Hot weather food

Weather too hot to cook, so a chilled gazpacho for tea

New season's garlic

Fresh garlic and thyme from the garden, drizzled with a little olive oil

In a hot oven for about half an hour, until the soft cloves can be squeezed from the bulb

Served with pasta in a cream and thyme sauce - very soothing, and much less pungent than dried garlic

Home smoking!

New kitchen toy - a stovetop smoker

Alder chips to smoke some fresh haddock

About 25 minutes over a low heat, and the salted haddock has turned a gentle brown

Was worried the smoker would be a one-use purchase, but was easy to use and clean, and tasted great!

What to smoke next? I'm thinking trying some duck next weekend

Rib of beef

A single rib of beef, well aged

Served pan-seared then roasted, with freshly made bearnaise sauce

With dauphinoise potatoes and buttered spinach, a tasty albeit somewhat unhealthy Saturday evening dinner

Saturday lunch fry-up

A lunch involving assorted leftovers - onion, chorizo, potatoes, garlic, red and green peppers, spring onions and parsley

As tasty as it was colourful!

Boy's winetasting

Another evening of winetasting - main finding tonight was that the English wines were adequate at best, and wildly overpriced

Caesar salad

First attempt at a Caesar salad - and first time I've coddled an egg!

Dressing didn't taste great by itself - with garlic, worcestershire sauce, capers and egg I wasn't convinced. But once plenty of fresh parmesan, some anchovies and warm croutons were added it was great.

Paella

Moro recipe for a pork and chorizo paella

Cooked slowly, without stirring, and then plenty of spinach added at the last moment

Sunday brunch

Bacon, potato farl and muffin

Lamb rogan josh

A weekend curry, with lamb and lentils

Meat and two veg

Pork chop with Jersey royal new potatoes and courgettes

Summer dining

Smoked mackerel, freshly picked salad, horseradish and creme fraiche, all washed down with a glasss or two of sauvignon blanc

Sunday roast

Roast loin of pork

Served with roasted shallots and carrots, roast poatoes, salad and gravy

Rhubarb crumble

First home grown rhubarb crumble of summer