Mixing up old favourites
As exciting as newness may be, even fickle foodies like me need to revisit old favourites on occasion. Here are three recent tweaks of old favourites on the blog…
Using some beautiful heirloom tomatoes & Bellbird’s amazing bread, I made a more classic and simple panzanella. This is *quite* different from the first recipe I posted… all it involves is tossing together chunks of really good tomato, parsley or basil, and bread. Then just scurry together a bit of balsamic, salt and olive oil, and drizzle over. If you like you can also sizzle some garlic slices in oil until fragrant and toss that in the mix too. If you want to make the salad more of a meal, omit the salt and mix in some feta or dollops of chevre, or toasted pine nuts. EDIT: Both the tomatoes and Bellbird’s bread are from Christchurch Farmers’ Market :)
After all the salads I’ve been eating, I craved a dessert that was a bit richer, but still used some of the lovely tart early apples on the trees in the garden…
Caramelised apple crumble tart was born, an even more decadent version of this super flaky apple almond crumble tart. The apples were cut into chunks and tossed into still-molten toffee (the butter and sugar amounts from this post). I got panicky as the toffee just kind of clung to the apples at first, but then once the apples started getting hot and releasing their juices, this amazing smelling apple toffee started forming. Use a large saucepan so the apples aren’t all bunched up in the pan. The apple caramel was strained out once the apples were mostly cooked. The caramelised apples went in the pie, whilst the caramel went into breakfast oatmeal for a decadent start to the day (note that the apple caramel separates once cooled, but combines again once melted).
I made these green collage fritters again, but used some smashed cooked broad beans instead of the kelp. The broad beans really made these more meaty and substantial. Note: I only ended up using the 1/3c buckwheat flour, but even then the batter was fairly dry, so if you do attempt these start with a Tablespoon of flour first, unless your batter is quite wet already. It all depends on the courgettes/zucchinni you use and how juicy they are and your grater. The recipe also works with wakame, which you only need to soak in boiled water for a few minutes rather than cooking and chopping like you’d need to with kelp. That said, wakame is a bit pricier. Peas also work yummily in place of broad beans – just pour over boiled water to defrost them and they’ll finish cooking in the pan.
Currently Clickalicious
Sesame-crusted tofu @ An Edible Mosaic
Scallop crudo with shiso and yuzu oils and pink peppercorn @ Zen Can Cook
Two Spoons 
All of these look divine. That first photo – wow! Those tomatoes are gorgeous – homegrown?? I have some (slightly stale) rye bread to use up.. I’m wondering if lightly toasting it in the oven before tearing it up and tossing with the tomatoes will work..
I want some of that tart — now. Only I want the caramel in the tart, please — too good to put in my oatmeal where it will get diluted with nasty healthy oats.
This looks delicious! Does it keep as leftovers, or does the bread get too soggy?
Beautiful tomatoes, they make a perfect meal with the bread and as you said a little cheese perhaps.
Beautiful photos! Now I’m so hungry :) Love the recipes.
Wow, that looks amazing, all of it. Pretty jealous of those tomatoes!
C: Well, they were grown at someone’s home, just not mine haha. I got them from Pegasus Organics at the Chch Farmers’ Market (sorry should have mentioned that). Apparently they are super difficult to grow. They’re sweet, fleshy and not really sour at all, so technically not made for salads but I really like them raw. The rye bread sounds like it would work ok, as long as it’s tear-able rye as opposed to the super dense stuff :P
TKC: Haha, well the apples emitted a LOT of juice while cooking, so I didn’t want to make the base soggy or anything with the caramel. You could always keep half for just eating hehe.
2: It depends on the bread and how dry it is…which is not a very helpful answer I know. You can always toast the bread chunks first if you’re worried about it being too soggy.
P: I am craving some good cheese!
K: Yay, thanks!
R: Cheers, I got twice that amount the next week >.< Hope the guy growing them doesn't give up on them next year.
Your photos are gorgeous! I love fritters – it’s my go-to meal when I have random bits and pieces to use up. Topped with some homemade tomato chutney (homemade by family members, not me!), or a runny egg. Yum.