A tea party.

I haven't written a post for a while, not least because I have moved house. I had a few people over this weekend for a celebratory tea party.

It's been a while since I wrote about an entire meal, and actually I'll write elsewhere about the macarons I made.

The following dishes were chosen as easy fork or finger food, and for the most part I've made variations of them many times.

Italian rainbow salsa

I make salsa a lot, but have always defaulted to standard Mexican flavours. My basil plant has been going through a growth spurt, and I felt inspired to create an Italian version. I began as normal by quartering red and gold cherry tomatoes, and mixing with finely diced red onion and a couple of crushed garlic cloves. Then I began the substitutions: basil instead of coriander; freshly ground black pepper instead of chilli; and balsamic vinegar instead of lime juice. Salted to taste. This was really good, I'm only surprised it hadn't occurred to me before.

Smoky garlic houmous.

I can't remember where I found the tip about boiling tinned chickpeas first to achieve silky smooth houmous, but it's a good one. Apparently dried and rehydrated chickpeas taste even better, but I don't have a pressure cooker or sufficient patience.

I cooked up a tin of chickpeas in salted water for about ten minutes. While they were softening I crushed a bulb's worth of garlic cloves; zested and juiced two lemons; and ground up about a tablespoon's worth of cumin seeds. I drained the chickpeas and removed the loose skins, then combined everything in a food processor. I added a generous dollop of tahini, a more-generous-than-intended shake of paprika, and a glug of olive oil. I whizzed this all up, and added my favourite new ingredient, oak smoked olive oil, to slacken it. I prefer houmous to be a stiffer consistency than the stuff you can buy, but you can achieve shop-bought texture by adding more oil. A little more salt and it was done. I made this the day before to give the flavours time to meld. I probably would try not to add quite so much paprika next time, but it was fine, and the smoked olive oil was sensational as usual.

Lemon and asparagus potato salad.

A springtime version of the salad I made for Glyndebourne last year. For the dressing I mixed extra virgin rapeseed oil and a spoonful of mayonnaise for low-key emulsification; lots of finely sliced parsley and a few mint leaves; plus the zest and juice of two lemons; and salt.

I halved or quartered Jersey Royals, depending on size, and boiled them in salted water. I cut off the delicate asparagus tips, and sliced the spears into 2-inch lengths. I boiled the spears in well-salted water for two minutes, then added the the tips for a further two minutes, before draining and tipping into an ice bath. I combined the potatoes and asparagus with uncooked, defrosted, frozen peas; and stirred through the dressing. I would make this again just as it is, but if were not asparagus season more peas and mint would be a good alternative.

Polenta rounds

These were simply the excess from the polenta puffs I made for the cricket the following day. Spread over a baking tray to set and then cut into circles: they were actually pretty good. But firm polenta is definitely better twice-cooked.

Open sandwiches

I mean, I don't need help to remember this, and no one needs instructions, but I've started so I'll finish. Both made using dense rye bread.

Smoked salmon

I whipped cream cheese with the zest of two lemons and the juice of one. As smoked salmon is already salty I didn't add any to the cheese. A good grind of black pepper over the top.

Cucumber

Finely sliced mint leaves, a decent pinch of salt and the juice of one lemon. Cucumber cut into lengths, to vaguely match the salmon.

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Nachos

I successfully opened a bag of Doritos.