As mentioned in my last post, I have been really enjoying the cookbook “Italian Two Easy”, by the two lasses that run London River Cafe. The Fennel recipe cooked here is from it. I have a real love of good Mozzarella, so I am trying  a bunch of their mozzarella recipes, and so far this is my favorite. Again, it is simplicity at it’s finest. The fennel is sliced, boiled until slightly tender, and then grilled over a high heat. This is tossed with some olive oil and lemon juice. It is meant to have some arugula with it, but I didn’t have any, so I used parsley – which worked great for me. The prosciutto is from Parma, and has a wonderful sweet flavor, coming from the fact that the pigs are fed whey. Everything just went together perfectly, it was honestly like summer on a plate. The textures were great together too, ranging from slightly crispy (fennel) to really soft (mozzarella). This is the second time I have made this, and will be making it over and over again.

And the tomato pasta. Wow.. a great one this too. So simple as well. A variety of tomatoes are chopped, and tossed in a bowl with some crushed garlic, salt and pepper. To this some lemon juice is added, along with some grated tomato (not the skins). This is left to stand. Boil the pasta, and toss together with some basil. My word, this really was fantastic. Very light, very clean, and ate very fast!

In the summer months I try and slim down my cooking a bit to bare essentials. I remove more complicated techniques in favor of simple presentation of really great fresh ingredients. To me, this hit the mark for my summer cooking, especially since I am a huge fan of grilled vegetables. Just relax with some clean food, a glass of wine, good company, and a jolly nice garden. Thankfully, I had all four(only just on the garden though.. the grass is looking a little pikey). Thats it really.. no deep and meaningfuls, just great food. Which is really what this blog is about.