Posts tagged roasted

Roasted Tomatoes & Cold yoghurt

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Roasted Tomatoes & Cold yoghurt

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‘ve been absent for some time I know. In fact, this has been my biggest hiatus from blogging since I started “forage in the pantry” back in 2012! I haven’t stopped cooking and creating you’ll be pleased to know! On the contrary, I’ve been taking inspiration from our recent travels “honeymooning” in Mexico where I fell head over heels in love with the tacos, avocados, burritos. An oh the mezcal. I’ve been greedily recreating since…and a Mexico post is due.

I have however been back at school. Wine School. Studying for my WSET Diploma. And with studying commitment has come a compromise. I’ve swapped camera spittoon and evenings learning the maximum yields in Champagne to the advantages of hand harvesting…

I am loving it and whilst the end if not near, I am hoping to have some time in the summer to dedicate for  recipe inspiration. So dear followers, I am simply on a blogging sabbatical, not retiring yet.

A sunny summer lunch with the family inspired me to pop up a quick and easy side dish that seemed to get a lot of attention. This one is from ‘Ottolenghi’s’ SIMPLE, but with some modifications, obviously. But its a real winner for ease and flavour. A monkey could make it, I promise. Its fantastic as a side dish for some roasted or barbecued meats or as a starter scooped up with warm pitta or crusty sour dough. The hot/cold contrast is an added bonus.

Serves 6 (as a side dish)

  • 600-800g cherry tomatoes, best you can afford.
  • 3 large cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 shallots, sliced
  • 4 large sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 tbsp sumac
  • 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp chopped thyme/rosemary
  • 1 lemon
  • Handful basil
  • Handful pine nuts, lightly toasted
  • 400g thick Greek yoghurt (I always use Skyr)
  • To serve – toasted pitta/crusty sour dough OR as a side dish.
  1. Preheat the over to 200 degrees and get yourself a large roasting tin/dish.
  2. Add all your cherry tomatoes in an even layer.
  3. Scatter over the sliced shallots, crushed garlic and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.
  4. Season well with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the sumac, chilli and thyme leaves. Grate over the zest of half a lemon.
  5. Drizzle with some olive oil (or use the oil from the sun dried tomatoes jar) and toss well to combine.
  6. Roast for about 20 minutes keeping an eye on them until the tomatoes have broken down and rebased their lovely juices. 
  7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before tearing over all but a handful of basil leaves.
  8. Get yourself a nice serving plate and spoon the yoghurt on top. Spread out and create a slight well in the centre.
  9. Spoon over your lovely roasted tomatoes and their juices.
  10. Scatter with the pine nuts and any left over basil and serve.

Bonus recipe – Roasted new potatoes with oregano & feta

  1. Preheat the oven to 220. Cut your potatoes in half and place on a baking tray
  2. Scatter with flaky salt and dried oregano.
  3. Drizzle with oil and roast for 30 minutes until crispy and golden.
  4. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before crumbling over some feta.

Mediterranean Roasted Potato Salad

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Mediterranean Roasted Potato Salad

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ith a holiday on the horizon it was time to use up the rest of the ingredients littering my fridge…I love this challenge.

Thats where the excellent ingredients that Odysea Greek produce come in handy – and ironically it was Greece where I would be destined for! Odysea sent me a glorious box of their devious samples last year and from this I have savoured some store cupboard gems, waiting patiently in the back of my cupboard until called upon and ready to pack a punch when called to the spotlight.

This salad was a mixture of fridge leftovers combined with a few cheeky purchases and of course, some glorious Greek flare. I used Odysea’s ‘Sun Dried Tomato Meze’ – a mixture of tomatoes, capers, and olives chopped roughly and combined in a gloriously flavoured oil. Similarily you can use the former ingredients alone and combine in your own combination but since Odysea did it so well, I figured I’d use their convenience pre-holiday….

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his makes one large chunky roasted salad but feel free to sub in other ingredients to your taste. Serves around 2-3 as a side dish. I served mine with a lovely fillet of grilled sea bass, but some steamed or roasted cod with lemon and parsley would also be delicious.

