Rose and almond shortbread

These look nothing like the photos in the book, but taste beautiful nevertheless.  My daughter thought they were dry but I thought they taste as shortbread should and were great with a cup of tea. Instead of crystallised rose petals, which were not to be found, I used dehydrated strawberries for the colour on top so strictly speaking these are strawberry and  almond shortbread. 

Asparagus and Roquefort tart

A beauty this.   The pastry was perfect, the cheese lovely and flavourful and the asparagus (king of veg) hiding away deliciously inside.  Takes a while to make, but definitely one to make again (and again).

A salad of spiced chickpeas and puffed rice

I've cast my eye back a couple of weeks here as, finally, I found unsweetened puffed rice (another good test from Nigel!).  I made this as an accompaniment for lunch today, to sit outside and enjoy the sun, for my veggie boyf and his son's veggie girlfriend.  His son is as fussy as my daughter so I wasn't expecting much praise for this from him.  I was pleasantly surprised to find him wolfing the salad down saying how much he liked it whilst the boyf wanted to know exactly what was in it before commenting.  This was very quick and easy to make and was a substantial side dish but it was too 'seedy' for me and I probably wouldn't make it again.