Friday 29 May - Summer Supper

Unusually for us, we decided to do a three course meal on a Friday - this meal was based on things we had in the cupboard, coupled with us feeling Summery, and it being Italian week in Lidl .

First course was Asparagus with Bolzano Sauce - I had heard someone on Radio 2 cooking this last week and realised it was out of a book that I have, but haven't really used before

The asparagus was poached in water, butter, salt and sugar and served warm with the sauce.

This was a bit like a tartare sauce, but starting with sieved hard boiled egg yolk instead of raw

Lemon juice, white wine, mustard, hopped herbs and olive oil were beaten into the yolks, and then the chopped egg whites were folded in. This is definitely one to do again - it was delicious.

 

Main course was based on this Sardinian Fregola which we picked up in the Deli in Lee on Solent last week

 

The partially cooked fregola was added to a base made from fried onions and bacon, white wine and stock. Then fresh podded peas were added, and some lovely fresh chopped mint.

Served with a dollop of ricotta on the top, which went all creamy when stirred in as we ate.

Finally, we had picked up the weekend offer in Lidl - a punnet of fresh apricots. The recipe I was planning on  called for dried apricots, but Lidl seem to have stopped selling these.
I poached these, and then pureed them, and passed the puree through a sieve to get rid of any stringy bits.

I added a squeeze of honey to the puree, and then just plain greek yoghurt, and into the ice cream maker to churn until frozen

We served this with some soft almond biscuits. It was very fresh tasting, but perhaps a little bit 'dry', and might be improved by a adding a little bit of cream to the yoghurt.