A sunny feast

This week we have focaccia with black olives, red onion and rosemary :)

For lunch it was paired with a light summer vegetable soup...and my honey ;)

For tea it was perfect with broad bean pesto, feta and sun dried tomato in olive oil, quiche, piquant peppers...and my honey ;)

Perfect end to a sunny, hot and lazy day...with my honey :)

RECIPE - Broad bean pesto

Cook 200-300gm of broad beans in salted water for about 4-5 mins, quickly immerse them in cold water to stop the cooking process and remove the skins when cold enough to handle. Place the podded beans in a mixing bowl.

Gently fry 4 anchovies (the sort preserved in oil) with 2 cloves of garlic that have been roughly chopped....remove from pan when lightly golden and add to the bowl of beans.

Even if you do not like anchovies believe when I say they only add a certain saltiness to the pesto.

Into the bowl:

Add the juice and finely grated rind of half a lemon.

Add 30gm grated parmesan....or even more to taste ;)

Add 4 tablespoons of good extra virgin olive oil.

Use a hand held blender to wizz the ingredients to a paste.

Makes a great dip or pasta sauce. It can be diluted with more extra virgin olive oil to taste.

Thanks for looking.

xoxo Sioux

Same but different.

This weekend sundried tomato and basil focaccia.... scrummy. ; )
Thanks for looking.
xoxo Sioux

Focaccia

Look what my very lovely honey made last weekend...

...rosemary and rock salt focaccia bread.

Scrummy it was too.

We despair of the standard of bread we can buy in our town...

...it's one of the only downsides mind!!!

So my honeybee took matters into his own hands ;)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

Spanish Tortilla

Thought I'd share this as there is no crafting on the horizon until later today for the release of the next Inspiration Wednesday ;)

Here at the Ball house we love veggies, so we decided to try out Riverford Farm boxes.

We have had them for three weeks now and have had no trouble in finishing the great contents of a large box before the next delivery is due :)

Here is a Spanish tortilla I made the other day with a lime & olive oil dressed salad.

(all from the box)

An orange mustard from the Austrian leg of our honeymoon finished it off nicely :)

My scrummy honey thought it was scrummy and so did I :)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

You rock Guy!

I've started watching a programme called Guy's Big Bite.

He is really into meats and BBQ (he also does the Diners, Drive-ins and Dives programme) but on a recent show he cooked something that took my fancy and had hardly any meat in it and what there is....I really like....chirizo!

I may have mentioned before that I like veggie meals best....although I won't say no to a good steak LOL

The recipe is here if you want to take a look...I added a lot more mushrooms as I forgot to get some artichoke hearts...and I could not be bothered with roasting some peppers to go on top......but I can tell you it is scrummy.

I served mine with some dry toast on the side with coriander and parmesan on top...even scrummier!! :)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

It's Cava Time Again! Eurovision Style

Yep it's cava time again!

What the ? happened to Blogger then?!

All I know is it lost my post I had done just waiting to add a piccie!

So here I am starting again and with something not quite like the post I had ready!

I'm relaxing all day today in the garden with a nice cold glass of cava and one of my summer concoctions! It's got feta, tomato, red chilli, black olives, garlic, olive oil and fresh herbs.....the ones growing at the moment here are mint, basil, thyme, Greek oregano and parsley.....it's scrummy.......what to come round and share?

Today is also Eurovision final day.......I'm so excited!

Love, love, love it ;)

My favourite this year is France...it's also classical which would be a first if it won but I do like my classical....it sends shivers down my spine which is always a good sign of a winner.

...but it's also the bookies favourite and I've been too late to place a little wager this year.....I confess I nearly missed seeing the whole previews as it's usually on a little later in the month!

I scored all the songs in both semi's....yep I am that barmy! And what do you know I picked 8 out of the 10 qualifiers in both heats.....sad or what?!!! LOL

As a second choice I'd go for Hungary......which I feel could have won but she does not have quite the live voice....at least in the qualifiers it did not sound as good as the pre recorded vid.

Now.....there may very well be a renewal in fortune for the UK this year....I'm not a fan of Blue and quite frankly did not think much of it when I first heard it a few weeks back but it's grown on me and they do have a big fan base still in Europe....which counts for a lot....so you never know!

I'm going to read my mag now and have that cava and a bite to eat.....got to make it through to the final tonight! HOL

xoxo Sioux

P.S. My little day surgery op last week was to remove a growth from my ear.....yeeew!

I kid you not......it had grown like Topsy within the space of a couple of weeks and I was in danger of being the Elephant man by Christmas at that rate! HOL

Can't complain about the NHS as from initially seeing my doctor to having it removed was only 5 weeks......and the good new is it was non malignant.....phew!

Perhaps I can concentrate on some fun stuff now?

TTFN