Summer holidays

It's 91F (31C) in the shade and i n a few days it'll already be July.  Those first seven months of 2012 went quickly!  It's also the start of our summer family holiday.  The kids and I are off to Miami for the weekend then two weeks in Las Vegas with a side trip to Laguna Beach to watch the legendary Fourth of July fireworks with a traditional barbeque dinner.  It'll be a busy couple of weeks then it's back to beautiful Dorado beach and getting the kids ready for school.  Have a fantastic summer and come back in a few weeks to read about my summer restaurant discoveries!

Summer grill - Marinated Lamb chops and Aubergine salad

It's been hot and sticky all week and I've been trying my best to avoid the heat, stay indoors or in the shade. Being pregnant in the summer is a pain with the temperature becoming unbearable and my ankles starting to swell :(

But I still couldn't resist making a variation of a recipe I saw while flipping through the July issue of Living magazine from the infamous Martha Stewart. I had just come from The English Butcher in nearby Benavista where I bought some lamb chops, among other things, so it was perfect timing. The marinade was quick and easy. I decided to accompany our summer grilled lunch with a simple tomato and red onion salad and some grilled aubergines with feta cheese. Here's how it all turned out:

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Grilled Lamb chops

• For the marinade, mix 6 cloves smashed garlic (or minced if you like), 2 shallot thinly-sliced, 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, 1 1/2 cups olive oil, 1/4 cup fresh rosemary and 1/4 cup fresh oregano.
• Take 1 kilo of lamb chops (about 12) and place in a glass or ceramic dish in one layer.
• Marinate at least 4 hours or better yet, overnight in the fridge.
• Remove the lamb chops from the marinade and drain, while you fire up the grill.
• If you want to use the marinade, bring it to a boil in a small saucepan and serve alongside the meat.
• Charcoal-grill the lamb chops for about 5 minutes per side (for medium rare).
• Serve with some rosemary sprigs and the sauce on the side.
• Serves 4.

Aubergines with feta and mint

• Slice two large aubergines into thick coins (about 1/2 inch thick) and drizzle some olive oil.
• In another bowl, mix 200 grams crumbled feta cheese with chopped mint and the juice of half a lemon.
• When the aubergine is done and still hot, lay on a platter and top with the feta mixture.
• Drizzle with some more olive oil and serve lukewarm.

Summer Dessert

After our busy week in London, I spent the first few days back getting back on track with chores and preparing for the summer. The weekend was spent relaxing at home and since I was craving a fruity dessert, I thought why not attempt an apple crumble? After looking through several cookbooks, I finally found a really easy version in Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything. His recipe was used only apples but I decided to make use of whatever summer fruits I had in the fridge s0 my version has yellow peaches, a bit of mango, some strawberries and apples. It was exactly what I wanted, a not so sweet fruit-based dessert with a crisp topping - perfect with creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream. Since plain vanilla ice cream is almost impossible to find in the supermarkets here (don't ask me why, I have no idea), we settled for the vanilla-based Macadamia nut brittle from Häagen-Dazs which worked out wonderfully with the fruit crumble.

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Summer fruit crumble

(adapted from Mark Bittman's Apple Crisp in How to Cook Everything)

• 6 cups, peeled, cored and sliced fruits (I used 2 cups apples, 2 cups yellow peaches, 1 cup mango and 1 cup strawberries. Try to slice the fruits in about the same size and shape)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2/3 cup brown sugar (If you want it less sweet, you can reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup)
• 5 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter plus extra for greasing the pan 1/2 cup rolled oats (I used Quaker oatmeal, not the instant or quick-cooking kind)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, optional
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts, optional (I didn't add any nuts because I didn't have any)
• dash salt
  
• Preheat the oven to 400F (around 200C).
• Toss the sliced fruit in the lemon, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar.
• Lightly butter the bottom of the pan (I used a ceramic baking dish but you can also use either a 9-inch round baking pan or an 8-inch square baking pan).
• Spread the fruits lightly in the pan.
• Combine the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until everything is Incorporated. Alternatively, you can soften the butter the slightly, then toss the dry ingredients together and work in the butter with your fingertips or a fork).
• Spread the topping evenly over the fruits and bake for 30 to 4o minutes until the topping is browned and the fruits are tender.
• Serve hot, warm or at room temperature with some double cream, creme fraiche or even better, vanilla ice cream.

Summer's first grill

The first sunny day is when we dust off our outdoor table and chairs, roll out the awning and fire up the grill for an al fresco lunch on the terrace. Yesterday was ideal - the sun was out with a light breeze and we still had so much fresh produce from my Thursday morning market trip so an impromptu Italian menu was planned.

We had grilled red peppers and aubergines drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice, boiled new potatoes with a mustard parsley vinaigrette and sliced leg of lamb marinated in olive oil, rosemary, lemon and pepperoncino (crushed and dried red chili pepper flakes). This marinade was something we learned from La Pietraia's housekeeper, Rosalba, during our holiday in Todi in 2005 and what we had for dinner to celebrate my father-in-law's 80th birthday.

The peppers were sweet, the aubergine smoky and complemented the rosemary and lemon-flavored lamb perfectly. It was a good thing we decided to use our grill since halfway through our meal, we had a power cut which meant that instead of fresh fruit we had to have some Häagen-Dazs ice cream - Dulce de leche and Belgian chocolate- for dessert before it all melted. The rest of the day was spent lounging around in the shade reading the FT Weekend.