Tabbouleh

We ate this with some cold roast lamb, and pitta breads.

Makes enough for four greedy adults, as a side dish (would be lovely too with some sharp cheese, like feta).

You'll need:

125g bulgar wheat
2-3 large tomatoes, chopped
3 spring onions, chopped
lots of flatleaf parsley, chopped
a good handful of mint, chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice (I used the juice of 1 lemon)

Soak the bulgar wheat in hot water for 20 minutes or so, until it's softened. Drain, and run under the cold tap.

Chuck the bulgar wheat, tomatoes, spring onions, parsley and mint in a large bowl. Mix. Drizzle over the olive oil and lemon juice, and mix again. Season with salt and black pepper.

You can eat this straightaway, but I find it tastes nicer once it's been left for an hour or so, so the flavours have had a chance to mingle.

Lemon and mint chicken

We've spent the day dodging thunderstorms - the front garden was awash, and the cat cowered on the porch.

I made this for tea, to inject a little sunshine into the day. A girl can dream...

You'll need:

a couple of boned and skinless chicken thighs per person
a lemon, sliced into thin wedges
a largish sprig of mint per thigh
a slug of nice olive oil
black pepper
a little salt

Stick the oven on at about 200 degrees C.

Take each boned chicken thigh, and spread it out. Place a wedge of lemon and sprig of mint in the middle of each, and roll up again. Place in a baking dish/tray, and drizzle with a little olive oil. Season with lots of black pepper and a little salt.

Roast in the oven for 35-45 minutes, until the thighs are cooked through - they may be done sooner if they're very small.

We ate this with some onion, green pepper and parsley couscous, and spiced things up with Patak's aubergine pickle.

Courgettes stuffed wth pork, rice and mint

The weather's gone all summery, so we required something Mediterranean-ish for tea. Sadly, it won't last...

Makes enough for two. You'll need:

two large courgettes, halved lengthways, and with the insides scooped out
120g cooked rice (about 50g dry rice)
200g pork mince
a large handful of mint, finely chopped
an onion, finely chopped
a clove of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C.

Brown the mince in a frying pan (you may need to add a little olive oil if it's very lean). Add the onion and garlic, and fry until they go translucent. Add the spices, and cook for a couple of minutes. Chuck in the innards of the courgettes, and cook for another couple of minutes until they've mushed down.

In a large bowl, mix this onion/courgette/mince conglomoration with the cooked rice. Add the chopped mint, and season with lots of black pepper and a little salt.

Place the courgettes in a baking dish, and stuff them with the rice/mince mixture. Cover with foil, and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the courgettes have cooked through.

We ate this with a ridiculously hot tomato and chilli sauce. It'd also be nice with something a little tamer.

Cucumber, mint and yoghurt

We ate this with a Spanish-style omelette (although Spaniards would probably be appalled by the inclusion of courgettes and sheep's cheese) - a sort of Moorish theme.

Makes enough for 4 as a side dish. You'll need:

half a cucumber
a couple of tablespoons of thick greek yoghurt
salt
10-12 fresh mint leaves, chopped up very finely
a little black pepper

Slice the cucumber in half lengthways, and then again very finely into half-moons. Sprinkle with salt and bung in a colander for half an hour (or longer, preferably), so that any liquid drains away.

Decant the cucumber slices into a bowl. Mix the mint with the yoghurt, and tip over the cucumber. Add a little black pepper (it shouldn't need any salt).

Spicy lemon chicken

A Middle Eastern-ish tea for a distinctly English spring day (grey and rainy).

It's dead easy to make, but you do need to marinate the chicken for a while - a couple of hours will do, but longer would be even better.

You'll need:

2 chicken breasts (either flattened with a rolling pin - most satisfying - or sliced into long strips)
3 tablespoons lemon juice (which probably works out at 1 lemon)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
a slosh of olive oil
a handful of fresh mint, finely chopped

To make the marinade, chuck all the spices, olive oil, lemon juice and mint into a (non-metallic) bowl, and swish it all about. Drop in the chicken breasts, and make sure the marinade is spooned all over them.

A couple of hours later, coat a griddle pan with a little olive oil, and put onto a high heat. Take the chicken breasts out of the marinade (if there's any left you can discard it), and sear quickly on both sides in the pan. Turn the heat down a little, and leave the chicken to cook through - it'll take 5-10 minutes, depending on how thick your pieces are. You'll probably need to slice one in half, just to check whether it's done.

We ate this with a couscous salad and pitta bread. I reckon it would be a good barbecue dish in the summer - the chargrilled taste would really suit it.