Grilled crayfish, thyme butter and warm potato salad.
Food
Easy does it
by Martin Bosley
Who wants to be making complicated food when you’re in a holiday mood? The recipes on these pages provide a summer toolbox of flavours, accompaniments and suggestions to stimulate your own ideas.
In summer, we want meals that are easy to make. Luckily, we’re surrounded by the types of fresh ingredients that almost prepare themselves. For example, a bowl of raspberries served with pouring cream after lunch always creates a good feeling around the dining table. And corn grilled in its husk over a barbecue then eaten in your fingers gives true meaning to that misused cocktail-party phrase “finger food”.
In the garden, my favourite herbs – basil, tarragon, chervil, chives – are in abundance. They make a meal fit for a king when combined in a salad with locally grown tomatoes and served with grilled fish.
We tend to think that summer is about barbecues, picnics, pool food and sandwiches in beach bags, but it’s also about not letting great ingredients become confused or overwhelmed by too many flavours.
The recipes on these pages have been designed to be used as a toolbox of flavours and accompaniments and to stimulate your own ideas. If you have any of these sauces or pastes in the refrigerator, you will always have something on hand to use as a dip, on an antipasti platter or with barbecued meats. The salads can be served on their own or with the other dishes. You can also create dishes using the various components from the larger-meal recipes. Most of all, relax and allow the rhythm of the day to suggest what you cook.
Happy eating.
Salads
Salads are a meal in their own right. They can be made of many things, not just leaves. For example, broad beans – once known as the meat of the poor – make a bold salad. Watch your flavours, include something bitter for balance, think of the dressing and always assemble the salad at the last minute.
GRILLED CRAYFISH, THYME BUTTER AND WARM POTATO SALAD
8 Jersey Benne or new season potatoes
DRESSING
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup sour cream
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp capers, rinsed and chopped
½ bunch chives, finely chopped
½ bunch chervil, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 crayfish, split in half lengthways
thyme butter (recipe follows)
juice of 1 lemon
salad leaves
Wash the potatoes. Place them in a deep saucepan, cover with hot water and bring to a trembling simmer. Once cooked, drain and leave until cool enough to handle. Remove the skins. Combine the oil, sour cream, lemon juice, capers and herbs. Slice the potatoes and fold in the dressing. Season with salt and pepper.
Serves 4.
THYME BUTTER
1 bunch parsley, chopped
4 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
2 tsp chopped garlic
freshly cracked black pepper
100g unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
Place the herbs, garlic and pepper in a food processor and, with the machine running, add the butter. Add the vinegar and salt. Spread the butter out on a sheet of greaseproof paper. Roll into a log. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. As the crayfish cooks on the barbecue, continually baste the cut side with the butter, seasoning with salt and a little lemon juice.
To serve, place the potato salad in the centre of a large platter. Remove the meat from the crayfish tail and chop it into 3cm chunks. Scatter the salad leaves around the platter and place the crayfish on top. Serve the bodies and legs of the crayfish as well.
SALAD OF BROAD BEANS, PECORINO CHEESE AND MINT
1kg broad beans, in their pods
½ preserved lemon, rinsed and chopped
finely (available from delis)
100g pecorino or parmesan cheese, sliced
thinly
salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 mint leaves, finely sliced
juice of 1 lemon
olive oil to taste
Shell the beans and plunge into boiling water for 6 minutes. Run them under cold water, then remove the skins. This is called double podding. (If the beans are small, you will not need to do this.) You should end up with 1 cup of beans. Combine with the remaining ingredients and serve.
Serves 4.
CARPACCIO OF ZUCCHINI, PARMESAN, OLIVE OIL AND LEMON JUICE
6 medium zucchini, washed
juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
100g parmesan cheese
2 tsp thyme leaves
1 tsp parsley, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Top and tail the zucchini and use a potato peeler to create long continuous strips. Place them in a bowl. Whisk the lemon juice and oil and combine with the zucchini. Using a potato peeler, make parmesan shavings and gently mix through the zucchini. Add the herbs. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Serves 4.
WHITE BEAN SALAD, YOUNG FENNEL, GRUYERE CHEESE
440g can white beans
2 tomatoes, seeded and cut into 1cm dice,
or sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
½ cup chicken stock
2 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 fennel bulb
½ lebanese cucumber, seeded and diced
1 bunch spring onions, sliced
120g gruyere cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper
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