Minimum viable cookery

 Why did I do the watermelon salad last week? I really should have saved it for now, when the thought of adding more heat to my flat is sheer torture. It topped out at 29 degrees today, one degree better than yesterday, but tomorrow will be sunnier, which Will Not Help. I mainly had chicken on the menu, which is suboptimal. But I did also have fish, which is *quick*. I have reprioritised.

Scallops this weekend, because only doing fish once a month means I can go for it occasionally. We've spoken of their virtues before, but the fact you can do a meal's worth with the gas on for only 3 minutes is currently their biggest plus for me. This is yet another Persiana recipe, and I had in mind it was more cooked than this. Very glad to find I am wrong. 

Scallops with fennel salad

Three bits to this: a dressing, a salad, some scallops. Two of those are inordinately simple, so let's begin with the third, the dressing. 

This wants three kinds of sharp (orange juice, lime juice, vinegar) to one kind of sweet (runny honey) and some oil. And saffron, but my main point of divergence with Sabrina Ghayour is whether this super costly spice is worth it (or worth bothering with even if it's free). With saffron you'd have to heat the dressing slowly to infuse. Without, it's mix, taste, balance, serve.

The fennel just wants thinly slicing. Recipe says keep it in lemon water so it doesn't brown, but I just dressed in lemon directly as the extra sharp seemed useful. 

Scallops: hottish pan, 1 minute per side.

Onto a plate, with bread because the juices are splendid. 

And now, some pictures of the river this morning. For cooling purposes. I hope you're suffering less sweatitude than I am, but the Wandle is nice to look at anyway.