Watermelon, Feta and Mint Salad with Lime and Cardammon

I don’t know about the rest of the world but down here it has been 33 degrees for the last few days. That is hot even for the kiwis, let alone somebody still used to Scottish temperatures. On the plus side I can get a watermelon bigger than my head for $2.99 - perfect to cool and rehydrate my melting body.

- Start by making a cardommon suger syrup. Bring to the boil 00ml of water and 200g of sugar, boil for 2minutes then turn off the heat and add half a teaspoon of ground cardommon seeds. Allow to cool.

This makes quite a lot but Rachel Allen says it will keep forever in the fridge. Although I dare you not to eat it all a lot sooner.

- Chop up your watermelon into chunks, mix with the same or a little less feta cheese, some salt and ground black pepper.

- Squeeze over the juice of a lime, and spoon over a few dessertspoonfuls of the cardammon syrup.

- Top with a handful of fresh mint leaves and pop back into the fridge to keep cool, but eat it quite soon.

We had ours with Coronation chicken and baked potatoes and then because it was so good I made some more the next day as a foil for some spicy salmon burgers.

Spaghetti with Walnuts, Parmesan and Cream

A new year has begun and what do I fancy to eat? - Walnuts, just walnuts. I suppose I could have just had a handful of them on their own but the children are having spaghetti and bacon and whilst gazing into the supermarket cold cabinet yesterday a sauce of cream and parmesan caught my eye . . . Being tight fisted of course I did not buy the sauce (2011 will be a frugal year as we, along with the rest of the 49% of New Zealanders try and get on top of our debts) but the idea stuck in my mind . . .

- Peel, slice and chop a small onion and pop into the warm frying pan with a little oil.

( you’ll be boiling some spaghetti as well of course!)

- Cook for a few minutes until browning at the edges but still a little crunchy.

- Add a handfull of Walnuts and cook for a minute or two.

- Pour in a cupful or so of runny cream, bring to a boil and cook until it thickens a little.

- Take off the heat and add in a handfull of grated parmesan and stir to mix then pour over your spaghetti.

- Season with a little salt if required.

A simple dish, made in the time it takes to boil some spaghetti, but just what I needed today and wouldn’t be out of place on a bistro menu.

An Onion and Cream cheese Curry

Continuing my current obsession with onions how about a sweet and interesting curry, not the usual curry flavour and probably one of the cheapest dishes out there . . .

- Put some oil in a frying pan to heat on high.

- Peel and slice some onions into biggish slices. You’ll need lots, for myself I used four smallish onions.

- Pop the onions into the hot pan and cook stirring now and then until the slices start to brown and blacken at edges.

- Turn the heat down low and add the spices - a teaspoon each of dried thyme and mint, half a teaspoon of turmeric, a pinch or two of chilli flakes and a couple of teaspoons of cumin seeds.

- let the spices cook for a minute or two (take the pan off the heat if they look like burning) then add a slice of butter.

- Leave to sizzle gently until the onions are well cooked and have gone a honeyed brown.

- season with a pinch of salt.

Serve with some lumps or splodges of cheese, say feta (careful with the salt) or cottage cheese or as I did some philadelphia (cream cheese). And some bread or rice of course or roll it up in a pancake like I did.

I like it quite dry but for rice it might need more of a sauce so I would add some water or yoghurt or even cream at the end.