The pleasures of being on holiday

Being on holiday is a wonderful thing.  Yesterday I spent the afternoon sketching and then C and I span out the evening cooking, finishing with a G&T in the garden, lovely.

We had bought two beautiful, bulbous aubergines, which looked so lovely on the plate I didn't want to eat them when I finished sketching.

To keep me going, midway through the afternoon, I made cardamom coffee with cottage cheese stuffed dates (foraging for what I could find in the fridge).  There were beatiful organic medjool dates in the shops and I couldn't resist eating them for afternoon tea.

Cardamom coffee and cottage cheese stuffed dates


The coffee
2 heaped tablespoons of good quality ground coffee
a heaped tablespoon of muscovado sugar (or to taste)
the seeds from three cardamom pods

The dates
three medjool dates
cottage cheese to fill (cream cheese would work as well)

Cardamom pods with their lovely black seeds

Muscovado sugar

Put the coffee, sugar and cardamon seeds in a cafatiere.  Pour over the just boiled water and leave to brew for 5 mins.   Meanwhile, cut the dates in half, remove the stones and fill each with a teaspoon or so of cottage cheese.

Brewing coffee

For supper we had a very improvised version of two previous recipes: Catherine Masons' Thyme baked baby aubergine and Yotam Ottolenghi's beetroot and avocado salad.

Aubergine with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh thyme


two avocados
a small jar (or half a standard jar) of sun-dried tomato paste
three garlic cloves (crushed)
rind and juice of half a lemon
a tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
a teaspoon of dried thyme
several sprigs of fresh lemon thyme

Slice the avocado lengthways into slices the thickness of a pound coin.

Sliced aubergine

Mix the sun-dried tomato paste with the garlic, rind and juice of the lemon, olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper and the dried thyme.  Spread over the aubergine (I mix with my hands) and leave to marinate for 1/2 hour.

The aubergine mixture ready to marinade

When ready, put in a hot (200 degrees) oven for 20 mins.  Remove and add the fresh thyme to the aubergine.

Return to the oven for 10 mins, or until the aubergine is just beginning to blacken.  Serve warm with bread and salad.

The finished aubergine with fresh thyme

Avocado, pea and beetroot salad


I didn't have any of the ingredients to make the salad properly by the Ottelengi recipe, so this is my version, but it still worked rather nicely.

The salad
two small avocados, chopped
a bag of both rocket and of watercress (but any mixture of leaves would do)
half a bag of peas in their pods, shelled (we ate the other half while shelling)
four small cooked beetroot (I used bought ones, marinated in juniper and vinegar, from Sainbury's)
50g soft white goats cheese (optional)
a couple of sprigs of fresh lemon thyme

The dressing
rind and juice of an unwaxed lemon (when using lemon rind, the lemons should really always be unwaxed)
1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard
1 tablespoon of pine honey
four springs of fresh lemon thyme (these were tiny sprigs from the garden)
salt and pepper to taste
four or so tablespoons of olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together and blitz in a blender or shake in a jam jar until thoroughly mixed.  Blanche the peas in boiling water for a minute.  Remove and set aside.  Wash and dry the salad leaves and shake into a bowl.  Meanwhile chop the avocado into cubes and mix with the salad dressing.  Chop the beetroot into thin slices and add to the salad with the goats cheese.   Add the peas and the avocado dressing mixture.  Sprinkle over the fresh thyme leaves.  Toss the salad together and serve.

Pea and beetroot salad