There is a deep bowl of cream cheese in the fridge. Pale green and freckled with grated cucumber and salty little cornichons, it is the very essence of early summer. It rests, waiting for a batch of nigella-speckled flatbreads to come from the stove.
The dough for the flatbreads takes 10 minutes to make, an hour to prove, and 10 minutes to bake. Most of the work is done by the dough rather than the cook. The dough won’t meet the heat of the pan until we begin to eat, so everyone gets to handle the warm bread and spread it with the chilled cucumber pâté, curls of smoked salmon and shelled prawns.
It’s a useful thing to have around on a summer’s day, for stuffing wraps and filling soft, floury baps, but also a piquant accompaniment – an impromptu sauce – for grilled aubergines, courgettes or tomatoes. I use it with grilled lamb cutlets, letting the creamy pâté slowly melt over the sizzling meat.
There are a few young strawberries around and they are most welcome. If the flavour of the early fruit is less intense than you might hope, cut each one in half and add a scattering of caster sugar and a drop or two of balsamic vinegar. Toss the fruit gently and set aside for half an hour. The flavour will shine more brightly. Early in the season, I like to go further still and make a marinade of citrus juice and balsamic vinegar, making the berries taste as if they have ripened in deepest summer.
Cucumber, mint and cornichon pâté with nigella flatbreads
The soft textured pâté will hold its thick texture best if you use a full-fat cream cheese. The low-fat versions will work, but are best eaten the day they are made. Serves 6. Ready in 1 hour
For the pâté:
cucumber 400g
basil leaves 15g
mint leaves 10g
tarragon vinegar 1 tbsp
green olives 10, stoned
cornichons 6
cream cheese 500g, full-fat
ricotta 250g
Coarsely grate the cucumber into a colander, sprinkle lightly with salt, then set aside to drain.
Finely chop the basil and mint leaves, then stir in the tarragon vinegar and a little salt. Finely chop the olives and cornichons and stir into the herbs. Mix together the cream cheese and ricotta, then stir in the herb and olives.
Squeeze the cucumber in your fist to remove as much of the water as possible, then stir into the cheese mixture. Check for seasoning, adding black pepper and more salt if necessary. It should be light and fresh and summery, slightly piquant.
Spoon the mixture into a serving bowl, without smoothing the surface, then cover with a plate or kitchen film and refrigerate for a couple of hours during which time the texture will become slightly firmer.
For the flatbreads:
strong, white bread flour 500g
salt 10g
nigella seeds 1 tbsp
instant yeast 2 tsp
honey 1 tbsp
warm water about 175ml
kefir or yoghurt 175ml
In a large, warm mixing bowl, mix the flour, salt, nigella seeds and instant yeast together. Mix the honey and warm water, then stir into the flour with the kefir or yoghurt, mixing to a soft, slightly sticky dough with a wooden spoon. If the dough is a little dry, introduce more water.
Turn the dough out on to a floured board and knead lightly for 5 minutes. You can use a food mixer with a dough hook if you prefer, in which case the dough should have started to relax after just 3 minutes.
Put the dough back into its bowl, cover with a cloth and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until it has almost doubled in size.
Tip the dough on to the floured board, lightly punch the air out of it, then tear into 20 small pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Lightly flour each ball, then flatten into a disc roughly the size of a digestive biscuit. Place the rounds on a couple of baking sheets.
Warm a large, shallow pan over a moderate heat, then place some of the discs of dough on to the pan, leaving a little space around each one. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes until they start to puff up, then turn and cook the other side. The breads should be soft and patchily brown. Keep them warm in a clean kitchen cloth, then serve with the cucumber pâté.
Strawberries with grapefruit and mint
Bright and fresh tasting, this, I will happily eat for breakfast. Serves 4. Ready in 30 minutes
strawberries 400g
pink grapefruit 1
white grapefruit 2
For the dressing:
mint sprigs 2 or 3
grapefruit juice (rescued from the fruit above) 100ml
balsamic vinegar 1 tsp
Remove the leaves from the strawberries and put the fruit in a bowl. Using a sharp knife slice away the skin and white pith from the grapefruits. Separate the segments from their skins, catching and reserving as much juice as you can, then add the skinned segments to the strawberries.
Pull the mint leaves from the stems, then crush them with the back of a spoon to release their fragrance and stir them into the reserved grapefruit juice. Set aside for about 30 minutes.
Strain the mint leaves from the juice, add the balsamic vinegar, then pour the juice over the halved berries and grapefruit segments.
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