Sunny Sunday Feast

I remember so well the sinking feeling I used to get as a teen, on hot summer Sundays when I realised my Mum, bless her, was cooking a full blown roast dinner. Don't get me wrong, I love a nice roast, Just not when it's a really hot day! So last weekend when the weather was lovely and sunny I thought we'd grab the chance to have our first dinner out in the garden. In my head I pulled together a collection of recipes I'd come across from various sources in the previous week, all of which said Summer to me. My friend had posted a couple of tasty looking recipes on her Blog. One was a sour carrot salad and the other a broad bean, mint and pea salad.

Sour Carrot Salad
Made from things I always have to hand

Broad beans are just about the only thing I don't like
I swapped them for Sugar Snap peas

 I also love the combination of feta and beetroot as a salad so that went onto the list too!

Cooked Beetroot, cubed. Chopped Flat leaf Parsley,
a glug of Balsamic Vinegar and crumble over some Feta. Easy

All three salads can be made in advance and make great leftovers, if there's any left that is!

I was going through some old copies of Delicious Magazine and came across this lovely recipe for Sunny Vegetable Patties. They looked so pretty and summery they had to go on the list. I made a double quantity and added some spices to the filling mixture.

Sunshine in a bowl

I added a couple of teaspoons of Curry Powder, some ground Coriander and some mild chilli. The original recipe said it made four patties, but they would have been very large so I made a couple of bigger ones and the rest at half size. This meant that there were plenty left over for lunch boxes the next day.

Next I made a simple Frittata. I sauted some sliced cooked new potatoes, spring onions and red peppers. Sprinkled with grated cheese, poured in 5 beaten eggs and sprinkled with parsley. I cooked it in the pan on top of the cooker and then popped it under the grill to finish off.

Simple Frittata

and lastly to round it all off some lovely potato wedges coated with the same spices as the patties.

All of this was served round the garden table, with the umbrella to shade us, while we ate, chatted and relaxed.

No one even realised there was no meat included in the meal. They clearly didn't miss it. It wasn't a conscious decision, it just worked out that way.

I wonder if this weekends weather will be as kind? Here's hoping!