Kat lives in Fife and is passionate about seasonality, local produce and home cooking
Some of my best memories of summer as a child are the fresh fruit and vegetables on offer during holidays to France and Spain. I remember one holiday in particular when I ate sliced tomatoes with olive oil, crushed garlic and salt almost every day for lunch.
Childhood memories
Trying to recreate this back in the UK with our mostly tasteless tomatoes never lived up to expectation.
However, I recently signed up to a weekly vegetable bag from a local market garden and have been so delighted with the produce. To be honest, the kids and I struggle to make it home before devouring half the contents of the bag.
Vegetables galore
From our vegetable bags, I recreated my ‘summer holiday’ plate of sliced tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and a bit of fresh, young crushed garlic and some fragrant basil leaves. It reminded me that good, tasty food doesn’t have to be complicated, and this time of year is the best for soaking up all the fresh crops. We have also relished vibrant flat leaf parsley mixed with a little mayonnaise and tossed over new potatoes to make a simple potato salad. Served alongside some chicken or fish, and the ‘flower’ salads which contain edible flowers, we have enjoyed the most amazingly simple and delicious summer meals.
Music to cook to: Our family summer tune this year has been 1952 Vincent Black Lightning by Red Molly.
