roasted tomato sauce

It has been a good summer for tomatoes, I collected this homely looking bowlful from the garden the other day. I have been on a bit of a preserving binge lately, but sometimes you just want to do things the lazy way. (Besides, I have run out of jars!) This oven-roasted tomato sauce is perfect for when you don't have time to hang over a pot for an hour or two. I freeze it in ziplock bags and use it on pasta - it's that sort of tom sauce, not the old fashioned kind you would eat with chips. It's super easy to make. Just roughly chop enough tomatoes to fill a couple of roasting trays (I chop the bigger cores out but leave skins on, no need to be too fussy) then top each tray with 2 wedged onions, 6 garlic cloves, a teaspoon of salt, lots of black pepper, a stem of rosemary, a good drizzle of olive oil and a dollop of tom paste if you have it. Add chopped red capsicum, carrots and celery if you have them or want to make it more vegetable dense, but just the tomatoes is delicious for an intensely tomato flavoured sauce.

Throw the trays in the oven and roast at 160c for a couple of hours. I tend to do this in the evening then turn it off before bed and leave the trays in there overnight. Because the oven is on for such a long time you want to make a few trays full to make it worth your while, or maybe throw in a banana loaf or two at the same time?! After roasting for a few hours the tomatoes will caramelise beautifully, with all the liquid cooked out of them they will look like this...

Use a spatula to scrape the veges into the food processor, making sure you include the lovely sweet sticky bits stuck to the sides and bottom. Blitz it up, add a drizzle of olive oil or thin with a little water if too thick for your liking.

And there you have your starting point for many a delicious meal...although I love it simply tossed through spaghetti with lots of parmesan.

A few of our favourite things...

Miriam: I am loving the sweet 100's we planted in the garden back in November. They're perfect for salads or just snacking on. I was pretty happy with this harvest I got on Saturday.

Becs: To me nothing smells more like summer than fresh basil. While our basil patch hasn't taken off this year, our neighbour Jenny's has, and luckily she is happy to share. So our freezer has been restocked with ziplock bags of pesto.

Libby: The packaging of these Go Nutz corn chips makes them sound like a healthy snack... unfortunately they're not but are a tasty accompaniment to guacamole. And they actually taste like corn, not fake cheese!

dinner date - spaghetti & prawns

I made this spaghetti as a quick dinner for two on Sunday night but it's one of my favourite "dinners for one". I don't see occasions when cooking for myself as a reason to just have toast for dinner, rather I see it as an opportunity to have special treat... like prawns!

If you don't like prawns you could add bacon instead, or go without either for a very simple meal.

Like many pasta "recipes" its more an assembly of ingredients than a recipe. I've given rough quantities for two servings, increase or decrease as necessary.

Olive oil

1 small red onion, finely chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 red chilli, finely chopped

1 dozen raw prawns

A splash of white wine (optional)

1 can chopped tomatoes

A handful of chopped Italian parsley and/or basil

Salt & pepper

Spaghetti

Get a large pot of salted water boiling for the spaghetti & heat a lidded pan over a medium heat. Add a splash of olive oil to the pan and throw in the red onion. Cook for 10-15 minutes until soft but not browned. (Now add the spaghetti to the boiling water)

Add the garlic & chilli to the softened onion and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Turn up the heat and throw in the prawns along with a splash of white wine (if using). Stir for 2-3 minutes then add the chopped tomatoes. Cook over med-high heat for five minutes, reducing a little. Once the spaghetti is cooked, season the prawns/tomato sauce with salt and pepper and throw over the herbs.

Drain the spaghetti, then put it back into the pan and stir in a couple of spoonfuls of the sauce to cook. Distribute the spaghetti into bowls and top with prawns & tomato sauce.

Eat!

A few of our favourite things...

Miriam: I love my new camelbak drink bottle. In this hot weather I have it with me at all times. It has a straw mechanism, so you can drink from the bottle without having to tip your head back - far more elegant than your standard drink bottle. I had another very similar plastic version, but Mum called into question whether it was BPA-free, so she bought me this stainless steel one just to be on the safe side!

Becs: I can't stand raw tomatoes in any form - I think it is mostly due to the squelchy seedy insides - but love the flavour of tomatoes once cooked. I think tinned Italian tomatoes are a critical pantry staple, and we buy them by the carton load to ensure they are always in stock at home! A tin of tomatoes reduced down over a low heat to a pulp with just a little salt, pepper, and sugar (to take away the acidity) is my go-to sauce for pasta and pizza. These tins are going into a pot of Mexican tomato and lentil soup; the weather has been decidedly chilly in Christchurch lately so soup and cornbread seems a fitting dinner.

dinner date - corn fritters

Corn fritters are something I rarely order in cafes, for fear of the stodgy, super-thick versions so often served up. This recipe is based on one of Richard Till's that featured a while ago in the Sunday paper. These fritters are chock-full of corn, and held together by a minimum of flour, so they crisp up nicely and taste like corn rather than batter. The cheese is a delicious addition too.

We ate the fritters with sour cream, some chunky guacamole and a dollop of tomato chilli jam. I picked up a cheap box of sauce tomatoes the other day at the local vege shop, so our chilli jam stocks have happily been replenished. I make Ruth Pretty's recipe (which was originally Peter Gordon's) and love it. It is lovely with anything you would serve sweet chilli sauce with, but has fish sauce, ginger and garlic in it so has more depth of flavour...it's addictive.



corn fritters


3 cobs corn (or about 3c corn kernals, tinned or frozen)
3 eggs
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 c grated cheese
1/4c chopped herbs - parsley, basil, chives etc
1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
ground pepper to taste
oil for frying


Strip off the corn kernals, and put 1/2 of the corn into the food processor and the rest into a bowl. Into the bowl add the pepper, herbs and cheese. Into the food processor add the eggs, salt and pepper, and blend well with the corn. Add the flour and baking powder and whizz some more. Pour the contents of the food processor into the bowl, and fold together. Fry in a little oil in a heavy pan.