Grissini & Hummus, Melon Carpaccio with Limoncello

Been pretty busy lately, hence the paucity of posting, but I'm back! Family coming to dinner tonight so I made a simple Mushroom Strogonoff ala Nigella Lawson, but wanted to start with something light and easy. I made Grissini, another one from my to-do list, simple olive oil Italian bread sticks brushed with yet more olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt before baking. I followed a recipe from Gary Rhodes 'At the Table', rather than the Baking Bible this time, as I'm starting to feel my other cook books have been completely usurped by the Bible, and feeling vaguely guilty about it...
These salty goodies were dipped into olive oil and some home-made hummus. This hummus is adapted from the Irish Farmers Market Cookbook, and its frankly addictive. There's a great whiff of garlic and a lovely chilli kick. The hummus is one of my Favourite Recipes, and its a wonderful stand-by saviour. Lovely spread on toasted
pitta, bread sticks or fresh bread.

The Melon Carpaccio is courtesy of Trish Deseine's homage to French cooking 'Nobody Does It Better'. Too easy to be called a recipe, more a matter of assembly really. You just slice some really chilled melon and drizzle with olive oil and some Limoncello. Crisp, refreshing and delicious.





We also had some cherries with these while we were waiting on our Mushroom Stroganoff (just because).