Slow roast tomatoes

In the shops this time of the year the fruit and vegetable section is full of fantastic surprises; berries of all kind (locally sourced), green leafy vegetables, melons of all kinds and of course tomatoes. This really is the time for this humble fruit (yep, not a veggie) to shine and I eat tomatoes nearly every day in some form. The other day I got a packet of mixed baby tomatoes, some were round, others were yellow and another few were kind of oval shaped. They all got halved and put in the oven with some olive oil and garlic and were left to sit there for a few hours on a low heat. Out came the most delicious little dried up tomatoes, still a bit juicy but just all the good flavour capsuled in one tiny tomato half. Tonight I will put a few into a chickpea and chorizo stew, tomorrow I think they will be great on some bruschetta with mozzarella cheese...there is plenty of things to do with these tomatoes.

250 grams mixed baby tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic
olive oil, salt, black pepper and a sprinkle of caster sugar

Half the tomatoes and put on a baking tray with the flesh side up. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a little bit of caster sugar on top and place 3 crushed garlic cloves in the tray. Bake for 3-4 hours on 100C.

Tabbouleh

My home town has a big population of people from the Middle East, and as a result of that there is a lot of small shops selling all sorts of, for us Europeans, new and different ingredients. One of those shops is located not far from my parents house and I recall going there as a child with my mum to buy the best feta cheese, pickled chillies, pistachio nuts and olives. The shop is tiny but sacks full of all types of nuts, seeds and grains are stacked on the floor, and the walls covered in shelves up to the ceiling filled with boxes, bags and containers of all sorts of ingredients. Most things are bought by weight and it makes so much more sense than buying pre-packed, boxed ingredients in the super market. The owner of the shop was called Jakob, an old man with a big heart. He always filled the bag with a little bit extra, but still only charged for the weight you had asked for.
Cous cous and Bulgur is becoming more and more popular here in Ireland but I have had it for more than ten years i think. Personally I eat it instead of rice or potatoes with meat, or even just with vegetables as a salad. One typical dish with bulgur is tabbouleh; finely chopped parsley, tomatoes and onion dressed with lemon juice and olive oil is a tangy side dish to any BBQ and must be tried!

60 grams bulgur
120ml vegetable stock
30 grams flat parsley
1 tomato
1/4 white onion
1 small clove of garlic
1/2 lemon, juice
olive oil, salt, pepper

Bring the vegetable stock to boil and add bulgur. Turn down heat to very low and let simmer under a lid for 15-20 min. Fluff up with a fork and let cool down.
Chop parsley very fine. Cut the tomato in to quarters, take the seeds out, chop into small cubes. Chop the onion and garlic finely. Combine bulgur, tomato, onion and garlic and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper, drizzle some olive oil on top.

Vegetarian springrolls

After spending a few months in Asia I have developed some sort of addiction to spring rolls. In Thailand they come filled with glass noodles, mushrooms and cabbage, served with sweet chili sauce. In Vietnam they come filled with minced pork and vegetables, rolled in rice paper, sometimes deep fried or served fresh over lettuce leaves. Any way is good for me because there is something special about thin sheets of pastry filled with tasty stir fries, served with delicious dip sauces. Sometimes even just plain soy sauce is good enough to dip in.
When making these spring rolls I had Thailand in mind but served them the Vietnamese way with soy sauce mixed with chopped garlic and chili. I decided to cook them in the oven, that makes it a much more healthy meal and you wont have your home smelling like a deep fat fryer for days. It was more than enough for 2 big main course portions, I would say this recipe could serve 4 people as a starter or 3 as main course.

8 spring roll pastry sheets
100 grams glass noodles
1 carrot
2 hand fulls of white cabbage
4 spring onions
2 cloves of garlic
2cm fresh ginger
2tbsp vegetable oil
fish sauce, soy sauce, white pepper

Cook the noodles after the instructions on the packet, pour cold water over them to stop cooking and set aside.
Chop garlic and ginger finely. Slice spring onion and carrots into thin strips. Heat a wok until smoking hot, add the oil and stir fry cabbage, carrots and spring onion for a couple of minutes until they starts to soften. Add garlic and ginger and continue to stir fry for another minute. Season with soy sauce, fish sauce and white pepper. Last add noodles and season to taste.
Divide the stir fry on to the 8 sheets of pastry. Wrap the pastry around the filling and seal with a little water. Brush with oil and cook for 15-20min on 200C, until crisp and golden.

