Garden Bean Salad

This is a great recipe that came from the Good Weekend. Blanch the following for about 1-2 minutes each in separate batches:

• Broad beans (double shell them after blanching)
• Borlotti beans
• French beans
• Spring onion bulbs

You could also use: butter beans, snake beans, snow peas, ... The borlotti beans came from my brother's garden.

Make a dressing by finely chopping brown shallots and macerating them in a good red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar for 15 minutes. Give them a good squeeze so that the sharpness of the shallots get broken down. Add a pinch of salt and sugar, olive oil and if you have it, some walnut oil.

Dress the salad and then top with toasted walnuts and goat's curd. If you want to really impress, also top with some edible flowers like bean or pea flowers.

Cheat's Spinach and Ricotta Open Lasagne

I've seen a few cooking shows that use wonton wrappers in a lasagne. Well, it just doesn't quite taste right. When you bite in, it tastes like you're having an eastern meal until you get to the ricotta and spinach when you get a clash with the west. Maybe gowgee wrappers would work better.

It's a shame since the spinach came from my brother's garden and the ricotta from Paesanella in Haberfield.

Potato Salad and Radish Omelette

Just getting rid of some potatoes. Need to find a better mayonnaise or try making my own next time...