Asparagus and tomato tart

Of course asparagus is in season, and white and green ones are being offered everywhere. I really like to see them in my local market, although I haven't made too many asparagus dishes myself yet. I still can't fully decide, which colour is my favourite, as they both have their good points. When I lived in Germany I was a big fan of white asparagus, as it's traditionally eaten a lot there, and they do make nice dishes with it. But when I lived in Britain, I perhaps started favouring green asparagus more. Now I'm basically back to square one at deciding on favourites, as they are both equally offered here and often even mixed. What do you think, do you have a clear favourite?

Even though I haven't cooked asparagus so much myself, I've been enjoying it elsewhere. We had a lovely mixed green and white asparagus dish at work this week. The asparagus was lightly cooked and served with a nice sauce and some dry breadcrumb-nut mix on the top. I can't describe it properly, but it was delicious. And today we had a wonderful asparagus soup for lunch, where again both white and green ones had been used. I really can't complain about food at work at the moment. Since we have a new chef, the offering seems to have shifted more and more towards vegetarian options. It was always okay with the fresh salad buffet and nice selection of breads, but now I can actually more often eat a warm lunch. I think that the soups are always vegetarian, as I haven't seen a meaty one yet. It's good, and I can't compliment the kitchen staff enough.

So of course today's dish contains asparagus after all this praise. I could personally just live on tarts in this season. There are many tempting vegetables to put on them and to then enjoy the comfort, especially when cheese is also added. One of my main favourites is a tomato tart, and this one with tomatoes and green asparagus was very tasty. Here is the quick and easy recipe, as the pastry was shop bought.

Asparagus and tomato tart

Ingredients

Shortcrust pastry

Bunch of green asparagus

1 fresh onion

1 garlic clove

3-4 tomatoes

Cheese

Salt

Pepper

Thyme

Oil for frying

Method

Cut the tomatoes and pre-fry the asparagus lightly.

Chop the onions and garlic and fry them briefly in a pan.

Spread the pastry into a baking dish.

Place the onion, garlic and seasoning on it, followed by the cheese.

Place the tomato slices and asparagus on the top and bake in the oven at about 200 C until the crust is crispy and golden brown.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Halloumi, pepper and tomato salad

It's so hot over here! I shouldn't be complaining, as summer finally seemed to arrive to England, but around +22C is more than enough for me. In such a hot weather a salad is a very satisfying meal, as there isn't much hunger generally. I always try to add a filling agent to salads as well, whether it's pulses, nuts or cheese. Halloumi is one of the most frequent ones, as it's just so delicious when properly fried or grilled. Nothing disappoints me more than get some uncooked halloumi served. In the summer it's nice to grill halloumi on a barbecue. For this salad I also quickly fried the pepper slices, but they could also be barbecued.

Here is my salad recipe.

Ingredients

250 g halloumi fried

1 red bell pepper fried

Vegetable oil for frying

Tomatoes sliced

Lambs lettuce

Olive oil + balsamic vinegar + salt + pepper as dressing

Method

Fry the halloumi on both sides until golden brown.

Also quickly fry the pepper slices in hot oil so that the pepper gets some frying marks.

Combine the ingredients in a bowl and dress with a light olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

The VegHog's Tomato Festival 2016 Round Up

I can proudly announce the end to this year's Tomato Festival. This week has been full of cooking with tomatoes for me and without a doubt, the tomato cooking will continue. Sometimes posting daily can be quite challenging, but I somehow managed, and you can find my tomato recipes in the sidebar on the right hand side. Rather than talking about my cooking, I want to dedicate this post to the wonderful contributions that I received through several different channels. I am very grateful for each and every contact. Thank you so much for being part of the Tomato Festival again this year!

So let's start with the contributions. I received a lovely email and recipe from a reader called Vegan Rob. He sent me a vegan tomato curry recipe that sounds so tasty! He also attached a picture of the dish to the email and he wrote:

“Hello Veghog

I often read your excellent blog to get recipe ideas. Even though I don't blog myself I thought I'd share my recipe for vegan tomato curry with you for your tomato festival. It's not a very precise recipe, but it should work anyway!