Insalata caprese

Sometimes the simplest things are the tastiest, in those cases it is all about the ingredients; they need to be top quality. I think most people knows this dish as Tomato and Mozzarella salad. For me, and the whole of Italy, it is Insalata Caprese. Two weeks ago deep red tomatoes caught my eye in the vegetable aisle in the local super market. Those tomatoes together with mozzarella, freshly ground black pepper, a drop of olive oil and some fresh basil became a lovely lunch. The days are getting longer and the temperature rising and I feel more and more like eating fresh, light food.Go ahead and try this if you haven't, with a piece of bread and maybe even a cheeky glass of wine it is simply delicious.

1 tomato
1/2 ball of mozzarella
basil
salt and pepper
olive oil

Slice the tomato and mozzarella in 1/2cm thick slices. Arrange on a plate, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and ground black pepper and garnish with some fresh basil.

Grilled Aubergine

I have always been a fussy eater and even now I find myself still learning to like certain types of food or flavours. Fish, capers, chickpeas and beans are only a few of the things I have learned to appreciate the last few years. One thing I am still working on is aubergine and I am getting to like it! Now I do not like the chunks of aubergine I so often find in Ratatouille, actually I do not like any chunks of auberinge. No, I want it roasted until soft and mashed up in to Baba Ganoush; a lovely libanese aubergine dip. But lately I have discovered how tasty aubergine is when thinly sliced and char grilled, soaked in a lovely marianade served as a side dich to grilled Halloumi salad and Bulgur wheat.
This recipe can also be used to make lovely Brushetta for a starter. Try to use fresh herbs as it will not only look pretty but also taste so much better.

1 auberine
1 red chili
1 clove of garlic
1 lemon, zest and juice
mint, basil, olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut the aubergine in to 0.5cm thick slices. Heat a grill pan until smoking hot. Grill the aubergine on both sides, it should have nice grill marks on it and start to feel soft. Place on a plate or in a serving dish.
Chop chili (without seeds), garlic, basil and mint. Drizzle lemon juice and olive oil over the aubergine. Scatter chili, garlic, lemon zest and herbs on top and season with salt and pepper.

Another hummus

A couple of days I try to eat vegetarian, there is no particular reason to it; I just like the challenge of trying to come up with new dinner ideas and cutting out the meat makes it trickier for me. Lately there has been a lot of chick peas on the menu and mainly Indian style, channa masala, but another favourite is good old fashioned hummus. I put a good serving of hummus on the side of bulgur, halloumi cheese and tomato salad. It is a fantastic combination of many tasty things on one plate. The other day I made another version of this hummus that I have blogged about before, same technique but with a twist; smoked paprika and red chili.

1tin chickpeas
1 lemon,the juice
2tbsp tahini(sesame paste)
1tsp cumin
1tsp smoked paprika
1clove garlic
1/2 red chili (without seeds)
1/2tsp salt
5tbsp olive oil
3tbsp water

Blend all ingredients with a hand mixer or in a food processor until smooth. Spread on a plate and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, dried parsley and smoked paprika.

Halloumi for lunch.

Halloumi is something I tasted only last year for the first time in a Turkish restaurant in London, and I was blown away. It is such a clever product because you can do almost anything with it; grill, deepfry, bake or panfry...

I usually just dip it in spices and panfry in a little oil til crispy and add to salads or couscous. Yesterday I made a small salad that could be a starter, a snack or a light lunch.

2slices halloumi

6slices tomato

1cm green chili, finely chopped

1tbsp plain flour

1/2tsp paprika powder

1/2tsp cumin

1/2tsp turmeric

4leaves mint

olive oil, salt and pepper

Cut the halloumi in to triangles. Mix spices and flour, dip the halloumi in the flourmix and panfry in olive oil for about 1min on each side or til crispy. Arrange tomatoes on a plate, season with salt, pepper and the green chili. Place halloumi on top and garnish with some olive oil and fresh mint.