Honeydew, and Double-Squash Frittata

Monday 30 July

The first course was honeydew melon, being field-tested for one of tomorrow's cold soups.

In the garden, the squash blossoms are getting out of hand, so we culled the herd and made another freet, with some of the tiny, cute, actual yellow squashes cut up in it, too.

Barbara made ingenious use of Gentleman's Relish (and who doesn’t relish a gentleman, I ask you?), a relic of John and Priscilla's All English Take Home Christmas Gift from our 2005 visit. All the other prezzies (Cumberland and HP sauces, ginger in syrup, Old Hookie mustard, Eynsham honey) were eaten up long since, but the Gentleman's Relish has lingered on in somewhat reduced and drier circumstances - like many a gentleman before. Now Gentleman's Relish is in fact merely anchovy paste (as opposed to Poacher's Relish, which is smoked salmon), and so perfect for making the frittat-oid equivalent of zucchini blossoms stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy.

So we sautéed the diced tiny squashes, then poured over them six beaten-up, wonderfully yellow, Amish eggs. Squash blossoms were arrayed on top, scattered with fior di latte mozzarella, and then for the top, Barbara grated the somewhat crusty old gentleman together with the romano, and sprinkled it o'er with gay abandon (not that there's anything wrong with that). The usual final broil in the oven made the top even more golden than the squash, blossoms, and eggs had done already.