Yesterday was a record breaking hot day – and this was lunch.  I made some olive bread and put together a Greek-Style Tomato Salad, too, but I’ll post them next week.  I think I must be thinking ‘Greece’ because the news is so full of scenes from Athens.  Tough times ahead for a lovely country whichever way they vote, I fear.

I love Greek food, but then I love the herbs that predominate in it – oregano, mint, dill, bay leaves, Greek basil, thyme and fennel are the ones that spring to mind.  Being a home cook, I have to use what I can buy.  My oregano is not the evocative rigani, as far as I’m aware.  It’s Bart’s.  Greek basil, I can get.  The bitter salad leaves don’t taste quite as bitter as they do under Greek sunshine, but I probably would balk at so many unnecessary air-miles just to feed my children lunch.

Nothing for it, a visit to Greece is in my future.

In the meantime, we’re coming to the end of the British asparagus season.  I have treated my early spears with utmost respect and I’m now putting them in tarts, wrapping in pancakes and making them into salads.

I picked up a couple of bundles – which was a little over 500g.  There’s a point on an asparagus spear where it’ll snap naturally.  That place marks the end of the fibrous bit and the start of the tender, delicious bit.

(Incidentally, I read something the other day about the English style of eating – and cooking – asparagus.  Apparently, we steam the whole asparagus spear and then use the fibrous bit to hold.  I will confess to eating with my fingers on occasion, but I’m afraid I eat the whole thing and would be irritated to get fibrous bits between my teeth.  Plus, I am inclined to lick my fingers when no-one is looking rather than look for a finger bowl.  I would be more disappointed in myself if the writer didn’t labour under the assumption all households own an asparagus steamer but I have never lived in a household which possessed one.)

If you are aesthetically fastidious, you can neaten up the ends with a knife.  I do that.  Sorry!

My asparagus I would classify as ‘medium’.  What chefs call sprue asparagus (that’s the spindly ones) I’d use for something else.  Fatter asparagus will need peeling.  Just the lower part to make sure what you have in your salad is tender.

Whatever you are left with – pop the snapped off ends and any trimmings in a freezer bag.  That’s asparagus soup in the making.

The asparagus spears I give a rinse under running water and fill a wide saucepan with about 5cm/2″ of water.  Just enough to cover the asparagus in a single layer.  Ish.  You can be a little relaxed about it.

When the water is boiling add a little sea salt.  I season lightly, partly because I’m going to save the asparagus water for soup and that will intensify the salt content and partly because these spears are going in a flavourful dressing.

Simmer for 3 minutes.  It’s almost more of a blanch.  Just tender.  Then drain, reserving the water if you want to make soup.  I put mine in a freezer bag for another day.  Usually, I lay the spears on kitchen paper to dry .. but I’d run out.

And the dressing …

Finely zest one lemon.  Put it and the juice into a bowl.

100ml/3½fl oz of cold-pressed Greek olive oil.  Use one you like the flavour of.

1 teaspoon of dried oregano.

Salt and pepper.  This is such a subjective thing, but I used 2 scant teaspoons of coarse sea salt and crushed 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns in a pestle and mortar.

Give the drained – and still perky – asparagus a toss in the dressing.

Finely chop three shallots and add those.

A small bunch of flat-leaf parsley.  I had to use a small supermarket pot and I used it all.  Roughly chop.  It’s part of the salad so I like to see bits of parsley.

Give everything a light toss and leave it at room temperature for all the flavours to get acquainted.  If you want to leave it longer than an hour, pop into the fridge and bring it back to room temperature before serving.

Eat.

Greek-Style Asparagus Salad

Serves 4-6 as a side.

• 2 bundles of medium asparagus spears (about 500g/1lb)
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 100ml/3½fl oz of cold-pressed Greek olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
• 3 shallots, finely chopped
• small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon of roughly crushed black peppercorns
• Sea-salt, to taste

Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus spears and freeze to use in stocks or soup.  Rinse the spears under running water.

Bring 5cm/2½” of water to a boil in a wide saucepan.  Season lightly and add the spears.  Simmer for 3 minutes, or until the asparagus spears are just tender.  Drain and spread on kitchen towel to dry.

Place the zest and juice of the lemon in a bowl.  Add 100ml/3½fl oz of cold-pressed Greek olive oil, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano and season with salt and crushed black peppercorns.

Lightly toss the asparagus spears in the dressing.

Add the finely chopped shallots and the roughly chopped parsley.  Give everything a final toss and serve at room temperature.

Eat.

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French-Style potato salad as opposed to one that’s dressed in mayonnaise or soured cream.  I did play about with calling it ‘Herby Potato Salad’ because there are a lot of herbs, but the vinaigrette dressing swung it.  In my house, this is just called ‘Potato Salad’.  It’s my default setting for any summertime barbecue and I love it – not least because it’ll sit in the sunshine without coming to any harm.

You know how chefs say they go to the market and look for what’s fresh and their imaginations start buzzing with ideas of what they’ll create .. well, it wasn’t quite like that.  I went to the supermarket and there was a trolley full of reduced Jersey Royal potatoes .. and I immediately thought, ‘Good, potato salad’.

Does that count???  It’s certainly the way I cook.

