Sea bass, minted peas and the aspirational lentil

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the aspirational lentil. The tyranny of branding demands that these crappy lentils are 'repositioned' as 'beluga' in order to turn them into a 'luxury item' that supermarkets can overcharge for.

Beluga lentils

rocket (UK)

tomatoes (UK)

Sea bass (North Atlantic)

Lime (unknown)

Stuffed Peppers yet again

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noted by now that this meal has become bog standard in the HMT household. This is actually the same picture as July 11th but I forgot to take a new one. I must do something to get the creative juices flowing.

Broccoli Bake

Broccoli (UK)
Potatoes (home grown)
Mozarella (Italy)
Pine nuts ('product of more than one country)

Aubergine and Mozzarella Timbale

Aubergine (unknown)

Mozzarella (Italy)

Flour (UK)

Olive oil (Spain)

2 eggs (UK)

black pepper

New potatoes (home grown)

Parmesan (Italy)

Potato Salad

Sadly this meal was something of a rarity this year in terms of its home grown bent. The weather has been so miserable that most of our crops have failed.

Potatoes (home grown)

Onions (home grown)

broad beans (home grown)

Mint (home grown)

Garlic (home grown)

Chilli (unknown)

Supersonic Supper

Dipped out the endless avant-garde heavy metal of the Supersonic festival to grab some food. Unfortunately, I picked a swine amongst the undoubted pearls of Birmingham South Asian food. This pakora/samosa double whammy would have been inedible if hadn't been for the Red Stripe/ Real Ale aperitif that preceded it.

Stir-fry noodles

See, it's possible to make an entirely UK grown stir-fry so why the bloody onions from New Zealand?

Fresh noodles ('Produced in the UK')

Pepper (England)

Garlic (home grown)

Pak choi (Kent, England)

Spring onions (Kent, England)

Black bean sauce ('Produced in the UK')

Stuffed aubergine and sweetcorn

Feel guilty about food miles now - we have onions growing on the plot but as we had already started cooking and I just nipped to the local Tesco metro to buy some only discovering they were from New Zealand afterwards. What's happening to the world if a UK supermarket has to source onions from New Zealand in July?

Sweetcorn (Spain)
Cheese (England)
Aubergine (unknown)
Onion (New Zealand)
Parsley (UK)
Garlic (home grown)
Fresh tomatoes (England)
Paprika
Salad leaves
Tinned tomatoes (Italy)

Curry from 'the Tesco'

Tesco is taking over the world apparently. Well it's clearly not on account of this insipid 'authentic takeaway selection'. I bought a veggie curry, a sag alloo and bombay potatoes in a vain attempt to replicate the variation of a Thali but they were all clearly cooked in the same rather unpleasant sauce.

Slow cooked peppers

A new comfort food favourite- Jamie Oliver's slow roasted peppers in half a pint of olive oil.

Peppers (UK)

Olive oil (Greece)

Garlic (home grown)

Onion (home grown)

Ciabattta UK)

Pitted black olives ('origin of more than one country')

Parmesan (Italy)

Fresh pea risotto

All this rain is really depressing so here's some comfort food. These Jaguar peas were picked about an hour before and were incredibly sweet.

Arborio rice (Italy)

Jaguar peas (home grown)

Garlic (home grown)

Onion (home grown)

Stock (from a cube)

Parmesan (Italy)

Unwaxed lemon