Despite my best intentions, I can't give up my cookbook addiction, especially when there are bargains to be had! I recently acquired Angela Hartnett's Cucina on sale, and am glad I did - it is a gorgeous book with practical recipes, with an Italian slant. The salads in the book are particularly gorgeous - and this from me, a former salad hater and now just a salad "meh" girl!
For a weekend meal, I made Angela's Rib Eye with Tomatoes and Olives, featured in the photo at the top of this post. It was a simple but delicious way to cook steak - I just used porterhouse steak. You have to like olives though for this to work, as the olives are a dominant flavour in this dish.
To accompany the steak, I made Angela's fresh almond, green bean and peach salad, on p170 of Cucina:
Doesn't this look scrumptious, and so summery? It is so simple to make - just boil up 150g of trimmed green beans, drain and cool them, and cut them into pieces ~ 1 inch long (or save yourself some hassle and cut them before boiling them). Put the beans into a large bowl. Cut 4 peaches into 4-6 wedges (I used 2 large peaches, which was plenty), and add the peach wedges to the beans with 75g blanched almonds. Chop up 6 basil leaves and 6 mint leaves and add to the salad just before serving. Toss the salad with a vinaigrette made from 20ml cider vinegar and 100ml olive oil. I had this salad for a couple of days, and it stayed delicious for the entire time.
Enjoy!
