Segmenting the orange was a strange experience that you would think is easy, but again like most of these things is “easy once you know how”, I’ll wait for Pat to add this as a tip. Suffice to say we used an orange or two more than we should whilst learning this one.

Ingredients

• 1/2 to 1 red onion – finely chopped
• Olive oil
• 7 sprigs of Thyme
• Salt & Pepper
• 4 Oranges
• 1 Lemon
• 2 Fistfulls of butter beans – dried not tinned

I love this one, it makes me feel healthy just thinking about it. Ere, it’s got fruit in it, it must be.

Anyway, let’s get on it.

Soak the butter beans over night in a cool place, in plenty of water. Next day drain them off and stick in a pan with fresh cold water, add a punch of salt and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15-20 minutes (or whatever the packet says), they need to be “soft yet firm”, apparently plastic surgeons hear that all the time.

Drain and cool. The left over stock is great for veggie stew and tastes remarkably meaty.

Segment the orange. Sounds easy… This took me ages and frankly I think I need more practice. Essentially you cut the orange in half, slice off the skin and then “cut out” the segments from the pith… I’ll try and get Pat to do a proper tip on this one.

Once the beans are cool, plop in a bowl, squeeze over the lemon, fully wring it out. Drop in the orange segments (best to cut them in half first), don’t waste any of the orange that you haven’t cut out, wring out the juice from that as well.

Add the chopped onion, we added the whole onion, but I think for most people a half is enough, we like things strong, I imagine that we are a bit pervy with tastes. Add the thyme, don’t add the twigs(!) strip off the leaves, mix it and then add 4 seconds of olive oil (slow pourer of course). Mix everything up and add salt and pepper to taste.

I suppose that you could use tinned beans, but I kind of like creating things that we can use later in other recipes. The stock looked good and Pat says that “in a veggie stew” it rocks. I’m starting to get the idea that good food doesn’t need to be expensive. It’s a bit like connecting the dots, one thing leads to another…

Anyway, this is a side dish that compliments just about any traditional salad, and frankly I could just eat it on its own with an enormous spoon and a few yoga mouth stretches.

The ingredients are as simple as a redneck on diamond white, so here goes.

• 2 handfuls of potatos (16 small waxy new potatos, we used Cornish, apparently)
• 1 Large Carrot
• 1 large handful of peas, apparently frozen is acceptable
• pinch of salt
• pinch of sugar
• small bunch of parsely
• Garlic Mayonaise

Boil up the potatos, 20 mins approx from cold water, allow to cool and peel once cooled. They’re easier to peel after cooking. You know when they’re done as a knife will just sink into them.

Drop the peas into a pan of hot water, add a pinch of salt and sugar. Once cooked (try one after five minutes) stick in a colander under a cool tap to stop them cooking, this is “refreshing” (there you go!).

Finely chop the carrots and drop all the veggies into a bowl, add the parsley and stir in the mayo. We made our own mayo which I’ll blog once I’ve mastered it without Pat, but in the meantime I can’t see the harm in chopping up some garlic and adding it to some Helmans and then mixing that in to the veg mix.

Leave it to stand for a bit, in the fridge will do if it’s a hot day (like today) and then serve when you’re ready. Tosh says you can add some capers too, maybe next time, although to be fair he is Russian

Lets dive straight into the ingredients

• 4 Peppers – Red and Yellow
• 1 small tin of anchovies in oil
• 4 tea spoons of anchovies
• Fresh basil
• Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

First we need to prepare the peppers using our quick roasted pepper tip.

Once the peppers are ready and prepared, cut the anchovies in half lengthways and then again “breadthways” (is that the right way to say that?), leaving them about an inch long. Chuck them in the bowl along with the capers.

Rip up some basil, a small handfull will do and add some salt and pepper. Pour over about 4 seconds of olive oil (slow pourer used here). Mix it up (maestro) and have a taste, add a bit more basil, salt or pepper if you like.

There you go, bobs yer uncle, charlie’s yer sister and Baywatch is back.