An Irish Heat Wave

An Irish heat wave draws me to shade. There is nothing better than sitting in the shade, an ice cold glass of water to hand and a good book to read. Even better is to start on a series of books.

No worries and certainly no using that oven. This is the weather which calls for salads, breads, homemade ice creams and plenty of fruit.

Friday night / Saturday morning and the temperature was dropping slightly it was the ideal time to chop all those salad ingredients. Peppers, lettuce, carrots, nuts, scallions, cucumbers all chopped or diced and in individual containers, Some broccoli blanched then straight into cold water for those who like a broccolli salad. Baby potatoes boiled with some eggs. All completed in an hour.

A cup of tea outside just as the dawn was breaking was something really special. The air was fresh. It was very peaceful and suddenly the sun appeared as if it was in a hurry to start the day.

It was time to look at the fruit. Firstly the melon was chopped. Half was sprinkled with ginger. Now, I must admit that I prefer to eat melon as a starter to a meal or as a savoury component and that touch of ginger lends itself to slices of chees or thinly sliced ham.

To the other half of the melon I added peaches which never fully rippened. This combination for some reason really works. Then I made up a citrus salad of sliced oranges, pink grapefruit segments and the zest of a lime.

succulent pink grapefruit.

Citrus salad calls for juicy pink grapefruit chopped with orange slices. Then the zest of a limes is added. a citrus salad can eaten at any time of the day and is so refreshing.

The wexford strawberries needed nothing doing to them as they were just delicious and their perfume just filled the kitchen.

The only other item needed was a sorbet. My versiononly requires some frozen fruit. I ususaly use frozen pineapple. which I leave to thaw slightly , then place the pieces in a food processor or a hand blender and to 250g of fruit add 1 desert spoon of caster sugar and blitz until smooth. Put it into a flattish container and place back in the freezer to use as you need it.

Now, although in the past I have proven bread in the sun, to be honest I was just too lazy to even contemplate home baked bread. The bakery is only a 15 minute wal and as they opened at 7am so it was no problem strolling there and purchasing enough bread to last the weekend. A few of their cinnamon doughnuts also managed to fall into my basket!!!! Perhpas you know how theses thngs happen?

So although I am not a sun person this weekend not budging and just relaxing with a book was delightful.