Weekend foodie: Embracing summer flavours for the Bank Holiday weekend
These dishes make an elegant and colourful pairing, great for outdoor eating if the weather allows, says Di Curtin.
This weekend, I'm making the most of summer flavours as August rolls in. The weather may even hold long enough to eat outdoors- and if this is the case, I have a menu to fit that bill!
First up, a gorgeous light salad of smoked salmon with slivered cucumber, finished with loads of fresh dill and lemon juice. It makes a perfect accompaniment to fettuccini dressed with fresh avocado pesto, which is made just before eating, so it doesn’t discolour. The smooth, creamy tastes are given a little kick with piquant capers. I’ve only used a few, but you can try more to taste. These dishes make an elegant and colourful pairing, great for outdoor eating if the weather allows.
For dessert, one of the French classics. Peach Melba was first created by chef Auguste Escoffier, the grandfather of fine French cuisine. He made it to honour Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, after watching her perform in London. Escoffier married poached peaches, vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberry sauce in a dessert fit for the lady for whom it was made. It will certainly be fit for your table this weekend, as a lovely finish to a light but filling lunch or supper treat.
- Half a cucumber
- 200g sliced smoked salmon, cut into slivers
- Generous drizzle extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 shallot, peeled and finely sliced
- 2 tbsp fresh chopped dill
- Lemon slices to finish
- 2 x ripe avocados
- 100mls extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of half a lemon
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 pack basil leaves, torn
- 5 capers, drained
- 1 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 500g Fettuccini
- 170g chopped pancetta
- Extra freshly grated parmesan and basil leaves to finish
- Slice cucumber very thinly using a grater and lay in the base of a large serving dish.
- Arrange smoked salmon slices on top.
- Dress with olive oil and lemon juice.
- Finish with half the finely sliced shallot slices, dill and lemon slices. Reserve remaining shallot slices for the pasta.
- Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge till the pasta is ready.
- Cook pasta in a large pan of lightly salted boiling water until tender. At the same time, fry pancetta in a pan till browned and crisp. Drain pancetta on kitchen paper.
- When pasta is just about ready, halve and stone avocados and scoop flesh into a blender. Add olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, basil, capers and remaining sliced shallot. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Blend very smoothly, adding a little more olive oil if necessary to make coating consistency.
- Drain pasta and return to pan. Add avocado pesto and carefully toss through to coat pasta.
- Divide pasta onto four serving plates. Scatter some pancetta over each plate and finish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves.
- Serve with the smoked salmon salad.
- 4 large ripe peaches
- 500mls water
- 2-3 tbsp caster sugar (to taste)
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways (optional)
- 250g fresh raspberries
- 1 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
- Good vanilla ice cream to serve
- 1 tbsp slivered almonds (optional)
- Halve peaches and carefully remove stones.
- Place water and sugar in a pan and stir over low heat till the sugar is dissolved. Add lemon juice and vanilla pod if using.
- Bring to bubbling for a few minutes, then add peaches and turn down to a gentle simmer.
- Poach the peaches for a few minutes till tender.
- Remove from the syrup into a bowl and leave to cool slightly. Reserve syrup.
- Slip off peach skins, then leave to cool completely.
- For the raspberry sauce, puree berries in a blender with icing sugar and 1 tbsp reserved syrup
- Freeze remaining syrup for another time.
- To serve, place two peach halves per person in a bowl with a scoop of good-quality vanilla ice cream in between.
- Drizzle a little raspberry syrup over each bowl and serve the remainder separately at the table.
- Scatter over the almonds if using.
This elegant dinner combo deserves an elegant white wine to go with it. I found an absolute bargain which is full of grace to complement this meal. Parkville Chardonnay from South Eastern Australia is full of lively flavours of white peach and apricot, but with a zingy brush of lemon to bring this fruity palate to life. A beautiful white wine which will handle the flavoursome pasta but also do justice to the classy tastes of the smoked salmon salad accompaniment. Find it at Supervalu, on sale now down from €16.99 to just €7.99 till 13/08/25, or until stocks last. An find - not to be missed this weekend.
Cucumber: 89c
Smoked Salmon 200g: €4.09
Shallots 350g net: €1.49
Lemon x 3pce net: €1.45
Fresh dill pack: €1.29
Fettuccini 500g: €3.10
Avocados x 2 pce: €2.49
Garlic x 3pce net: 99c
Basil pack: €1.19
Chopped Pancetta 170g pack: €1.55
Total: €18.53
Peaches x 4 pack: €1.99
Raspberries x 200g pack: €4.50
Vanilla Ice Cream x 1ltr tub: €2.35
Total: €8.84
App?
