Cured salmon and basil sorbet

St Samson
Yesterday's weather: Beautiful.

When I checked the forecast for today it was supposed to be another beautiful day and so it was at 7am. A huge big red sun poked its head over the hill but has since been swallowed up by cloud. Shame. The tomatoes have been drying beautifully in the sun and just need one more day before I can put them into olive oil. They will have to wait until tomorrow now - if the forecast is correct.

I thought I would share a couple of recipes with you today. I am really enjoying the fact that I can now spend time preparing food and cooking rather than rushing home from work and cobbling meals together from whatever I find in the fridge. I spend ages browsing recipe books and reading variations of the same recipe. Then I usually make up my own recipe. Here are two that I have made this week.

Basil sorbet

400g sugar
500ml water
1 bunch basil
1 lime

Place sugar and water in a saucepan and heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to simmer for about 3 minutes to form a syrup. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool.

Wash a bunch of basil and dry thorougly (I used a salad spinner)- note that you need a bunch of basil, NOT a small packet. Remove the leaves and place in a blender with the syrup. Blend until the basil is pureed. Then add the juice of one lime and blend for another few seconds to mix it in.

Place the mixture in a plastic freezer container and freeze for a few hours. When the mixture is almost frozen but not completely solid, take it out of the freezer and beat with an electric hand mixer or wooden spoon. Return the mixture to the freezer.

Before serving (you only need a little), leave in the fridge for about 45 minutes to soften slightly.

Although it would usually be used as a palate cleanser, I am thinking of serving it with some cured salmon.

Ginger and dill cured salmon

Take a very fresh salmon fillet and place in a dish with some grated root ginger, the juice of a lime and some rock salt. Sprinkle with fresh herb dill or fennel, cover with cling film and place a good weight over the top (a couple of tins of beans, for example) to press it down.

Leave in the fridge for 2 - 3 days. Drain off the marinade, leaving the herb on top, and slice as thinly as you can.

Enjoy.

The big freeze

Ste Christine
Yesterday's weather: Dire.

Yesterday's weather was just awful. In sympathy with the UK but not nearly as bad, we had rain nearly all day.

We listened to the dreadful stories on Radio 4 yesterday evening. The horrors of flooding we just can't imagine. It must be dreadful to see all your possessions completely ruined, whether people have insurance or not doesn't help when personal items like photographs are lost forever. It makes me think that I must back up all our photos onto CD as soon as I can. But that's the problem isn't it? 'As soon as I can' might be too late. It brings to mind again the question often asked 'What would you save first?' I have to say the cats, obviously, but photos and trinkets would be next on my list.

We had a bit of a disaster yesterday. Jon went to the freezer to get some prawns and discovered that I hadn't properly shut the door the day before and loads of food was beginning to defrost. Luckily not everything but we had suddenly to cook lots of dishes to stock the freezer for the next few weeks. Into the freezer goes cassoulet, chicken dishes, pork and apple casserole, Bolognaise sauce...... Now we know what's on the menu for the next month.