No-cook Summer Tomato Sauce for Pasta

Summer in a bowl

Another tres simple recipe from Domini Kemp which is great for summer; in fact if summer had a taste, this would be it.  Make sure  to use cherry tomatoes, full of sweetness.

Ingredients: The sauce needs an hour to marinade at room temperature so give yourself time.

• 400g Cherry tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
• Glug of balsamic vinegar
• Black pepper
• Teaspoon of sugar
• Two cloves of garlic, chopped as finely as you can manage
• Shake of coarse sea salt
• Several large glugs of olive oil
• Surprise ingredient
• Okay, what the hell is meant by "surprise"? Well, it's just that - use whatever you have to hand and you feel like adding.  Domini's original recipe used olives but I must profess to a strong dislike of olives.  I've used Cherry Peppers which work well; also tried crab meat which is delicious. So, you use your imagination and if that fails, just use whatever you have to hand - by the way, if you don't have anything to hand (old mother Hubbard syndrome) then it's just fine as is.
• Torn basil leaves

Directions: Now the complicated bit - bung everything together in a bowl, mix well and rest for an hour at room temperature.

Cook the pasta according to the instructions, drain and immediately add the sauce.  Mix well, cover and leave for a minute or two to allow the heat from the pasta permeate throughout.  Serve with freshly grated parmesan and season to taste.

Lemon Posset

The taste of summer in a pot

Wonderfully citrus - a summer pleasure

Ingredients: 

• Juice and zest of four emons
• 500ml double cream
• A few basil leaves
• 125g caster sugar

Directions: Put the lemon juice in a heatproof bowl.  Meanwhile, heat the cream, lemon zest, basil leaves and sugar in a non-stick saucepan until the cream just starts to boil.

Remove from the heat and slowly add the cream to the lemon juice (make sure you do it this way around) whisking slowly as you go.  The mixture will start to thicken.

Remove the basil leaves by pasing through a sieve or if you're not that fussy just pick them out.

Allow to cool then pour into ramekins, or small jars, and set aside in the fridge for at least three hours.

Serve with strawberries.