You will need:

Tomatoes (I used 12 medium vine tomatoes, each about 4-5cm in diameter, chopped into 8 pieces)

Chickpeas, about 250-300g, cooked beforehand, or 1 can

2 large onions

Fresh coriander leaves

Tomato puree

5 cloves of garlic

A chili pepper

A thumb sized piece of ginger

Vegetable oil

Spices

Bay leaves

Fry 2 large onions in a little vegetable oil on a medium heat until they are caramelised and deep brown. Add a pinch or two of salt to help draw the moisture out of the onions. Be careful not to burn the onions, you'll want to fry in a large heavy pan with a lid and stir every few minutes. This might take anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour.

When the onions are done, add about 5 cloves of garlic, a medium sized chili and a thumb sized piece of ginger, all finely chopped. Fry for a further 2 minutes, with stirring. Add another splash of oil if the mixture looks a little dry.

Add some garam masala and fry for a further minute. I made my from the seeds from a single green coriander pod, 3 cloves and a level teaspoon each of coriander seeds, ground cumin and onion seeds. All these components should be ground before use, and rather than precook the mix it worked fine just frying it with the other ingredients.

Add a teaspoon each of ground turmeric, fry for a further 30 seconds then add the tomatoes and chick peas. The tomatoes will start to release their juices, but add a little water so most of the mix in the pan is covered. Add two bay leaves, remove these just before serving. Reduce to a low heat so the mixture boils, and reduce for at least 30 minutes.

About ten minutes before serving, taste and add enough tomato puree to get the colour and taste correct. This might be one or more tablespoons. Also add a teaspoon or so of smoky paprika and check for seasoning and spicing.

Add a generous amount of roughly chopped coriander leaves just before serving. I served the curry on its own, but it would work well with rice or breads.

I hope you like the recipe, keep up the good work!

Vegan Rob”

Thank you so much for your contribution, Rob! I really have to try this recipe soon!

I also received some posts from fellow vegetarian food bloggers.

Shaheen posted another vegan recipe for Ramiro Pepper and Harissa Tomato Potatoes with Black Pudding. This dish is nice looking and vibrantly red. It's made with new potatoes, tomatoes and red pepper and spiced with harissa. I'm very curious about the vegan black pudding that Shaheen served the dish with. Maybe I'm brave enough to taste it one day to find out what it tastes like. I have seen it in my local health food shop and Shaheen has shared several recipes with it.

Laura shared two tomato recipes from her blog archives, a tomato sauce for preserving and tomato koftas. A homemade tomato sauce for preserving is a very nice and useful idea. I hope I'd have the time to make some this year. The tomato koftas also sound very delicious, chopped tomatoes are made into a mixture with herbs and then fried until golden brown. This would be a very nice summer snack with a dip.

Then I received pictures of homegrown tomato plants in Twitter from Valeria Valo (@ValeriaValo) and I thought it would be nice to share them with the Tomato Festival, as they fitted the theme so well. She is growing her tomato plants in my home country Finland and wanted to share the progress of the plants. She is growing jersey, beefsteak and roma tomato variations. The vines are looking very good and I'm sure that she will have a wonderful crops.

Thank you again so much everyone!

Your VegHog

Tomato and olive bruschettas

Here's my last own recipe for The VegHog's Tomato Festival, but I will be posting the all important round up later, which contains your contributions as well. Remember to read it, as I got some very nice recipes from my readers!

So here are just simple, but so tasty tomato and olive bruschettas. I used a very nice olive bread in these, which added even more olives, but any sourdough bread would be nice in these.

Ingredients

Slices of olive bread

Selected tomatoes

Green olives

1 garlic clove

Olive oil

Fresh basil

Salt

Ground black pepper

Method

Slice the bread, tomatoes and olives.

Toast the breads lightly. Cut the garlic clove in half and rub it onto the bread slices.

Mix the tomatoes and olives in a bowl with some good quality olive oil and season with fresh basil, salt and ground black pepper.

Place the tomato and olive mix onto the breads and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Vegetable jambalaya

Finally it's the weekend and it's sunny and warm over here! I'm so happy about it, and even happier to be able to share another tomato recipe with you. This time I made a smoky vegetable jambalaya full of good vegetables and luscious local tomatoes. This is summer food at its best!

