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Its summer and, for once, we really have had some summer weather. I find that I am less motivated to cook when it is warm so simple, throw it all in one pan, recipes are very appealing...oh wait...simple, throw it all in one pan, recipes are very appealing to me all year round!

Nigel Slater is noted for the simplicity of his recipes, he cleverly combines a few key ingredients to create delicious dishes you want to make again and again. The August chapter of The Kitchen Diaries II features a number of ingredients that are not quite ready yet in Scotland, but tomatoes are at their peak and I can hardly keep up with my pots of herbs as they are loving the warm weather.

Nigel suggests chicken thighs for this recipe, but I bought a whole chicken and jointed it, I also used some green olives rather than the black ones in the recipe as I had half a jar left over from another dish.

Its a great recipe, just brown the chicken and throw in the tomatoes, garlic and olives and thyme. put it in the oven and leave it to cook. I did cover it with foil after about 10 minutes because the olives were drying out, the chicken was lovely and moist and the we mopped up the juices with some mediterranean bread.

Enter Dish of the Month in August for a chance to #WIN a copy of Nigel Slaters Real Fast Food. This is a classic Nigel Slater book suitable for beginners and experienced cooks. This giveaway is run in good faith and only open to those resident in the UK. The winner will be picked at random using the random number generator. Sue, from A little Heaven on a Plate, and I will be excluded from the draw.

If you would like to take part, then please:

• Make a Dish of the Month from ANY recipe by Nigel Slater
• Link to Farmersgirl Kitchen or A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate
• Use the Dish of the Month logo in your post
• If you use twitter, tweet your post with @serialcrafter or @Heavenona_plate and #DishoftheMonth and we will re-tweet it to our followers.

Rules:

• If you own The kitchen diaries II please do not publish the recipes on your blog without permission, they are copyright.
• If you are using recipes from the BBC Food website, please link to the recipe on BBC Food rather than publishing the recipe. Likewise recipes on the Guardian Lifestyle website.
• One entry per blog.
• Recipes must be added to the linky by the 28th of each month.

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I started with the Confit Scottish chicken terrine with baby leeks, crispy ham and pea vinaigrette.  The peashoot bit round the outside was lovely, but I found the terrine a little bit bland 7/10

Brian went for the shrimp cocktail, but they had run out of shrimps and offered crayfish instead, which he enjoyed very much 8/10


For my main I chose Slow braised neck of Dornoch Lamb, beetroot gratin, asparagus, carrot puree and basil gravy.  Oh my goodness, that was fantastic!  The lamb was meltingly delicious, the beetroot gratin was full of flavour, it was lots of very fine slices of stacked up, not sure with what, but whatever it was it was delicious.  This was a definite 9/10


Brian had Spiced confit duck leg, saute potatoes, cumin roasted carrots and celeriac, honey and sherry gravy.  This was also deemed to be a 9/10 dish.  We were both really pleased with our choices.


I finished my meal with this exquisite dessert, it looks pretty with its spun sugar topping but the flavour was quite outstanding.  This is a Spiced Pineapple Carpaccio with lime, chilli and anise sorbet and the flavours just burst onto your tongue, fantastic and for me, 10/10

Brian went for the warm chocolate pudding with nougatine parfait and berry fruits.  He enjoyed it but agreed that my dessert had more wow factor and gave it 8/10.

I hope you have enjoyed dining with us on our weekend away.  There are still a few pictures of Stirling Castle to post, but otherwise, breakfast on Sunday was pretty much a repeat of Saturday.  You dont have to vacate your room till 12.00 noon, so we also managed to have a lie by the pool reading the papers and then a final swim.  We are planning to go back in the autumn as we enjoyed it so much.

Now this is love on a plate if you ask me, in moderation of course ;)

Servings: (4)
Prep: 5 Mins. |
Cook: 10 Mins.

Posted by Sandra

INGREDIENTS

4 smoked brats (I prefer Johnsonville)
4 hotdog buns
Butter baking spray
1 (15 oz. can) of chili with beans (I prefer Nalley’s Original)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 roma tomatoes, finely chopped
2 tablespoons purple onion, finely chopped
12 slices of jarred sliced pickled jalapenos
Ketchup
French’s yellow mustard

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, and set aside.

Open up hot dog buns (without breaking apart) and lay right side up on the baking sheet. Spray the tops with butter flavored spray. Place in oven and bake until lightly toasted for about 5 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a medium skillet to medium-high heat. Butterfly each brat lengthwise (not all the way through), and place in skillet, and cook on both sides until lightly caramelized.

While the brats are browning, pour the chili, and chili powder into a small saucepan and heat through.

To serve, place a toasted bun on 4 separate plates, then a browned butterflied brat onto of each, spoon the chili mixture equally on top of them, and then sprinkle with cheese, tomatoes, onions, and jalapeno slices. Finally, lightly squirt each with ketchup and mustard, and place potato chips along side. – Enjoy!

As Nigel Slater says: "there is something deeply satisfying about taking a huge, golden tart to the table, a tart we have made ourselves. A tart we can give to others knowing it will give as much pleasure to them as making it did to us"  There is something even more satisfying in making a tart that includes foraged ingredients such as wild garlic and nettles, free food!


When I went to the freezer, I discovered I only had one salmon fillet left, so used a couple of haddock fillets to bulk out the tart, you would never have been able to tell.  I topped it with some of the Wild Garlic butter I made and froze last month.
I baked the fish in the oven for about 15 minutes and then left it to cool.
Id read in The Foragers Kitchen that you could substitute young nettle tops for spinach, so I donned my rubber gloves and headed round into the back garden to collect some nettles.  Living on a farm means that the fields and hedgerows tend to invade the garden and while this is not great for gardening, it is rather handy for foraging!

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 That is to say, pumpkin in appearance, not taste. Although, thats an idea...!

•  3 ½ All purpose flour 
•  2 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
•  ¾ teaspoon baking soda
•  2 ¼ teaspoon salt
•  5 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 14 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 2/3 cups pumpkin puree

1.      Line cupcake pan with cupcake wrappers.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 12 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
• 4-6 cups powdered sugar (depends on how sweet you like it)
• 1 Tbsp. light brown sugar
• 2 tsp. milk as needed
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

FROM BEEF TO SEA SCALLOPS AND SALAD A DETAILED PRODUCTION OF HOW TO COOK INSPIRED MEALS. THIS IS A SET LIKE NO OTHER DONT EXPECT THE ORDINARY HERE!

Price:

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