Evening all! I have just had a big thread catch-up, as our phone and internet were down for over a week (due to fallen tree on line). Once I'd got past the frustration of the first couple of days, I decided to embrace it and spent my evenings making jam and cordials, knitting and reading Actual Books. Oh, and lots of menu-planning! As well as starting to work my way through the wonderful Salt Sugar Smoke, I went a bit Jerusalem-crazy: we had the turkey + courgette burgers (DCs loved them; I loved the sumac sauce, but did find them a bit rubbery when I ate them out of the fridge the next day. Would try to avoid having leftovers next time), and the shwarma - amazing! (akarucker DH made pittas but we scoffed them all for brunch so had it with skinny fries, houmous, a tomato/cucumber/parsley/lemon salad and pickles, which seemed to work pretty well; also, re. spices - my spice grinder is in a box somewhere in transit from our old house, so I just used the pestle and mortar. Was surprised at how easily it all ground down, particularly the cinnamon stick and star anise. I did have arm-ache for a while afterwards, though.) Also had a lovely meal of butternut squash with red onion, tahini + za'atar together with the chermoula aubergine. I thought they complemented each other really well, and also realised afterwards that if you omitted the yoghurt it would make a delicious vegan feast. Will definitely do again when I have visiting veggies.
Poor old Nige hasn't had much of a look-in over the last couple of weeks, though I'm planning his aromatic ribs and orange + lemon cheesecake this weekend. Oh, hang on, actually I did do his fromage blanc with strawberries after the shwarma, and it was perfect. Hardly a recipe at all and I usually have cream, Greek yoghurt, eggs and icing sugar kicking around, but it would never have occurred to me to combine them in that way. Definitely a good way to round off a spring/summer meal, with minimal effort!
tigerlily and xiao I agree, the KD spag bol is a winner (though with a fraction of the butter he uses). I know it by heart, and regularly fall back on it when the DCs have friends over. They have already said they want me to include it in the 'family cookbook' I will compile for them when they leave home (NB: they are 8, 6 and 3).
Jerusalem meatballs with broad beans and rice/orzo on the menu tomorrow night, and planning on the braised eggs and roasted aubergine with fried onion + lemon at some point this weekend... I was going to do them for separate meals but now tempted to make them at the same time, snow did you think they went well together?
Um, what else... Zuleika I also picked up my copy of Jamie Oliver from the library, and was pleasantly surprised when I looked through. Don't think I'll have any trouble selecting my June recipes! Might have to boycott the cassoulet though, due to the strength of my objections to the word 'kinda'. (Hasn't he grown out of that yet?)
PS The Pig... I thought it was a beautiful setting with a great atmosphere, and it was a lovely evening due to the company (and perhaps a couple of bottles of Pinot Noir rose 
)... but have to confess I was a teeny bit disappointed with the meal itself. It was all perfectly fine, just not very... exciting. Don't let me put you off, though! We might just have chosen badly, and felt a little rushed because we had an early sitting. The overall experience must have been worth it, as we all agreed we would happily stay there for a week!