Gazpacho

I'm sure I've said before, but I don't like cold food and so never look forward to making this kind of thing but was pleasantly surprised today.   Today is a baking summer's day of the type Nigel suggests is required for gazpacho.  A vegetarian friends was round and so I offered this and we both absolutely loved it.  It was also a great way to use up some of the odd bits I'd bought for salad early last week.  I'm a convert - it is delicious.

Warm roast chicken. Chilled sweet melon.

I deviated from the recipe here and used a thigh and 3 legs rather than the 3 breasts suggested by Nigel, as that's what I had left in the fridge having been barbecuing a couple of days ago.  I think Nigel is right that this is all about the juices, but I found it ultimately a little unsatisfying as a main meal - even on a blisteringly hot day, as it has been today, so I'd probably not make this again.

Fillet of beef with basil and lemon courgettes

Initially, I thought the meat was slightly on the peppery side for my tastes, but the sharpness of the lemon in the courgettes toned down the pepper heat.   This was a perfect meal for me, combinine two of my fave ingredients, although at £40 per kilo fillet will remain a rarity in my household, particularly when I love fat in a steak!

Roast lamb with ciabatta

This should be roast lamb with olives and ciabatta so, again, I've had to deviate as I'm allergic to olives and therefore simply left them out.  I also, as I always do, swapped olive oil for walnut oil.   I love lamb, I love fried bread, so I was really looking forward to tonight but I actually found this far too sickly, the bread soaked uall the oil and was just too much for me.  The lamb was beautifully cooked though and I'll have leftovers, minus the bread for lunch tomorrow, possibly with the mayo left over from earlier today.

Salmon in chilli mayonnaise

Nigel fans, and who knows maybe even Nigel himself, may be sat at home right now wondering what has happened to his actual recipe, which was for wasabi mayonnaise.  But I really, really dislike the flavour of wasabi and so couldn't do it to myself.  I almost didn't make the mayo at all due to last week's disaster but gave it another go - and I'm very glad I did because I now know how to do it properly - I reckon I was using the wrong bowl and utensils last week.  I added a little bit of crushed chilli paste to the mayo to give it a kick but for me the umami loveliness in this dish comes from the salted crispy skin crumbled in at the end with the purple radish sprouts.  Obviously I wasn't able to buy the radish sprouts on their own but spotted them in a bag of mixed leaves and so picked them out - I managed to get 10 individual leaves I think.  Also, I am no lover of cold food so again deviated from Nigel's recipe by baking my salmon first.  For a meal that I was dreading making and thinking I'd just have a mouthful to taste it, I wolfed it all down and it was amazing - yes, amazing!  I think that this would be a lovely starter with little toasts maybe.

Mint frozen yoghurt

Not sure about this.  I think I went wrong in the instructions and weighed out leaves only rather than leaves and stalks and consequently there are too many leaves in there.  Also, it's too yoghurty for my liking and if I were to give this another go I'd use a custard base for it I think.

Roast duck and apricot salad

Oh, I've been looking forward to this all day! And it did not disappoint.  The apricots, ripe as ripe can be, were the perfect counterpoint to the rich meat and the limey dressing beautifully sharp.  This felt quite special.  Easy to make and really delivering in flavour so it's a definite to make again.