The veg patch is kicking off and in a few days time the mini courgettes will have turned into marrows as thick as my thigh.

In the meantime there has been an opportunity to make use of what is out there. Along with the courgettes the cavolo nero is about ready and there was one globe artichoke ready to eat.

We got through all of them this evening.

The artichoke was boiled for an hour after it had been rid of all errant earwigs. Once cooked I went through the disappointing process of trying to find the choke in the arti – to be left with a large pile of tough leaves and a relatively small bit of edible choke.

As I pulled off the leaves from the artichoke the courgettes were cut into chunks and put in boiling water for a couple of minutes.

More water was put on to boil and pasta went in to cook.

As it did so a clove of garlic was softened in warm oil, I then added the cavolo nero, a touch of chilli and some lemon juice. As the cavolo  nero wilted I stirred back in the courgettes and artichoke.

Once the pasta was cooked and drained I stirred in most of the veg mixture along with a smattering of feta cheese. It all went back in to the pan to be topped with the rest of the veg, courgette flowers and torn basil leaves.

It was the second Saturday of the month yesterday so with some inevitability I made may way down to New Ferry over the morning to invest in some good food at Wirral Farmer’s Market.

There was a threat the sun was going to continue shining for the day so I planned on a BBQ. I was in search of a large slab of meat to go on it and I found the perfect candidate in a large fore-rib of beef. It was big enough for four people and was just going to feed me but whatever was left over would do for sandwiches.

It needed no more preparation than to be rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

It took about half an hour to cook. I turned over half way through and once it was off the grill I left it for ten minutes to rest.

Earlier in the afternoon I had grubbed up half this years garlic. It is now drying on a hook in the celler. There were a couple of cloves that came loose as I pulled the bulbs out of the soil.

One of those was chopped and mixed with some roast potatoes.

And very good it all was too!

We listened to Perfume Genius.