Lamb steaks, herb mayonnaise

My barbecuing was not a massive success tonight but I did just about manage to knock this up.  I didn't slather the lamb in the herb mayo as Nigel suggests - I'm not really a fan of mayonnaise and knowing how much oil was in it turned me off it really but that's what I'm prepared to do for the sake of finishing this project!

Cannellini and ricotta salad

I had my first ever attempt at doing a barbecue tonight and made this salad to go along with the meat.  It was a solid steady salad with a good variety of flavour.  I used broad beans in place of flageolet mainly due to being unable to get flageolet but also because broad is my favourite of the beans.  Would make again.  

May is finally complete

I'm well behind but plodding on.  Without a doubt the best dish for me from May's offerings was the prune, apricot and chorizo stew which I've made a few times since and really, really love.  It will be a lifetime recipe. 

A green chicken minestrone

This felt like a massive injection of goodness - both comforting and healthy. I've never liked minestrone - a watery soup with something that doesn't belong in soup (pasta) so once again wasn't looking forward to this.  But this wasn't really a soup, but was more of a hot salad and to be eaten with a fork rather than a spoon.  I really enjoyed it and would definitely make it again.  

A radish gazpacho

I'm not a lover of cold food, or of radishes, so haven't been particularly looking forward to making this, in order to complete May (just one recipe left!). It's been a lovely hot day today though and making this felt somehow right. And I loved this! Just the right amount of vinegar flavour came through and the beautiful sweetness of the baked red pepper meant that you wouldn't necessarily even know there were radishes in there.  A lovely summer soup.

Pork chops, gooseberry, mint and juniper relish

I'm extremely late on this one, mainly due to the lack of availability of gooseberries until this week, but also due to my house move and effectively being unable to cook for a month.  But I'm back baby!  I enjoyed this - the sharpness of the fruit offset by the sweetness of the onions and the pork.  There seemed to be a mistake in the recipe where the onions were mentioned at the beginning but not referenced again so I imagine that I got this right, but really who (apart from Nigel) knows?  Would make again although that may be unlikely due to dearth of gooseberries!