Susie’s spiced Summer vegetables

Susie’s spiced Summer vegetables

Summer vegetables are now abundant here in France with their lovely warm colours & tastes that work so well with a bit of a spicy twist – so great to go with BBQ food. I have found this wonderful mixture of spices Melange Couscous (see below) in markets & shops here, don’t know if you can get it anywhere else but if you are here or coming soon to visit us I will certainly lay some stocks in for you to try. Let me know if you can get the same thing where you are.

Ingredients for 4 - 6 people

500gms sliced courgettes

1 chopped red pepper

1 chopped yellow pepper

500 gms tomatoes cut into quarters

3 medium sized red onions sliced thinly

4 chopped garlic cloves

500 gms broad beans

Small bunch of chopped coriander – including all the stalks

Salt /pepper to taste

Table spoonful of vegetable oil

A cup full of veg stock

1 teaspoon of Melange couscous – a mixture of ground dried spices – coriander, paprika, pimento, cumin, fennel & caraway.

Method

Sauté the sliced onions in oil in a pan (suitable to put all the veg into) until soft, then add the courgettes, peppers & tomatoes. 

Stir all together then simmer for 5 minutes until nearly soft but not mushy!!

Add the garlic, fresh coriander & the stock plus a little salt & pepper to taste & simmer for a few more minutes.

Finally add the broad beans & spice mixture & simmer for 5 minutes until the beans are soft.

Then serve hot with your choice from  the Barbeque.

A taste of Summer - slow roasted tomatoes

This is a great, easy summer recipe using plum type tomatoes very slow roasted on the lowest heat of your oven for 4-5 hours.

I usually cook them in batches of about 1 kg at a time but if you have an abundance of them you can do as many as you can fit in the oven!! Turn the oven on to the lowest heat and prepare the tomatoes by cutting them in half and laying them in a cooking tray. Sprinkle them with salt, freshly ground black pepper and sugar in roughly equal quantities. Place the tray in your warm oven and leave to slow roast for about 4 hours – they should still be moist and juicy but will have reduced in size quite considerably.

You can eat them warm or cold and they will keep in the fridge in plastic or glass containers for at least a week or so – you can also preserve them for longer by putting them in sterilised preserving jars covering them with olive oil and sealing them tightly. They don’t usually last long enough in our house to do that.

As these tomatoes have a wonderful intense sweet flavour they make a delicious accompaniment to either meat or fish.

One of the particular favourite starters of our guests, using these tomatoes, is to crumble goats cheese and tear up fresh basil leaves over them and serve with an olive oil, balsamic vinegar and honey dressing. Simple but delicious!

Didn't have any tomato paintings so thought some sunflowers and sunhat would create the right holiday feel.