A shopping list, and two recipes, for a British summer

As I write this, I'm looking out my window at a blue sky, from which is apparently falling a very heavy rainshower. It seems that, after the last few months of almost interrupted sunshine, we're finally getting a traditional British summer.

When the weather's good, I know what I want to cook. When the weather's bad, I know what I want to cook. But when it's like this, I struggle. I can't decide from one hour to the next what I want to cook, which makes shopping somewhat difficult. Last week, I was going to make a light salad for dinner, but when the barometer started getting low, it transformed itself into a rich gratin.


Here's what you need to buy:

1 head chicory
100g blue cheese - roquefort or gorgonzola would be personal favourites
large handful walnuts
100g French or German garlic salami (veggies - you can skip this)
Loaf of bread - a ciabatta or sourdough is probably best

And I'm also assuming that you already have olive oil, vinegar, mustard, butter, milk, and flour in the kitchen.


Salad

Lightly toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan, then crumble into halves or so. Cut a couple of slices of the bread into top-thumb-joint-sized chunks, toss in a little olive oil, then fry until golden and crispy croutons have formed. Pull the chicory into leaves, tearing each into two or three. Mix a dressing with 1/2 tsp mustard, a large glug of vinegar, and one of olive oil, then toss the chicory in it. Cut the cheese into cubes, and tear up the salami if the slices are particularly large. Combine all the ingredients.


Gratin

Slice the chicory in two lengthways, and fry, cut-side down, in a little olive oil until browned.

Meanwhile, make a white sauce:

Melt 1 heaped tbs butter in a saucepan, and when it starts to froth, stir in 1 heaped tbs flour, and cook for a minute, maybe. Turn the heat down, and stir in 1/2 pint milk, adding it gradually and making sure the sauce is totally smooth and lump-free before adding more milk. Use a whisk if you need to. Turn the heat up slightly again, and bring the sauce to the boil, stirring all the time to stop it catching on the bottom. Once it's boiled, it will have thickened and stabilised, so you can stop stirring and leave it to simmer gently for around 5 minutes. Cut your cheese and salami up, and stir in to the sauce. Taste it - it probably won't need seasoning, but it might.

Place your chicory into a shallow oven dish, and pour over the cheese and salami sauce. Whizz a couple of slices of bread, the walnuts, and a drop of oil in a food processor until breadcrumbed, then scatter over the top. Bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes or until sizzling and brown on top.

Quick pasta for busy people

Obviously, being single, my life is a whirl of parties and social events, which means I often only have a few minutes to cook dinner before I have to go out again.* Here are three of my favourite fast pasta sauces, none of which require more than one saucepan and the time it takes to cook the pasta:


Tomatoes, Ricotta, Basil

75g pasta (fusilli, penne, etc best here)
60g cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
3 tbs ricotta cheese
large handful basil, roughly chopped

Cook pasta; drain and stir in the tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil, and a good pinch or two of salt. Add the ricotta in teaspoonfuls, then the basil, and stir lightly to combine.

NB. I'll never normally add salt to food, but the tomatoes and the ricotta in this recipe both really need it, so do be generous.


Fresh Tart

This is an instant, fresher, version of a classic recipe called Pasta Puttanesca, or Tart's Pasta (for the original, see Delia).

75g pasta (whichever you like)
60g cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
1 red chilli, de-seeded and de-membraned, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 or 3 anchovies, finely chopped
handful black olives, stoned and roughly chopped
tbs capers
parmesan

While the pasta's cooking, do all your chopping. Drain the pasta, then return the empty pan to the heat with a good slug of olive oil, the chilli, garlic, and anchovies, and leave for 30 seconds or so. Tip the pasta back in, adding all the other ingredients except the parmesan, which you want to grate generously over the top once it's in your bowl.


Green bean, parma ham

75g pasta (tagliatelle or other long pasta best here)
80g green beans, tops trimmed off
3 or 4 slices parma ham (or cheaper proscuitto, if you like...)
tbs creme fraiche
parmesan

Start the pasta cooking, and, when it only has 5 minutes left, add the green beans to the water. Tear the parma ham into long strips. Drain the pasta and beans, and combine with the ham and creme fraiche, grating parmesan over once it's in your bowl.


*Actually, this post was inspired/requested by my sister, who is in a relationship and yet still has a hectic social life. Far too much simultaneous cake having and cake eating going on there for my liking.