Sunday brekker, cordial and a ripe tomato

In which I rise late, have a good breakfast and pick the first ripe tomato from my plants.

Fit the first: Rosie's elderflower cordial.

Just look at that heavenly, homely little bottle.  Gorgeous. It wins on looks alone and yet, and yet, it actually tastes better than it looks!  Lovely with a lemon-ice-slice (TM): this is KK's invention to make the most of lemons that are leaving youth behind, and with no immediate use for them.  Slice, bag and freeze.  Lovely in gin or just with cold water and mint.


Fit the second: late breakfast.

Discerning chums of mine were surprisingly vehement in their opinion of Nigella's 'Eggs in purgatory'. Runny egg and tomato appear to be a controversial combination. Yet an irresistible dip into Malcom Eggs' 'The breakfast bible' reignited my curiosity.  I was agog over some Middle Eastern breakfasts, and when I saw sumac, my new and undiminished crush, I knew I had to give this combination a second chance.  I didn't follow the actual recipe, which I quite forget now, but instead took a scratched milk pan and fried some halved tomatoes.  When soft and crisp in the right places, I made little gaps in which to crack eggs.  A little sumac storm later, I piled it all out onto some buttered toast.  And dang me if it wasn't just really lovely.  A little heartburn-ey, I'll warrant, but I was feeling manful.
 

Fit the third: just look at that tomato. Either fully embarrassed or trying to be individual; either way I hope it is a fashion the others follow. 

Cooking comfort

I am frazzled. I have had such a wonderful month - two blogs nearly completed to describe it all - but I have barely had a night at home.

Last week I returned from a visit to my Mother laden with her garden produce: tomato (including tigerella toms), cabbage, runner beans and baby courgettes in yellow and green. Something my mother always cooks with the summer 'glut' is steamed runner beans, served with fried tomato and bacon. That's it: super quick, and ever so fresh tasting. I had a wave of nostalgia from being in my childhood house, so I re-created this dish back in London to remind me of home. I also had gnocchi with it, to use up some leftovers, and make it more substantial. No dressing - just the bacon fat drizzled over and pepper ground over.

Tonight I needed a quick fix of comfort so I made cauliflower cheese, my top nursery food. I can't go without carbs at bedtime, so I had this with rice (incidentally, macaroni is my usual pairing). I made the cheese sauce with a dab of English mustard and mature cheddar - and extra cheddar shaved over: a blanket of comfort.

Broad beans and pasta

That was supposed to echo the song 'boiled beef and carrots' but I see now it's a bit too obscure. Anyway ...

How happy I was for the broad beans in my veg box this week! Utterly beautiful inside their lumpy pods and just the thing to kick start summer cooking. This is what I did with them:

Cook conciegli (sp?) pasta shapes in boiling, salted water. 3 minutes before ready, throw in a couple of handfuls of broad beans and frozen peas. Then pop in a whole tomato. Leave for 20 seconds then pull the tomato out of the water: peel and chop roughly*.

When pasta and peas are cooked, drain and return to the pan, adding to it:

the chopped tomato
one crushed clove of garlic
grated parmesan
black pepper
virgin olive oil
a modest slick of cream (it really doesn’t need it if you use oil, but I just love cream. So there.)

Swish around until combined and the cheese is melting, then serve with more black pepper and grated pamesan.

The garlic is pretty subtle and the tomato makes it very fresh; it would have enjoyed a handful of parsley or perhaps basil, too. My only tip is don’t make enough for two people, unless you have two people. I had to stretch out on the sofa like a beached whale after.



*this whole exercise is to make it easier to peel, rather than some random, ritualistic act.