Summer Dinners, a couple of recipes..

July 30, 2015


A couple of weekends ago we had our parents round for dinner in the garden. We've been doing so many BBQs recently that I wanted to do something different for a change and use some of our allotment produce up. So I did a couple of sharing boards to start with and then a summer vegetable risotto. I've got out of the habit of sharing recipes on here but this was so simple yet looked and tasted so yummy that I had to share.. 


We've got lots of beetroot growing at the allotment so I decided to roast a few, whole in their skins to have with some rocket and roasted squash. Then I did a board of San Danielle parma ham and the best Buffalo Mozzarella I could find. It's not strictly a recipe but if you want to class it as one then it goes something like this - 



For 6 people as a starter with garlic bread -
- 3 large beetroot
- 1/2 medium butternut squash {the tall end without all the seeds}
- Bag of rocket
- 2-3 slices of ham per person
- Buffalo Mozzarella
- Balsamic Glaze, or just vinegar to serve.

1. Wash your beetroot and trim the top and bottom off but leave a tiny bit of stalk on. Don't remove the skin, wrap in foil with some garlic olive oil, salt and pepper in a baking tray. Place in a hot oven, 180c for about an hour. Meanwhile prepare your squash by peeling the skin {such a faff preparing squashes I know, you need a good knife or some strong force}, and chopping into medium sized chunks. Place these in a roasting tray with a good drizzle of oil and seasoning. Cook for about 40 minutes until just golden/starting to slightly blacken and soft. Test the beetroot with a skewer to see if it's soft yet, you can't really overcook them you want them nice and soft.
2. Leave the beetroot to cool slightly in their skin before peeling them. The skin comes off easier this way then slice into rough quarters or sixths depending on how big they are. Open a bag of rocket onto a board or plates and then arrange your squash and beetroot over it. If you had a biggg enough board you could put all the ham and cheese on with it too but I didn't have enough room.
4. For the ham and cheese, just tear up the mozzarella into chunks and roughly roll up the San Danielle, arrange onto a board/plates.
3. Drizzle the salad with a balsamic glaze, or just balsamic vinegar, when ready to serve. We were too hungry for me to take a photo of this oops.

Then serve with garlic bread or just very good Ciabatta bread/oil and vinegar and let everybody dig in. 



I didn't actually take any photos of the risotto, I'll have to make another one soon. Essentially it's just a basic risotto recipe {with wine, stock, onions, mushrooms, aborio rice, onions etc} with roasted summer squahes and courgettes added in plus asparagus, peas, a lot of parmesan and black pepper . If you want me to blog it let me know as I'm sure Ben won't turn down having to eat it again!

I think that everything tastes so good when eating al fresco. Come back summer please with warm nights for us to do it all again for a few more weeks before we have to start thinking about Autumn wahh. What are your favourite recipes? We've also been loving BBQed lamb kebabs recently too with whole-wheat giant couscous and a moroccan courgette salad plus BBQ chipotle style burrito bowls!

R <3 xx

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2 comments

  1. Yummie it looks delicious!!! Summer weather is coming our way again! Yay!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love how you serve them on your wooden cheese boards. Very rustic, yet pretty too, showing off the colour of each food item. Lovely.

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