A picnic in the garden

We finished off the left-overs in picnic last night: roasted courgettes with thyme and olive oil and a green salad with broad-beans, avocado and Jervaulx blue cheese, along with some nice red wine C had won on a raffle. 

Warm roasted courgettes with thyme and olive oil

An Italian friend once told me that courgettes should always been roasted dry without oil until they blacken, with the olive oil added afterwards.  He was right, it stops the courgettes getting soggy and saturated with oil and keeps their fresh green taste better. (This serves 2 as part of a picnic).

two courgettes, cut into long strips, about 3mm thick
olive oil
salt and pepper
thyme leaves

Cut the courgettes length-ways into strips about 3mm thick.  Don't peel, they look lovely with the dark green skin.

Chopped courgettes of approximate thickness

Place in a griddle pan if you have one, or a frying pan without any oil on a high heat.  Place the courgettes in the pan and fry until they begin to blacken on both side (they will need turning).  Remove from the heat and place on a plate or bowl.  Pour over about 4 tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkle over salt, pepper and thyme leaves to taste. 

This can be served warm as we ate it, or allowed to cool overnight or for a couple of days, in which case the favours marinate and the oil goes a lovely green.

Roast courgettes with olive oil and thyme.

This is also the kind of recipe that would work well on a barbecue.

Summer Salad with Jervaulx Abbey Blue Cheese

Although this was a salad of left-overs from the week, the nice cheese brightened it up.  

Jervaulx Abbey is a picturesque abbey, hidden in a seculded valley in the Yorkshire Dales.  It was founded in the 12th Centural and destroyed four hundred years later during the dissolution of the monasteries.  Now only a ruin remains.  The cheese named after it - Jervaulx - has just been brought on the market by the local cheese makers, the Wensleydale Creamery, and very nice it is to.

2 little gem lettuces
half a pack of broad-beans, prepared as described in the post about Nigel Slater's recipes with thyme below
half a ripe avocado, cut into cubes
about the same amount of Jervaulx cheese (although having eaten most of it while waiting for my pasta to cook the other evening, so had rather less)
olive oil, juice of quarter of a lemon and salt & pepper to taste.

Wash and tear up the lettuces and put in the salad bowl.  Add the broad-beans, avocado and cheese and dress with oil, lemon and seasoning.  Stir and serve.

The Jervaulx Blue Cheese salad

The end of the picnic.