Lime, coriander, green chilli and spring onion salsa

Here's a quick way to liven up a simple supper of grilled chicken or perhaps some salmon, lightly poached in a stock with some white wine and parsley. It's a zingy and fresh tasting combination of flavours.I used it the other day on top of a Texan-style chilli I found in the bottom of the freezer that I'd made a batch of about  a month ago and it just lifted it from the comforting to a notch above delicious.It takes about two minutes to chop together so make it fresh and spoon it on just before you serve.Ingredients2 spring onions2 green finger chillies1 small bunch of corianderZest and juice of a limeMethodSlice the spring onion and coriander, zest the lime and finely chop the coriander. Put everything in a bowl.Squeeze the juice all over, mix well and serve.

Chilli and lime corn on the cob

I've been working much more than usual this week which has turned the children into faint outlines in my memory for whom I have to make packed lunches for early in the morning and clean out the ravaged lunchboxes in the evening when they get back from summer club.

Bee is taking over the lunch duties this week as she has now given up on work for August and I'm thrilled. As if getting up in the morning isn't traumatic enough, trying to cram some limp ham into a few slices of bread to an orchestra of dissatisfaction at the lack of lunch imagination is not my idea of a gentle start to the day. I'm always dissapointed my morning doesn't begin to the gentle wafting of a string quartet's notes to rouse me, followed by coffee, perhaps a rose-scented madeleine or two and a freshly ironed newspaper. Every bedtime I'm full of childish and futile hope that the morning will one day surprise me. Perhaps when we go on holiday.

Saturday saw me though, in the spirit of being pampered, undergoing a little shiatsu to unlock the 'qi' that I thought had been thrown away a long time ago, or at least lost somewhere behind the sofa. Her verdict was my hands were very tense. Although mostly I was tense at how close she was to the fruit and veg department, and how she seemed to enjoy kneading my bottom rather enthusiastically, leading to worries of the wind section stating to play at any time without warning. But, eventually I relaxed. And after a long, lazy afternoon like that, you don't want to sully yourself with long and complicated meals. Sometimes, a quick ham and egg on toast makes a great supper, sometimes a quick bowl of pasta with butter and cheese.

This recipe fits those moments perfectly if you're not after a huge feast but fancy something interesting. It also makes a perfect side dish for a barbecue too, so suit yourself. Bee introduced this to me a few years ago and it's as delicious and trashy as ever. No-one really needs mayonnaise and cheese together on a corn on the cob, but once you've tried it, it's hard to go back. And if you've recently had to be peeled off the ceiling after a small Polish woman has prodded you in spots that felt like she was using an electric cow poker you may need a little treat like this.

Ingredients
1 corn on the cob per person
A good handful of grated cheddar, or Mexican cheese I suppose would be quite apt Zest and juice of half a lime per person
About half a teaspoon of chilli powder per person plus chilli flakes to serve
Enough mayonnaise to spread over each cob
Black pepper to season
A little coriander leaf to finish

Method
Boil the corn in salted water until cooked then drain.
Try and find the corn forks, find one complete and one broken then give up.
Spread each cob with mayonnaise, roll in the grated cheddar, season with pepper and squeeze over the lime juice.
Add the chilli powder and flakes if you like it hotter and serve immediately with coriander. It really couldn't be much simpler.

Lime and mint pressé

 I've baked a lot of bread this week. Enough for a small stall at some rah-rah market selling posh chorizo sandwiches and unicorn sweat fairy-cakes. The rather brilliant Tartine Bread book by Chad Robertson has given me that step up from slight bemusement at the mysteries and inconsistency of my sourdough to proper understanding and a reignited passion for making the stuff. I still will never fail to be amazed at who discovered the whole process and the respect for the traditions and practice over the centuries.It's almost on a par with the miracle of  how the children can turn their bedroom from a cultured and organised tidiness into a foaming, bubbling cauldron of mess and strange smells with seemingly no help from outside sources. I sought refuge this weekend at the oven and eventually when we needed to get out the house before everyone went stir crazy the beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon in the park restored our sanity and we came back to hot crusty toast with melting salty butter.As the afternoon lazily slid into a gently warm evening and thirsts needed quenching I made my new favourite drink. For those of you, like me, who do not drink alcohol, there is a lack of grown up options when it comes to interesting and fun things to drink that aren't sugary sweet overloads.This is great though. A lime and ginger pressé, rather like the classic citron pressé I can only drink in France at cafés while being existential, it's refreshing and zingy, easy to make and has a really good sharp and sour tang, rather like the sourdough. I had it at the exciting Kricket in Pop Brixton about a month ago and have been making it regularly ever since. And although the food there was excellent (if a little pricey) this drink is what I've taken back from the evening. I make it with a splash of Tessiere sirop de menthe, the kind you make a diabolo menthe with, it's easier than making your own sugar syrup, but if you want to do that, you can make a bottle up and keep it in the fridge to use as and when.Just make sure you never, ever use that horrible lime juice stuff in a squeezy bottle.Ingredients and methodThe juice and zest of one lime per person is mixed with a small handful of muddled mint leaves, a small shot of mint syrup and topped up with ice and sparkling water. You could add some grated ginger in there for and extra kick as I sometimes do. It makes for mouth puckering excitement.