When you’re avoiding gluten, pastry can be one of the things you miss, but the good news is that making shortcrust pastry using gluten free-flour is easy and gives great results. With the tangy lemon filling and meringue topping on these sweet pies, you’ll be in heaven!
This is a great summertime starter or light lunch. If whitebait is out of season and you can’t find any frozen, you could easily substitute it with your favourite seafood, e.g. prawns, crayfish or mussels.
If you adore anything lemony, like I do, and have a spare corner in your garden, you should grow a lemon verbena bush. This herb, with its distinctive citrus flavour and heady scent, is extraordinary – just a few leaves add fragrance to drinks, dishes, pot-pourri and even flower bouquets. Recent French guests of ours from the Rhône-Alpes region commonly drink this beverage, which they call ‘verveine’, and swear by it as a winter cold-preventative – with the addition of honey and schnapps, they say, it “cooks them out of illness”. Traditionally, it takes 40 leaves and 40 days to make their version of the brew, but in summer I’ve found this quick infusion suits me fine and is deliciously refreshing poured over ice. Add edible flowers and a few berries if you want to pretty things up a little.
Enjoy all the elements of a delicious strawberry shortbread but in ice cream form! Biscuit crumb and strawberry jam top vanilla ice cream in this moreish dessert.
Back when I first tried shandy it was all sand, sun-bleached hair, wooden beads and tasselled beach towels. The tassels have returned and a shandy remains the go-to thirst quencher at the end of a hot summer’s day. It’s also a drink that makes a great accompaniment to Mexican-inspired meals. Photographs by Jani Shepherd and styling by Fiona Hugues; Gatherum Collectif.
These icy treats not only look and taste amazing but are also really good for you; the vitamin C and antioxidants from the blueberries and lemon juice will help keep your immune system charging so you can enjoy your summer adventures. Recipe by Megan May.
This uncomplicated recipe is so incredibly full-flavoured. Kale has a more intense flavour than spinach and other greens, and is absolutely crammed full of iron, vitamins A and C and plenty of antioxidants – your body will love it! Paired with lemon and garlic, the purée adds a whopping load of nutrients to any pasta meal.
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