The Family Cook Book

we have just come back from a very quick trip to the lovely Little's villa in Ibiza. No kids, perfect weather and delightful company made the two days seem like a week ... it was a real treat. We did very little but ate and drank a considerable amount. At around 11.30 each morning our parched throats were lubricated by one of Julia's delicious elderflower mojitos (alcoholic or non-alcoholic as desired) The recipe is pretty simple but very delicious; take a load of ice, crush it in a blender,add a good portion of fresh mint leaves, Elderflower cordial to taste (Bottlegreen is our brand of choice), lime juice ...add Bacardi if you're feeling racy ... give it a muddle and top with sparkling water. Serve in a tall glass with a straw..... fab!

Ingredients 2 1/4 sticks Unsalted butter 1 Lemon 1 Vanilla bean 2/3 cup Blanched almonds 3/4 cup Pistachios 1 1/4 cups Superfine sugar 4 Eggs, organic 1/2 cup All-purpose flour Topping 1 Lemon 1/2 cup Pistachios 1/4 cup Superfine sugar Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease a 12 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4-inch loaf pan with 4 tsp of the butter and line with baking parchment. Soften the remaining butter. Finely grate the lemon peel. Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds. Finely grind the almonds and pistachios together. Beat the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the lemon peel and vanilla seeds, then fold in the nuts and sift in the flour. Spoon the batter into the pan and bake for 45-60 minutes. The cake is ready when a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan, then turn out. For the topping, grate the lemon peel and squeeze the juice. Halve the pistachios. Mix the lemon juice with the sugar, boil until reduced to a syrup, then add t

We finally made it to the lovely Levys lovely communal picnic. We had to leave early but I still managed to eat an unseemly number of Nushi's amazing Koftas. We took a fabulous plum tart made by Lisa and this salad from the Leon cookbook. This method of cooking gives the lentils a bit more bite which makes them better for a salad and also means that they will keep without turning to mush. As always be generous with the herbs and lemon juice,you want the finished salad to have a bit of zing. Ingredients 200g Puy lentils 1/2 stick celery cut into 1cm dice 1/2 a carrot cut into 1cm dice 1/2 a small onion chopped 1 small clove garlic sliced 1 tbs ex virgin olive oil 2 sprigs thyme 1 bay leaf 2tbs red wine vinegar 100ml chicken stock 1 tbs lemon juice small handful flat leaf parsley salt and pepper method Soak the lentils for an hour or so in water. heat the oil in a heavy pan over a medium heat and add the vegetables, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. Cook gently with the lid on the pan for