Sweet Peas and Green Tea

Almost a week ago I got home from a post-work drink with sore throat and limbs so heavy they felt like bricks. I put it down to a lack of sleep and too much caffeine and set aside the whole weekend for good food, bad movies and lots of rest. I find this combo cures almost any ailment (there are few things in life that cannot be improved by sleep and a piece of chocolate cake) but when I woke up yesterday that niggle was still present in my throat. So, I finally did what a sane person probably would have done days ago and went to the doctor. Turns out it wasn’t really a niggle. Hello tonsillitis! And penicillin! Long time no see. The timing is pretty rubbish but you can’t plan for these things so I’m spending the day in bed, drinking buckets of tea and crossing my fingers that the antibiotics work their magic by tomorrow.

When I’m sick my appetite demands no more than toast and fresh fruit. So, this isn’t really a recipe, but more a loose direction to turn on your oven and pop in some stone fruit. Nectarines are unbelievably cheap at the moment and we have about 6 kilos threatening to take over our kitchen. This is one of our attempts to keep them at bay. The result is very delicious, all tart and tangy: stone fruit, lime and ginger were meant for each other.

Preheat the oven to 400′F/200′C. Halve and stone 8 nectarines. In a large bowl toss them with 3 tbsp brown sugar (I used beautiful muscovado), the juice of a lime, 1/4 – 1/2 tsp ground ginger and 1/4 – 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon. Place in single layer in a baking dish and roast for 25 – 40 minutes, until the nectarines are tender and their juices have mingled with the sugar and formed a loose syrup. (The cooking time depends on how ripe the nectarines are – the harder they are, the longer they take).

Serve them with muesli and yogurt for breakfast, with ice cream for dessert or eat them as they are. Any which way you serve them, enjoy! Xo

P.s. Some music for your Wednesday evening. I’ve been listening to the debut album, Woman, from Rhye on repeat for the past few days. Magical.