“Rustic Summer Crumb Pasta” from “Fresh, Fast, Simple”

Maureen: First of all, there’s a problem. The name of this is “Rustic Summer Crumb Pasta.” Can anyone tell me what the problem is?

Andrew (12): It’s not summer.

Maureen: Bingo! But I’m not sure what makes it a summer dish. It’s not as if there’s anything really fresh in there other than the basil, but you can get that year round. What did you think?

Andrew: I think it’s really nice.

Nicholas (8, therefore not prone to liking much of anything that’s new): It’s good!

Maureen: Praise be! Nicholas likes it!

“Fresh Tomato Soup” from “Jamie’s Great Britain”

Andrew (12): Is this a Jamie Oliver recipe?

Maureen: Yes. We’re still eating from the delights of Great Britain’s kitchens. Why do you ask?

Andrew: Because it looks… interesting.

Maureen: Good interesting or bad interesting?

Andrew: In the middle interesting.

Maureen: Hmm. So what do you think?

Andrew: It’s a bit too tomatoey. All I can taste is tomato and nothing else. So that decreases its grade slightly.

Maureen: Jamie says that it “pays respect to that iconic Heinz tinned soup that we’ve all grown up loving.” But if I wanted Heinz tomato soup, I would just buy some. It would save me a lot of trouble.

“Classic Stir-Fried Chicken with Basil” from “Bill’s Everyday Asian”

Kirstin: So, what did you all think of this stir-fry?

Ella: Yum!

Tom: This was great. Especially with that lovely sweet chilli sauce again.

Miles: Mummy, do you eat everything, even when you don’t like something?

Kirstin: Yes, I do. But I don’t like oysters. And I’m not very keen on snails.

Miles: What about olives? Or lettuce?

Kirstin: I like olives. And lettuce.

“Grilled Salmon with Courgette and Tomato Salad” from “Taste of Home”

Kirstin: This was fab. She says the salmon has to be in season, but ours was defrosted.

Tom: Well, I had thirds of the salad. Yum!

“Rigatoni with Aubergine” from ” A Taste of Home”

Anna: You’ve just said she’s ruined aubergines.

Kirstin: She has. I like my aubergines crunchy. These are soggy and taste of vinegar. I mean what was the point of frying them if we then had to stick them in the sauce like that?

Anna: I don’t mind a soggy aubergine and I don’t mind the taste of vinegar, but I can hear what you’re saying. We think perhaps this would work better if you added the vinegar to the tomatoes first and then added the aubergine.

“Lamb provencal with Five Herbs” from “Easy”

Anna: I am so glad this meal is over. I couldn’t be bothered to even eat it. But I think I lost weight preparing it.

Kirstin: It took an hour an a half to chop and fry all those vegetables.

Anna: And that was with two people doing it! Think how long it would have taken one of us on our own. I don’t think it was very Provencale, either.

Kirstin: There’s no coriander in Provencale food.

“Summer Vegetable Broth with Pesto” from “Good Things to Eat”

Nicholas (8): I’ve got one thing to say. In the event of an earthquake, if you had these vegetables, it would be the only thing that survived.

Maureen: I don’t understand what you’re talking about. It’s delicious. I love it.

Andrew (11): It seems to be missing something. I’ve got another comment about the Jamie Oliver prunes dessert.

Maureen: But we’re talking about the soup!

Andrew (undeterred): The prunes were good for only one thing and that was to clean out the sewers.

Maureen: Back to the soup. This is really nice. There’s nothing weird in it. It’s not spicy. It’s just yummy vegetables made into a soup. I’m not asking you to love it. I’m asking you to eat it. (The boys begin to eat it) Is it growing on you?

Andrew: Yes, actually.

“Baked sea bass with saffron potatoes” and “Strawberries in red wine with cream cheese and basil” from “Good Things to Eat”

Anna: Why did you choose this, Kirstin?

Kirstin: Because Pat’s a vegetarian!

Zoe: So, it’s all your fault! You know what, everything’s his fault.

Pat: It’s my lot in ife.

Kirstin: No, seriously, I like sea bass. It was a good excuse to cook fish…I rarely cook fish for lots of people, so it was a good challenge.

Tom: I liked the potatoes. They were like chips crossed with crisps!

Peter: Was there a lot of saffron in there?

“Spaghetti with courgettes, basil and lemon” from “Good Things to Eat”

Tom: Mmm… yum  AGAIN! This man can do no wrong!

Kirstin: This man is the perfect combination of Jamie and Nigel. And he clearly enjoys his food. I just looked up the recipe we used to use for courgette pasta, and this one is much easier, and much yummier.

Tom: I agree. What made this recipe easier?

“Panzanella Agli Ortaggi in Agrodolce” from “Two Greedy Italians”

Otherwise known as Sweet and Sour Bread Salad.

Maureen: I can’t believe we’re not at the state dinner with the Obamas at Buckingham Palace. Instead we’re eating this.

Tim: Frankly, it’s an outrage.

Maureen: You’d think they would select some good Americans living in London– like us!– to attend. Instead, who makes the cut? Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson. How is that fair? So we’re not having Windsor lamb with basil. We’re having panzanella with a difference. What do you think?

Tim: I like it.

Maureen: Really? I’m surprised. Do you remember the last time I made panzanella? It was a Jamie Oliver recipe, out of his Italy book, and he said it would be a quick and easy dinner. Instead we ended up eating in the dark on the patio at 11 p.m. Not a triumph.

Tim: This is different because it’s just sauteed vegetables. It’s very nice.