28th July 2011 Thursday
I like this summer heat. Even though I'm avoiding the sun. It makes me feel alive. Sweet peas on the table. Roses mingling in the honeysuckle. Open windows letting in hot nights.
This afteroon I cooked a birthday supper for a dear friend - remembering all the food she likes . I included a new recipe with aubergines and my favourite green bean dish from The Cranks Fast Food book by Nadine Abensur which I make every summer. I watched Simon Hopkinson’s The Good Cook the other day and he said he wished he’d always had this Greek aubergine recipe as it was so delicious and he thought about all those years he’d missed not knowing about it, and not being able to eat it.
I feel like that about the green beans and garlic and tomatoes recipe.
Today I used the four small but firm and shiny purple aubergines my husband grew in the green house on the allotment. You grill them under a fierce heat till the skin blackens and the flesh softens inside. It is this charring which gives the aubergines their sweet smokey flavour.Peel off the burnt skin, cut them into quarters, smother with a green coat of chopped parsley, garlic and olive oil and then crumble milky white feta cheese over the top. And another dribbling of olive oil.
Simon is right - it’s a dish that I’ll rank up there with the green beans and garlic and tomatoes. And I will remember my summer birthday friend every time I make it.
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