fancy breakfast or brunch? baked egg and proscuitto in a bread roll

baked egg and proscuitto in a bread roll

Every so often I find a couple of rock-hard bread rolls looking up at me forlornly from the bread bin. One of my favourite things to do with them is to reheat the rolls, stuffed full of a few of my favourite things - ham, cheese and eggs and a little fresh basil. A fabulous breakfast or brunch.

middle eastern arayes (meat stuffed pitta sandwich)

 middle eastern arayes (meat stuffed pitta sandwich)

A cooked pitta bread sandwich popular around the Middle East, these arayes are very easy to make, stuffed with aromatic, spiced minced lamb or kid goat meat. I was recently lucky enough to work with the guys from Gourmet Goat, who gave me some minced kid goat to play with. Not only did I have a lot of fun experimenting . . . dear god, it was utterly delicious!

roast chicken, watercress and nut sandwich

roast chicken, watercress and nut sandwich

I love the combination of salty roasted chicken with peppery watercress. While watercress is often relegated in this country as a garnish, it was very popular in the 1920s and 30s as an elegant sandwich filler. I like that. It speaks of a more gracious time. Although clearly my ladylike tendencies could only go so far. So I've compromised. Here is an elegant sandwich filling in a big chunky ciabatta roll.

lost in france: my salade lyonnaise

salade lyonnaise (bacon and egg salad)

After walking around a small town in southern France for what seemed like hours, we still hadn't found either our friends we were meeting for lunch. We are lost in France and not in a big-haired, floaty chiffon 1970s soft focus kind of way; no birds singing, bands playing or people dancing (just the rumble of traffic and me scowling). I am hot, dusty, and footsore and, possibly more importantly, I haven't eaten for more than three hours. Quelle horreur! 

yotam ottolenghi's baharat-spiced beef and lamb meatballs with lemony broad beans

Yotam Ottolenghi's beef meatballs with lemony broad beans

If you needed an excuse to buy Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's fabulous Jerusalem cookbook, I think this recipe is probably worth the price alone. A combination of beef and lamb is gently spiced with fragrant baharat, a soothing mixture of black peppercorns, coriander seeds, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cumin, cardamom and nutmeg.

The meatballs are freshened with a zingy mixture of fresh herbs, including dill, coriander, mint and parsley. I ran out of dill and used some chopped fennel tops, which is why the meatballs in my photo are strewn with spiky herb fronds. Delicious none-the-less.

a simple pleasure: tomatoes on toast (pan con tomate)

tomatoes on toast (pan con tomate)

Contrary to my family lore, my father Henry did not invent tomatoes-on-toast. But ask any member of the family and you will find that one of their all-abiding memories will be of my father eating tomatoes on toast, tomatoes on crackers, tomatoes on biscuits or sometimes, just on their own. This is a man who has no shame and will quite happily forage in other people's kitchens for a simple snack at all times of the day or night, evidenced by a smear of tomato pips, dried-up nubs of garlic and a trail of crumbs.

perfect pasta for a heat wave! tomatoes with basil and breadcrumbs

tomatoes with basil and breadcrumbs

We're having a heat wave,
A tropical heat wave,
The temperature's rising,
It isn't surprising,
She certainly can can-can. 

Well my anatomy is not likely, as Irving Berlin wrote, likely to make "the mercury jump to ninety-three" but this simple tomato and pasta dish "proves that she certainly can can-can" make a perfect dish for a blistering hot September day!

tapas: meatballs in tomato sauce (albondigas en salsa)

albondigas en salsa

Meatballs are one of my favourite tapa, but equally delicious as a main course, with noodles or rice. These tapas are from the La Mancha region of Spain, and are made with a mixture of minced meat, such as beef and pork. Although you could use veal or lamb (or a mixture of all). I serve them with a classic tomato sauce (there are always tubs of this in my freezer).

This is a great recipe to make with children; (they do love getting their little paws dirty!) The meatball mixture also freezes easily, so is good to make in advance for a party, or to freeze any leftovers, (not that I imagine you would have any, these are deliciously moreish!)

courgettes with parsley, garlic and breadcrumbs

courgettes with parsley, garlic and breadcrumbs

We had this to accompany last Sunday's roast; I have a glut of courgettes to use up, about the only thing in my garden that seems to have grown well this year. 

It would also make a great light lunch with a tomato salad and some good rustic bread and a large glass of chilled white wine. Another perfect summer meal. 

mezze: herby courgette and feta fritters

herby courgette and feta fritters

A friend's birthday drinks and nibbles and we are eating and drinking on his roof terrace on a balmy summer night. These fritters were perfect; a little bit of the eastern Mediterranean came to east London.

tip: making breadcrumbs

a simple loaf of white bread

I suppose I am lucky that I've always got a loaf "on the go". I make my own bread and if a loaf doesn't turn out so well then it is sacrificed to the altar of thrift. When life gives you a bread disaster, you make breadcrumbs! 

white garlic soup with garlic bruschetta (ajo blanco)

glorious garlic by Marja Flick-Buijs

A lovely, sophisticated chilled soup is a version of the classic Moorish influenced white garlic soup from Southern Spain. If you like garlic, you will love this. I had a shot glass of this at a sherry and tapas tasting, sitting in a sunlit courtyard in Spitalfields. While it was like being hammered by a garlic mallet, it was absolutely delicious with a crisp dry sherry to accompany it.