Slow roasted tomatoes

I picked off this recipe from Gwyenth Paltrow's GOOP site. I make it whenever I find cherry tomatoes on the vine for a decent price. Though any vine-ripened tomatoes will do, cherry tomatoes are just a wee bit sweeter. In addition to halved tomatoes, all you need is olive oil, salt, pepper, and about 3 hours of doing something around the house while the tomatoes ripen in the oven (at 130-150C). The tomatoes are ready when the skin has curled well at the edges and the tomatoes have lost a good deal of their volume. I've enjoyed them as Gwyneth does, with mozzarella and fresh basil, but I've also had them with pasta and tossed them into salads. Most of this batch will be enriching my pitta bread lunches this week, accompanied by avocado, cucumber, lettuce and homemade hummus.

Plenty project: Burnt aubergine with tahini

I've been glancing at page 122 with longing since I made Lentils with grilled aubergine. The aubergine for Burnt aubergine with tahini is prepared in the same way: the aubergine is held directly over the flame of the gas cooker and turned around until it is totally deflated and the skin is burnt all over. After that the smokey-smelling flesh is scooped out and left to drain. This time we mix in water, tahini, pomegranate molasses (which I couldn't find and replaced with a 1:1 ration of lemon juice and honey), garlic, salt and pepper, parsley, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and garnished with extra virgin olive oil, pepper and pomegranate seeds.

It was the first time a seeded a pomegranate so I turned to YouTube for some help. I found a fantastic video of a Persian woman using her aunt's method for seeding a pomegranate. Unlike all the other videos featuring an awful mess and splashings of water in a bowl, this woman works her magic by making some shallow slits into the pomegranate shell. It was very easy and worked well even for a beginner like me.

Salad with parmesan, fresh herbs and pine nuts

Usually when I need a salad to accomany a main course, I end up making this, my favourite, because it is so fresh and flavoursome. And so easy and quick. First I tear up some lettuce - one or two varieties is enough - and add in some fresh leaves of rocket and basil I then chop some cucumber, shave some parmesan and toss in some pine nuts (which can be roasted on a frying pan beforehand, time permitting). I then mix all of these in a bowl, then toss them with some extra virgin olive oil, a small splash of balsamic vinegar, and sea salt and freshly ground peper to taste. Like any lettuce-based salad, serve immediately after adding the dressings, since it goes flat and wilty soon.