Had a glorious weekend, relaxing and munching produce from the garden.
Strawberries, white and black currents n dessert gooseberries. yummmm
Also, a tomato salad to die for - simple lunch, but sooooo good and peerless sweetness and flavour! I always buy expensive tomatoes from the shops, hoping to get something even close in flavour; a pointless exercise, really. Which is what I said as I shovelled in the tomato-y goodness!
I just had to make a home made aioli to honour the first carrots from the garden. Along with other baby garden veggies and some gathered field mushrooms from our top paddock, it was the most delicious crudité - dip starter I can ever remember. And we accidentally discovered the wine that's the perfect compliment to that feast - home-made elderflower! The combo of the crisp, sweet, flavour-packed veggies, the olive oil-y and garlicky dip and the elderflower did something magic to our tastebuds!
The elderflower wine isn't finished fermenting yet - it's bubbling fermentation, though slower now, continues apace forming part of our everday soundscape. In time-honoured continental tradition, we drank some of our semi-fermented must. Delicious. And quite alcoholic!
Pasta with red onion, fresh green garlic, lemon juice, courgettes, lots of fresh peas, a handful chopped fresh mint, plenty of chopped fresh parsley, pine nuts and some parmesan shavings. Delicious! With an accompaniment of my delicious summery herby lentil salad
Aioli
Ingredients:
-3-4 cloves fresh garlic, homegrown if you have it (we like it garlicky - you can use less to taste!)
-2 pinches salt (I like flakes of good sea salt in this)
-2 egg yolks
-1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
-1/2 cup EV olive oil
-1/2 cup sunflower oil (or other combination of oils)
1. Peel the garlic and chop roughly
2. Put the garlic in a mortar and pestle with the salt and grind it into a paste.
3. In a heavy mixing bowl, whisk (you can use an electric whisk) the egg yolks, lemon juice, and garlic mixture together until well combined, about one minute.
4. Start adding the olive oil, drop by drop, whisking all the while. You can add it a bit faster as you go along, but as with mayonnaise, the key to success is going very slowly at the start. When you are done adding the oil you can adjust the seasoning as suits your taste.