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

  • 2 large potatoes, chopped
  • 1 x packet green beans
  • 3 spring onions, chopped
  • Bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1 lemon, zest and juice
  • 6 x large sun dried tomatoes (chopped), 1 handful olives (chopped), 1 tbsp capers OR 4 tbsp ‘Odysea Sun-Dried Tomato Meze‘
  • 10 slices thin chorizo OR 1/2 ring chorizo sausage, sliced
  • 2 handfuls rocket leaves
  • Olive oil
  1. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
  2. Start by par boiling your potatoes for about 10 minutes until just tender. Drain, shake in a pan to rough the edges and then tip into a roasting tray. Season and drizzle over a generous coating of olive/sunflower oil. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes until golden and crispy.
  3. Meanwhile while they roast, par-boil the green beans for a few minutes. Drain and cool them under cold water.
  4. Chop the spring onions, parsley and combine in a large mixing bowl with the  cooled beans, lemon zest, sun dried tomato mixture and season.
  5. Pan fry the chorizo in a dry frying pan until crispy.
  6. Once the potatoes are ready, remove from the oven. Top into the salad bowl with the beans and herbs. Add the chorizo.
  7. Finely, just before serving, add the rocket leaves and squeeze over the juice of half the lemon.
  8. Serve!

 

Spice Roasted Sweet Potato Soup, Lime-cardamon Yoghurt, Coconut Flatbread

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Spice Roasted Sweet Potato Soup, Lime-cardamon Yoghurt, Coconut Flatbread

 

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Some relaxing blogging always starts the weekend off well. After a long week, it was nice to slow down and take my time over lunch instead of dashing home from work and being caped in my apron and up to my eyes in ingredients before I could even take off my coat! I love to constantly use different flavours and it really is the easiest thing to inspire a standard recipe by adding a few flavourful touches. If you haven’t got a stocked pantry of store cupboard ingredients then I highly recommend investing in a few essentials to be at hand and add to your cooking (see here). My store cupboard is by no means complete…storage space and budget don’t allow my dream pantry so for now I stick to the most useful ingredients.

This warming soup is smooth, creamy and cinnamon scented. Sweet potatoes have natural sweetness which goes really well with cinnamon and ingredients like maple syrup so the lime and cardamon yoghurt is a lovely fresh addition to top it off. Coconut flatbreads (just because) are heavenly.

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Serves 4

Soup

  • 800g sweet potato, peeled, chopped into chunks
  • 2-3 garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 onion, chopped finely
  • 2 pints of good, hot chicken or vegetable stock

Lime Cardamon Yoghurt

  • 150g plain natural yoghurt
  • ½ lime – zest and juice
  • Few mint/coriander leaves
  • 3-4 cardamon pods

Coconut Flatbreads

  • 15g dessicated coconut
  • 75-80ml coconut milk/water
  • 125g flour
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Peel and chop you sweet potatoes into chunky pieces and add to a large roasting tray. Throw in your garlic cloves, whole and unpeeled.
  2. Drizzle with a couple of generous tablespoons of olive oil or sunflower oil and scatter over the cumin seeds, cinnamon and some generous seasoning. Mix until coated in the spices and roast for 30 minutes. Toss half way through cooking.
  3. Meanwhile, sweat and soften the onion in a little oil in a saucepan over the hob and prepare your stock.
  4. Make the flatbreads by combining the flour, seasoning and coconut in a large bowl. Add in your liquid and mix with a fork until combined. Bring together to form a smooth dough, adding a little more liquid if needed. Knead for a few minutes and then set aside to rest.
  5. For the yoghurt, combine in a bowl with the lime juice, zest, finely chopped mint and some salt and pepper. Bash the cardamon pods to remove the seeds inside. Grind these as fine as you can in a pestle and mortar and add to the yoghurt. Stir to combine then set aside.
  6. Once the potatoes are ready remove from the oven and pick out the garlic cloves. Add the potatoes to the sweating onion. Squeeze the roasted and sweet garlic pulp from their skins and add with the potatoes.
  7. Add the stock and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the flavours are combined and the potatoes are really tender.
  8. Puree with a hand blender until silky and smooth. Add a little more stock to thin the soup if you like.
  9. Keep warm while you cook the flatbreads. Heat a frying pan over a high heat. Divide the dough into four equal pieces and roll each out thinly on a floured surface. Fry each in a the dry hot pan for a few minutes each side until a lightly charred and they begin to puff up slightly.
  10. Serve warm immediately (or keep warm in the oven) with a generous warming bowl of spiced soup drizzled with the fresh yoghurt.

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