lemony artichokes and olives

Artichokes are the best vegetables. I want to eat them in everything, on pizza, in pasta, smushed and spread on bread - they improve everything you put them on. But they always seem to be a topping rather than a main vegetable in their own right. Maybe that’s why they seem quite precious and fancy, and I always want more of them. In this dish artichokes are the star - they are shining in the spotlight. They have some support from garlic and olives, but artichokes are the main act.

This dish is so simple is barely constitutes a recipe, but so tasty that I really wanted to share it anyway. These artichokes make an excellent side and they are great as a little tapas-y type dish with lots of other little nibbly mediterranean-inflected food. They are awesome tossed into pasta or heaped up on some crispy toast, if you want to use them a topping. They take less than five minutes to cook so you can feel comforted that you are never far away from basically instant artichoke goodness.

lemoney artichokes and olives:

• 2 tins artichokes (in water, not marinated)

• ½ cup kalamata olives

• ½ bulb garlic, cloves peeled and smashed

• 2 tbs olive oil

• large pinch chili flakes

Over medium heat, saute garlic in oil until just beginning to colour. Add all remaining ingredients and cook, stirring occasionally, until the juices have thickened. Eat right away, piping hot.

three peas dinner

I love these crispy chickpeas, and I quite often just eat them on their own. They are satisfyingly crunchy, like chickpea popcorn. When I am feeling just slightly less lazy, I turn them into a proper supper: super fresh with lots of mint and lemon, rich and satisfying from goat cheese and bacon, and that nice smug-inducing healthiness from green pea shoots. This dinner has it all and it comes together fast too.

three peas dinner:

adapted from Bon Appetit

• 6 rashers bacon

• 1 can chickpeas

• 2 tbs grapeseed oil

• 1 cup pea shoots

• ½ tsp garlic powder

• ½ tsp flaky salt

• pinch cumin & paprika

• 2 cups peas, fresh if possible but frozen is great too

• ½ cup mint leaves roughly torn

• olive oil and lemon juice for drizzling

Bake the bacon on a cookie sheet at 375 until crispy. Crumble and set aside.

Drain chickpeas and let dry as much as you can. Heat grapeseed oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Stirring frequently, fry chickpeas until they are crispy and golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. Toss chickpeas with salt, garlic, cumin and paprika.

While chickpeas fry, bring water to boil in a small pan. Blanch peas briefly in boiling water until just tender. Drain and set aside.

Smear a generous dollop of goat cheese cream onto each plate and top with pea shoots, chickpeas, peas, mint and bacon crumbles. Squeeze lemon and a few drops of olive oil over top of everything.

preserved lemon and goat cheese cream:

Adapted from A new way to dinner

• ⅓ cup creme fraiche

• four ounces goat cheese

• 2 tbs reserved lemon, roughly chopped

• large pinch chili flakes

• pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blitz until smooth.

grilled patty pan salad

I found the most beautiful, alien-looking patty pan squash at the market this week: little knobbly, pale green flying saucers, bright yellow miniature crooknecks, two-toned oblongs. They are such strange, lovely shapes it almost seemed a shame to cut them up and cook them.  I spent a day just looking at them, trying to decide what recipe would do them justice. 

I decided to make them into a warm salad with some feta, olives and lemon. This salad is great on it's own or heaped up on a crispy piece of toasted sourdough. Leftovers are really good tossed with some pasta or cooked wheat berries and arugula and keep really well as a pasts/grain salad. It lasts really well so you won't have to turn on the stove for a couple days if you make a big batch. 

grilled patty pan squash salad: 

• 1-2 pounds patty pan squash, halved

• olive oil

• 1/2 cup feta, crumbled

• 1/4 cup kalamata olives

• chili flakes

• parsley, chopped

• juice from one lemon

Brush patty pan with olive oil and grill on medium high heat on a BBQ or grill pan until dark grill marks appear. Flip and grill until all sides are browned. Toss with feta, olives, chili flakes, parsley and squeeze lemon juice over the top. 

Serve heaped over toasted sourdough, rub the bread with half a clove of garlic after you toast it, or toss it into some pasta, or just eat the salad on it's own. 

haloumi & zucchini fritters

It's coming up on the abundant zucchini time of year, the summertime overflow of showy blossoms and bulbous squashes. If you are growing it in your garden, it's easy to turn from delight at the zucchini bounty to panic at the onslaught of seemingly endless squashes. 

There are many ways to avoid courgette burnout, but I think one of the very best is shredding up a whole mess of zucchini with some haloumi and a beaten egg and frying up some tasty fritters. An enormous volume of zucchini can be dispatched into crispy, squeeky-cheese filled snacks. Add a spicy dip and it's a perfect appetizer or entire dinner, if you want to wolf down the whole plate like I did. 

If you want to turn these into a proper dinner, serve the fritters over a big herby green salad with a couple handfuls of basil, mint, parsley and dill. The amounts here are flexible, but you are aiming for a mixture that is moist and clumping but not soggy and runny. Add extra egg for more liquid and more breadcrumbs/chickpea flour to sop up extra liquid. 

haloumi & zucchini fritters: 

• 2-3 large zucchini, or more, this recipe is flexible!

• 1-2 eggs, lightly beaten

• 1 package of haloumi shredded, about 2/3 cup

• 2-3 tbs panko breadcrumbs or chickpea flour for a GF version

• 1/2 cup chopped parsley

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• pinch chili flakes

• salt and pepper

• oil for frying

Shred zucchini and place in a colander. Salt the zucchini and let sit for 10 minutes to drain. Press with paper towels until zucchini gives off no more liquid. Combine other ingredients except oil together in a large bowl and mix until evenly combined. 

Heat oil over medium high heat in a large pan. Fry 1/3 cupfuls of mixture well spaced apart in the pan for a couple minutes per side. They should unstick easily from the pan and slide around when they are ready to flip. When both sides are deep gold and crispy, set on paper towels while you finish frying the others.

spicy dip: 

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1/4 tsp cayenne

• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika

• squeeze of lemon juice

• salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Dip those fritters!