It’s green time – let’s eat green things.
Summer is all about greenery although The Weather Man in his boundless cheerfulness says the foliage starts to look tired by mid-July. Sure, it’s not the vivid, Photoshop-filter emerald hue of early May but if it looks tired and dusty it means the hot weather has got to things growing – and that’s all right by me.
We like to eat green things because it always seems a healthy colour: good job they don’t make green chocolate except maybe for Halloween. Beans of all kinds and description, spinach and cabbage, fresh cucumbers, courgettes (I KNOW they come in different colours too) and peas. They switch places with meat, fish, seitan or what have you to make them become just a side dish, with the main part played by the green veg. And that’s how we really should always eat.
So let’s have a look: garlicky runner beans or green beans with Parmesan cream? Make your choice or cook both. Courgette and spinach tian is a standalone dinner really, with maybe some bread. If you prefer your spinach in the company of protein, cook the sea bass under (spinach) cover or chicken alla fiorentina.
Stir fried cabbage will work a treat on its own but if you insist, cook a couple of pork steaks with sage butter to go with it. If it’s too hot to cook, make a tonne of smashed cucumber salad to eat with some cold ham or beef. Or make leek slaw to discover how well raw leeks work in a salad. And don’t forget broccoli is a summer vegetable too though we tend to see it all year round. Raw broccoli salad is seriously addictive: make a batch to serve with garlic fried chicken.
Now you’re thinking: ‘she will give up her green obsession at dessert’ but you’re very wrong, actually. Matcha chocolate ice cream, anyone? Or matcha sponge cake with lemon cream? And I even have a green dessert for people who don’t do desserts: avocado ice, dairy free and vegan. So there!
Now go on and subscribe to my weekly newsletter to see what colours I’m going to work next!