Puff tart and brown sugar loaf – Alexina Anatole’s courgette recipes

Summer courgettes seem to multiply faster than we can cook them, and demand a little more of our love from June through to August. But despite their unruliness as a crop, they are mild-mannered in flavour, a culinary chameleon that partners with a wide range of tastes. From the umami punch of parmesan to the fragrant cut-through of citrus, and from the warmth of cinnamon to the char of the barbecue, these green gourds can be used in myriad ways, shining in sweet and savoury contexts alike.There is nothing easier or more gratifying in summer than a tart topped with the season’s bounty. Serve with a rocket salad for a light lunch, or alongside your protein of choice

Australian supermarket olives taste test: ‘I want to draw a still-life painting of these’

Sicilian, kalamata, black, pitted and unpitted, Nicholas Jordan and friends try 22 olives ranging from ‘nostalgic blandness’ to ‘salty, sour and uncomplicated’Get our weekend culture and lifestyle emailImagine the best and worst olive. Take a second. Maybe close your eyes to immerse yourself in the exercise. What does the best olive look like? How about the worst? What is the texture of the best olive? How does the worst olive taste?I ask myself questions like this before every taste test, a mental exercise to help calibrate all the scores I’m about to give. But sometimes there are surprises, things so exceptionally good, bad or different they exist beyond the imagination

Batch cocktails: the summer party lifesavers | Kitchen aide

What batch cocktails are best for summer parties?Ella, by emailFirst things first: stand down that cocktail shaker. When you have more than a handful of people over, you need drinks that scale up easily. And a paloma never fails to hit the hot weather happy-hour spot, says Max Venning, director of Three Sheets bars in London and co-author of Batched and Bottled Cocktails. “It’s great for a garden party, because you just whack it all in a jug and into the fridge in the morning, then all you need are iced glasses and soda water.” Combine 350ml good-quality blanco tequila (“Ocho or Volcan are my go-tos”), 250ml fresh pink grapefruit juice, 10ml tomato vinegar (“or white balsamic”) and two tablespoons of caster sugar, stir until the latter dissolves, then chill

A Mexican-inspired alfresco meal: Thomasina Miers’ creamy tomato toast and smoky spatchcock chicken – recipes

Jocoque is somewhere between yoghurt, soured cream and labneh, and traditionally made on Mexican ranches from milk that’s left to ferment in clay pots. Here, I’ve used strained greek yoghurt instead, to add depth to these simple tomato toasts and for a creamy balance to the smoky salsa backdrop. It makes a simple and delicious starter for an alfresco dinner. To follow, a simple, spatchcocked chicken slathered in a smoky, brick-red chipotle paste that is mouthwateringly good.Prep 5 min Marinate 2 hr+ Cook 1 hr 10 min Serves 4-61 large head of garlic 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves150ml olive oilSea salt 80g achiote paste 1 tsp brown sugar 3-4 tbsp chipotles en adobo, to taste1 large chickenTo serveLimes, cut into wedgesSoured creamBash the garlic with a rolling pin, slip off the skins and finely chop the cloves with a sharp knife

Tea in the microwave? Why gen Z are giving up on kettles to make a brew

Two-thirds of UK under-30s have used a microwave to make a cuppa, and one in six say they do it every day …Name: Kettles.Age: 132. First featured in a catalogue in 1893.Appearance: Increasingly obsolete.I already don’t like where this is going