Recent Eats: summer edition

It already looks like summer has passed in this corner of England – last month was glorious but it’s been dreary the last couple of weeks. I hope it comes back again, mostly because I love summer food! For me, the perfect warm-weather food is Meditarranean/Mexican inspired – lots of fresh veggies pepped up with citrus and spices. I’ve been cooking a lot of Mexican lately thanks to Wahaca founder Thomasina Miers’ excellent book Mexican Food Made Simple – even making my own tacos from scratch, which for a little effort produces an amazing result.

Homemade tortillas used to make quesadillas, served with griddled buttered corn and roast tomato salsa.

More homemade tortillas with a summery topping of corn, potato and spinach.

I love making calzone as it’s something you don’t see very often even in Italian restaurants. I filled this one with roasted peppers, courgettes and aubergines, garlicky tomato sauce, pine nuts, feta and mozzarella.

I’ve also been making a lot of things from Ottolenghi’s book Plenty – the light veggie dishes are perfect for hot weather. This butterbean and feta recipe spiked with sumac and lemon is a firm favourite.

I’m still cooking Japanese food every so often although I find its comforting warmth more suited to cold weather. Here’s some teriyaki tofu with sesame aubergine and courgette. This is probably my favourite way to cook tofu: squeezed of excess moisture, rolled in cornflour and sizzled over a high heat to get it nice and crispy.

My baking as been improving lately. These cheesecake-topped chocolate cupcakes were a particular hit – recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery (they make them better than me, of course!).

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