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Warming to the village people as summer arrives
Clare Latimer takes inspiration from a truly traditional British country occasion
FOR the next five weeks Sunday evenings are set for nostalgia, serenity and a huge temptation to bring back schoolgirl humour with the delightful programme The Great British Village Show (BBC1, 6.50pm).
With wondrous words like ‘wow!’, ‘gosh!’ and ‘joy!’, phrases such as ‘this is the place for a real whopper!’, or ‘Mummy, look at the size of this!’ and ‘when I reveal my marrow, I feel as sick as a parrot’, one can only hearten to the competition of country life.
You then have the rotund man dressed in a dark-green jersey who comes third in the largest marrow competition (or was it the best lookalike prize?), and the woman who had made strawberry jam and dyed her hair bright red in the front to relate to the jam.
We also had information that Alan Titchmarsh was the same weight as a marrow that weighed in at 135lbs.
All the winners will end up with a finale at Highgrove, so watch this space. A superbly put-together taste of England. Can we hope for the rudest vegetable to also appear for a bit of extra fun?
This introduction brings me on to this time of year where at last we can see and eat the best of British vegetables and fruit, so here are some simple ideas:
The Big C Salad
I would leave the skins on the carrots but make sure they are well cleaned and also the cucumber skin gives texture and colour. You can chop the vegetables into small cubes if you prefer. Serve as a light lunch with a slice of cold meat and a chunk of warmed bread.
Ingredients
Serves 8
Handful pumpkin seeds
Handful sunflower seeds
275g carrot, coarsely grated
225g courgette, coarsely grated
1 cucumber, coarsely grated
1 small red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
5 tbsp coconut milk
Small bunch coriander
2 tbsp fish sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C 400F Gas 6. Put the pumpkin and sunflower seeds on a baking tray and bake for about eight minutes to bring out the flavour.
Put the carrot, courgette, cucumber and chilli into a bowl and mix well. Leave in the fridge until ready to serve.
Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and black pepper and stir well. Sprinkle over the seeds and serve.
Avocado, tomato and mozzarella salad
This is a slight variation of the Italian Tricolor and again perfect for a light summer dish.
Ingredients
Serves 6
500g peas in pod, pods discarded
2 little gem lettuces
8 ripe vine tomatoes, quartered
2 ripe avocados
Juice of 1 lemon
2 Buffalo mozzarella
Handful big juicy black olives
1 ripe peach, cut into cubes on the stone and then stone discarded
225g shelled prawns
4 tbsp olive oil
1 teasp Dijon mustard
1 teasp runny honey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Cook the peas in salted boiling water for five minutes and then drain.
Tear the lettuce leaves and put into a large salad bowl. Add the tomatoes. Cut the avocados in half, remove the stones and then cut through the flesh into cubes, but not cutting through the skin.
Scoop out into a bowl, then mix with the lemon juice and add to the salad bowl. Drain the mozzarella balls and cut into cubes.
De-stone the olives if you wish and add with the cheese.
Finally, mix in the peach cubes and prawns.
Mix the olive oil with the Dijon mustard, honey and seasoning and then pour over the salad.
Stir well and serve. |
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