Jersey Royals are usually expensive and have EU protected status.  The reason is not the type of potato but the growing conditions.  They’re been grown on the island of Jersey since 1880 and are planted on the steep south facing coastal slopes in well-drained and nutrient-rich soil.  Vraic, which is the dialect word for the locally collected seaweed, is used as a fertiliser and the steep slopes mean much of the crop has to be harvested by hand.

99% of the harvest ends up on the UK mainland, the rest the islanders eat themselves.  This late in their season they’re getting larger than the ones that appear in May.  Best are the ones with mud clinging to them – but I’m grateful for my bargain.

With a Jersey Royal it’s skin-on.  Always.  The skins are paper thin and all the nutrients are just beneath it.  I’m inclined to do that with all small waxy potatoes.  I’m going to sell it on the grounds of health, but I hate scraping potatoes.  Give them a good wash and, for preference, steam rather than boil.  Conventionally, it takes about 20 minutes.  Aga – bring to the boil in cold salted water.  Give it a couple of minutes on the boiling plate and then drain completely of water.  Replace the lid and pop into the simmering oven for 30 minutes.

You are looking for ‘tender at the point of a knife’.

Then cover the saucepan with a clean tea-towel, replace the lid and let it steam dry for a further five minutes.

Hopefully, they’re now dry and cool enough to handle.  Cut into bite sized pieces.  Smaller ones I cut in half, the larger potatoes into four.

Place them in a bowl and pour over a glug of white wine.  Most recipes that call for that will tell you to use what’s left in a bottle.  Who are these people?  Nigel and I would finish the bottle!  So, whenever I open a bottle, I take a little bit off the top and freeze it.  Useful for making a risotto, too, and probably better for us to consume a little less alcohol.  If you don’t drink alcohol, you could miss this stage out completely or use a little bit of chicken stock.

Give it all a stir and then cover with plastic wrap.  The potatoes will soak up the wine.

Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette.  It can be as simple or as complicated as you like.  Considering the quantity of fresh herbs I’m about to include, I keep it really simple.  One part good quality white wine vinegar with three parts good olive oil.  I do spend money on the ingredients for a dressing because they have nowhere to hide.  In this case I actually didn’t use olive oil but a cold pressed rapeseed oil.

Then, I added a blob of Dijon Mustard, salt and pepper.  Give everything a shake and taste.  Now’s the time to make any adjustments.  If you don’t use all of it in this potato salad it’s a lovely dressing on a green salad and will keep happily in the fridge for a few days.

The herbs are the stars of the salad.  Parsley – flat leaf or curly.  I can’t see that it matters.

Basil.

The easiest way to chop basil is to pile the basil leaves up and roll into a cigar.  Then chop with the sharp knife.  If you have any green sludge on your board it’s because your knife is too blunt and you are bruising the herbs rather than chopping them.

And that’s a chiffonade.

I served this potato salad with salmon which made dill an obvious choice.  In fact, any ‘soft’ herb is lovely and when my herb bed is really flourishing I have fun.

I like the tang of spring onions and chop both the white and green parts.  When Seb is home from uni I often omit them and use chives in their place.  Of course, in the interests of honesty, I should mention I get fed up with accommodating his preferences and will revert to spring onions when he’s been home a few weeks.  (You might like to remind yourself of my problem when making cottage pie.)  Finely chopped shallots are also lovely.

By now the potatoes will have sucked up the alcohol.  Add as much of the vinaigrette as you need to coat everything, but not so much as you have a pool of it at the bottom of the serving dish.  Then add the herbs and the spring onions.

If you want to keep this in the fridge, do bring it to room temperature again before you serve it.

Eat.

French-Style Potato Salad

Serves 8 generously

• 1.5kg/3lb waxy potatoes
• 50ml/2 fl oz white wine
• 50ml/2 fl oz white wine vinegar
• 150ml/6 fl oz good olive oil or cold pressed rapeseed oil
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 tsp of salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 8 spring onions, both the white and green parts, chopped
• 3 generous tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
• 3 generous tablespoons of chopped basil
• 3 generous tablespoons of chopped fresh dill

Thoroughly scrub the potatoes to get rid of any dirt and steam until they are ‘tender at the point of a knife’.  Cover with a clean tea-towel, replace the lid, and allow to steam for 5-10 minutes longer.

Cut into bite sized pieces and place in a shallow bowl.  Add the white wine and give everything a gentle stir.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow the potato to absorb the wine.

Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette.  I like to use a parfait jar or empty jam jar.  It’s one part white wine vinegar to three parts oil if you like to do it by eye.  Otherwise, 50ml/2fl oz of white wine vinegar in the bottom of the jar.  Add 150ml/6 fl oz of good quality olive oil or cold pressed rapeseed oil.  Add 1 tsp of Dijon Mustard.  A teaspoon of sea salt and ½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.  Replace the lid on your jar and give everything a shake.  Taste.  You can add more seasoning, more vinegar …

Chop your choice of soft herbs.  Parsley, basil and dill are easy to buy and are my default selection.

Remove the plastic wrap and add enough of the dressing to coat the potatoes.  Then the herbs.  3 generous tablespoons of each.  Give everything a gentle stir and serve at room temperature.

Eat.

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