the last of the strawberries. I also picked up a bunch of lily stems with a heady scent to adorn our living room.

We’re very fortunate indeed, as our farm shop is blessed with the presence of a mobile butcher and fishmonger on a saturday. The butcher travels up from his farm in the heart of Kent and the fish monger from the coast. We bought a large free-range chicken for sunday lunch, some lean mince and half a dozen irresistible-sounding pork, apple and cider sausages. From the fishmonger we bought two beautiful plaice, clown-like with their bright spots, which were filleted for us and wrapped in paper, ready for dinner tonight.

I teamed the fish with fresh spinach and new potatoes and a creamy white wine sauce with spring onions. It was quite delightful and the perfect end to a perfect summer’s day.



Plaice with Spring onion, white wine and cream sauce

Ingredients
2 plaice, filleted (1 per person)
4 spring onions
Wine glass-full of white wine and an equal amound of double cream
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Season the fillets with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then sauté them in a little olive oil until cooked through. In a separate pan make a sauce by sautéing 3 or 4 chopped spring onions in a knob of butter for a few minutes. Add the white wine and simmer until reduced by half. Next add the cream and simmer until the sauce thickens. Season and check the taste. Add more wine or cream as necessary and allow to thicken again, then serve spooned over the fish.

Serves 2.

Sweet Little Blackberry Pavlovas

These little treats are so easy to make, especially if you buy the meringue nests as I did. Then it’s just a case of assembly; whip up some double cream, fold through a little caster sugar and some fruit like the luscious blackberries that are in season now, dollop it on top of the meringues and top with more fruit. They’re quick and dreamy, and perfect for a mid-week dessert.

In Need of Chocolate

Perhaps surprisingly for a girl and a food-lover, I’m not overly fussed about chocolate. I like it, don’t get me wrong, but I’m certainly no chocoholic. That said, even I can acknowledge that there are times when only chocolate will do. Times when it is craved, times when you’re in need of something and only chocolate will hit the spot. On those occasions I want the good stuff and I want to be pampered with a little luxury. For this, Hotel Chocolate has got it just right.

Check out, for instance, these Goody Bags. They have everything a girl (or a guy for that matter) needs when they feel a real choc-attack coming on. Luxurious little truffles, caramelised milk chocolate drops, real hot chocolate, a slab of chocolate and even chocolate dippers for your hot chocolate or tea.

Or for a seasonal feel-good factor how about some Summer Citrus Soul Food? This large milk chocolate slap swirled with white chocolate, lime, tangerine fruit flakes and candied orange, is bursting with flavour and it certainly brings a little of the zing with it. And we could all do with some of that.