Summer vegetables teamed with a golden aioli is sunshine on a plate, writes Hugo Arnold
Opposites attract. On a hot summer's day what can beat a cooling ice, chilled wine, or cold soup? We are a nation obsessed with hot food. But I am too hot, so we are eating cold. "You mean just a salad," my wife says. Well not quite, but the emphasis is on keeping the cooker firmly in the off position, long before we eat. A chilled soup will do to start and we will finish with my father's take on summer pudding - somewhat alcohol-laced to add complexity. In the middle is my great summer favourite, Le Grand Aioli.
OK, so there is a little cooking to be done. So what. It can be achieved before your guests arrive. My first ever grand aioli was in Provençe, many years ago. Under the trees we sipped cold rosé, while the largest plate I have seen was presented to the table in all its glory. Bowls of wobbling aioli quickly followed, and soon we were tucking in.
A grand aioli is all about ingredients and seasoning. Each vegetable needs individual attention, in the buying as well as the cooking. Second best will not be hidden, indeed it will be outed, displayed in all its second-rate glory. But then what better time of year is there for top-quality vegetables? If you are lucky they will be from your own garden, and certainly from this island. The error of lorry miles gets shown up in dishes like this.
And don't forget the eggs in your mayonnaise. These need to be the best; mass-produced will not give you anything like the golden yellow deliciousness you require. I recommend buying them from a small, preferably certified organic producer.
This kind of food - one can hardly call it cooking - has the added advantage of leaving you relaxed and able to concentrate on the things that often get left to the last minute in our house, such as laying the table, brushing leaves and dead flowers off the deckchairs and slapping on the sun cream.
RECIPES SERVE FOUR UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED
GAZPACHO
1kg tomatoes
1 cucumber
2 red peppers
1 small red onion
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
200ml olive oil
4 slices white bread
Reserve one of the tomatoes, a four-centimetre piece of cucumber and a quarter of one of the peppers. Skin, core and deseed the tomatoes, deseed the cucumber and core and deseed the peppers. Put all three into a food processor, along with the roughly chopped red onion, vinegar, olive oil and bread. Blitz to a smooth consistency and transfer to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate.
Core and deseed the reserved tomato, deseed and finely chop the cucumber and finely chop the pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls, adding water if it is a little too thick. Stir in a few ice-cubes and scatter the reserved chopped vegetables on top. Some people like to add chopped hard-boiled egg, too.
SUMMER PUDDING
This recipe comes from my father, who has himself combined recipes from my grandmother and from Thane Prince, who used to write a superb column in the Daily Telegraph.
Slices of two-day-old bread
225g each of redcurrants, blackcurrants and whitecurrants, loganberries, raspberries, strawberries
crème de cassis or crème de mûres
Line a pudding bowl with well-fitting slices of two-day-old white bread whose crusts have been removed. It is best left out to dry a bit. This makes it absorb the juices better. The bread needs to fit snugly. Cook the currants with 225g of sugar until the juices run, then simmer for two minutes. Then add the strawberries and loganberries, cook for a further minute or so, adding the raspberries at the end. It should not be a mush. Add two to three tablespoons of crème de cassis or crème de mûres liqueur.
Spoon the berries into the bread-lined dish with a perforated ladle, leaving much of the juice behind. Add a little of this afterwards, but reserve some to pour over the pudding when it is turned out. It is good to serve an extra jug of it at table. Cover the pudding with bread slices, a plate and a weight (a few tins of baked beans work well) to press it down. Leave in the fridge overnight.
Before turning out, run a knife around the edge of the bowl, to keep the bread from sticking. Serve with lots of thick cream.
LE GRAND AIOLI Serves 6
1.2 kg cod
court bouillon (or salted water)
A selection from the following vegetables:
artichokes, asparagus, broad beans, carrots, courgettes, French beans, peas, potatoes
8 eggs
Tomatoes, radishes, lettuce hearts, all halved or quartered
For the aioli:
6 new season garlic cloves
3 egg yolks
About 500ml vegetable oil
A squeeze of lemon juice
Poach the cod in the court bouillon, or in salted water, until just cooked (about eight minutes). Allow to cool. Remove the skin and any bones.
Steam or boil the vegetables separately. This is important; if they are cooked together you'll end up with some over done and some under done. Cool under running water. Hard-boil the eggs, cool, shell and halve.
Crush the garlic in a mortar with a little salt until it is a paste. Whisk in the egg yolks. Start adding the oil, drop by drop, until the mixture starts to thicken, then add the oil in a steady stream, as for mayonnaise. As the mixture thickens you can add lemon juice, but don't thin it down too much. It should be wobbly.
Arrange the fish, and cooked and raw vegetables on a platter, and serve with the aioli.
LEMONADE
Pour four teaspoons of runny honey into a large jug, and then add 100 ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice and the same of lime juice. Stir well.
When you are ready to drink the lemonade, add a generous handful of ice, a few sprigs of mint, and fill up the jug with sparkling mineral water. Serve immediately.