lacecape, frittata, martins

One flower from the edge of a lace-cap hydrangea, a fragment of the cap.

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I make a frittata with slices of courgettes (zucchini) of which there is a glut at the moment. The omelet, cooked slowly on both sides is generously flavoured with basil. You need little else apart from salt and pepper. But today it occurs to me to grate the courgettes. You cook the grated vegetable in a frying pan until it is soft; season it well, add coursely chopped basil; squeeze as much moisture from the courgettes as possible and add them to beaten eggs (as a rough guide, allow an egg per person. Have a deep frying pan ready with a little hot oil. Tip in the mixture and stir and shake until it lies flat and deep in the pan. Now cook the omelet slowly so that it neither sticks nor becomes more than a light, golden brown (You can't see it so you have to guess).When the egg begins to beome firm in the centre - the mixture should still be slightly liquid -check, by lifting up to see the underside, if the omelet is now ready to slide on to a plate, the upper side still uncooked. Slip it from pan to plate. You can now put the pan over the plate and tip the plate over so that the uncooked side lands in the pan. Finish cooking slowly. Turn onto a plate and eat warm or cold like a cake, which it resembles. For variation add small lumps of feta cheese to the courgettes mixture. Cold, it's good for a picnic.

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High over the station clock, martins are wheeling; so high you know, without resorting to the weather forecast, that it will be fine tomorrow.