
Saucy Dressings aims to complete this post – four weeks’ menus and recipes, plus a few spare by the end of 2024. Every year an additional week’s menu, with the links to the individual recipes, is added.
For music to listen to while cooking in August, follow this link.
For food in season in August, follow this link.
You might also be interested in these posts:
- Indian-accented corn on the cob
- Hot and cold passionate salad of cucumbers, artichokes and asparagus
Week’s menu for August: number 1
An August Midnight
A shaded lamp and a waving blind
And the beat of a clock from a distant floor
On this scene enter – winged, horned, and spined –
A longlegs, a moth, and a Dumbledore;
While ‘mid my page there idly stands
A sleepy fly, that rubs its handsThus meet we five, in this still place,
Thomas Hardy
At this point of time, at this point in space
– My guests parade my new-penned ink,
Or bang as the lamp-glass, whirl, and sink.
“God’s humblest, they!” I muse. Yet why?
They know Earth-secrets that know not I
… and you could munch a few flapjacks whilst burning the midnight oil. Here are some other recipes for August also.
Saturday lunch:
- jacket potatoes – and what jacket potatoes! With a multitude of toppings or with ham and coleslaw. Whatever permutation and combination you choose
- White peach chutney
OR
- Šaltibarščiai – a Lithuanian cold soup with a shocking, smack-you-in-the-face pink hue
AND
- fabulous flapjacks
OR
Sunday evening pasta:
- escalope of veal with tagliatelle and chard
OR
Monday evening chicken:
OR
- ludicrously simple pink vermouth chicken
- red lettuce salty salad with shallots
- earthy, rich, poetical fried potatoes
Tuesday evening:
- leftovers or night out!
Wednesday evening meat:
Thursday evening dinner party:
- Starter: cucumber and prawn mousse
OR
- Main course: butterflied lamb with panzanella and grilled vegetables with a hollandaise sauce
- Pudding: fruit brulée
OR
- Pudding: tangy raspberry French pud
Thank God it’s Friday drink:
WITH
Friday evening fish or seafood:
- sea bream en papillote – serve with wild rice and a green salad
OR
- joyful, flavourful prawns with rosy feta rice
Week’s menu for August: number 2

August is the month for the sea. It evokes images of treasure hunters, smugglers and pirates….buckets and spades and ice creams. And there’s a delicious fresh minty crème de menthe ice cream among the recipes for this month.
I’m staying at The Pig on the Beach, so lots of ideas from there (how to make The Pig’s dirty martini; and an interview with Lora Strizic, the energy behind setting up The Pig on the Beach and now the manager there). And there’ll be a post about one of their suppliers, The Dorset Charcuterie Company.
Saturday lunch:
OR
OR
- Making a lunch (a hearty one) out of English pesto, tomatoes, and warm bread
FOLLOWED BY
Sunday supper:
Monday evening meat:
- gammon with saucy peach nearly-chutney
OR
- if you have lamb left over from your butterflied lamb of the previous week, lamb with roast sweet potato and pesto served on a bed of salad leaves
Tuesday evening:
- leftovers or night out!
Wednesday evening chicken:
OR
WITH
- sweet and bitter roast vegetables
Thursday evening dinner party:
- starter: smoked eel
- main course: chicken with pistachios, mixed berries and a Cuban tomato mojo
- pudding: crème de menthe ice cream – which intriguingly splits into impressive layers
OR
Thank God It’s Friday drink:
- The Pig on the Beach Smoky Dirty Martini
WITH
Friday evening fish:
OR
Week’s menu for August: number 3

Saturday lunch:
OR
OR
AND
Sunday evening supper
- Chicken and mustard sandwich
Monday evening meat
Tuesday evening
- leftovers or night out!
Wednesday evening poultry
OR
Thursday evening dinner party
- With drinks: cucamelon canapé
- Starter: Colman’s crab gratin with whisky
- Main: veal and celery alla romana
- Vegetables: couscous or tabbouleh
- Pudding: grilled and filled nectarines
OR
Thank God It’s Friday Drink:
Friday evening fish:
- salmon with rhubarb sauce, fried new potatoes anointed with tarragon-gin mayonnaise
OR
Week’s menu for August: number 4

“I rushed to the potager – you know my weakness – and walked up and down between spinach and dahlias in ecstasy….I feel as if alone in the world…. But then comes the enormous satisfaction of always finding a man dressing a hedge or a woman in a gingham and black bonnet on her knees picking up weeds”
Harriet, Countess Granville (born 1785), Letters
Saturday lunch:
- Esme’s favourite – tuna and beans, aka tonno e fagioli
OR
OR
FOLLOWED BY
- Shrewsbury biscuits
Sunday supper:
OR
Monday evening meat:
- Barnsley lamb chops with green nettle sauce, stuffed mushrooms and potatoes boulangère
Tuesday evening:
- leftovers or night out!
Wednesday evening poultry:
- Glorious Twelfth grouse stuffed with raspberries
Thursday evening dinner party:
- with drinks: convenient onion dip
- starter: ferry smoked swordfish (or eel) on a bed of green and gold
- main course: North African herb encrusted lamb meatballs with fresh mint couscous and yoghurt and tahini sauce
- pudding: Giorgio Alessio’s peach (or rather nectarine) and ricotta cheesecake
Thank God It’s Friday drink:
….. and to eat with it:
- aubergine dip with sundried tomatoes
OR
Friday evening fish:
- kerala prawns masala and
- paneer with ginger and curry leaves
OR