I bought a sadly underwhelming cookbook recently. ‘The Tinned Tomato Cook Book – 100 everyday recipes using the most versatile ingredient in your kitchen’. I won’t be putting it on my reviews section as the point is to suggest books to read not, not to read.

The book contained recipes for all your standard classics, pomodoro, lasagna, minestrone, everyday recipes just as it says on the tin (see what I did there).

I suppose I was hoping for a bit more creativity and inspiration in its use, as tinned tomatoes is a staple in my pantry too, and it’s always fun to elevate and expand one’s repertoire.

The positive that came out of it was I realised just how good my own versions of these recipes are. I am not a recipe developer, but when I have a dish in mind I furiously google recipes and then tend to fuse the best bits together, adjusting as I go along to fit my taste.

This has worked well for me with recipes like pomodoro sauce, minestrone, gazpacho. My Bolognese sauce (which I use in my 3-hour lasagna, laborious, but therapeutic and worth the time). I will share all of these recipes as I build my blog.

As we move into Summer here in Dubai, the weather calls for a classic, Gazpacho, which was also in the aforementioned cookbook. This is a recipe I have been using for years, I can’t event remember where I got it from, scribbled on a piece of paper in my recipe drawer.  Gazpacho is a traditional Spanish chilled soup from Andalucía.

I serve mine with a side bowl of large juicy green olives. Try Gordal Olives if you can find them, gordal comes from the Spanish word meaning ‘fat’, and also from the Andalucía region in Spain. This reminds me of the best olives in Dubai that they used to serve in Bar 44 at the Grosvenor House many years ago. I might need to go do a site recce and see if they are still there.