Ingredients

1 red onion

3 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

2 romano peppers

Olive oil

300 g cherry vine tomatoes

300 g paella rice

Sprinkle of smoked paprika

½ tsp liquid smoke

1 l vegetable stock

200 g sugar snap peas

140 g sweetcorn

Fresh pea shoots for serving

Method

Chop the onion, garlic, chilli and romano peppers and start cooking them in olive oil. Cook on the hob for a few minutes, then add the halved cherry vine tomatoes and put to the oven to roast. I roasted at about 150 C first under a lid in order to get the liquids out. Stir occasionally and roast until the tomatoes are soft. Remember that not everything needs to be fully cooked, as the jambalaya will be returned to the oven later.

Mix the paella rice in and season with smoked paprika and liquid smoke. Also add the half of the vegetable stock and return to the oven to simmer under lid. Keep an eye on it and stir occasionally and keep adding more stock when needed.

Add the sugar snap peas and sweetcorn when the rice is nearly done. Cook everything together until you are happy with the flavours. Keep adding seasoning, if needed.

Serve with fresh pea shoots and enjoy!

Due to the green components in this dish I want to share this recipe with Eat Your Greens that Shaheen is hosting this month. Obviously this is also another post to my Tomato Festival.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Your VegHog

The VegHog's Tomato Festival 2016

The tomato is such a versatile and fresh summer ingredient, so I am going to pay a little hommage to it in the shape of The VegHog's Tomato Festival 2016. The festival week itself will be running from 18.-24.07., but you can already take part. Don't worry if you don't remember my last year's Tomato Festival, you'll now have the chance to participate this year. I would very much like you to share your tomato recipes with me in order to get more variation, the more the merrier. Please see more instructions below on how to participate. You can see some of my last year's tomato festival recipes in this collage and I will be posting more vegetarian and vegan tomato recipes throughout the tomato festival later this month.

How can you participate?

Well it's easy, whether you're a food blogger or just a foodie, you can send your tomato recipe to me by the deadline Saturday 23.07. midnight starting from now. I will share the recipe here on the blog in my tomato recipe round up at the end of the tomato festival.

Either post the link of the recipe on your blog to the comment box below or email it and a photo to theveghog (at) gmail (dot) com. If you are sharing a recipe on your blog, feel free to copy the The VegHog's Tomato Festival logo above to your post. 

If you are tweeting or instagramming your entry, please also add @TheVegHog and #TomatoFestival.

Tomatoes, in any shape or form, should play a big part in the recipe. They can be fresh, heirloom, sundried, puréed etc., doesn't matter as long as there are tomatoes in the dish.

The recipes have to be either vegetarian or vegan, as my blog is vegetarian and therefore I can't share any recipes containing meat.

Only one recipe per participant please. It doesn't have to be your own recipe originally, just your take on it. You can share older posts, but should then re-post them on your blog.

I can't wait to see your contributions! Have fun cooking with tomatoes!

Your VegHog

Red onion, tomato and pepper tart

I guess the summer has officially started, as it's already June. I can't wait to enjoy all that summer food and drinks! Summer is the best season for vegetable tarts, I find. Tarts are just the best option for lunches, picnics, get-togethers etc. this time of the year. I like combining different seasonal vegetables on mine, and they are always quick to make. Now all we need is some warmer weather in England, then the summer can truly start. Here's the recipe for my red onion and tomato tart also featuring some roasted peppers and garlic.

Ingredients

2 red onions

1 yellow bell pepper

3 garlic cloves

Olive oil

8-10 fresh basil leaves

Handful of fresh oregano leaves

½ tsp salt

Sprinkle of ground black pepper

4-6 selected tomatoes

320 g shortcrust pastry

250 g grated mozzarella

Method

Cut the red onion into thin slices and cook them in olive oil until they are soft and slightly browned. Season the mix.

Cut the bell pepper into cubes, brush with olive oil and roast in the oven.

Cut the top of the garlic cloves slightly open. Put them in foil, pour some olive oil over, close the foil and roast them in the oven until soft.

Cut the tomatoes into slices and roll out the pastry thinly and set it to a tart tin.

Put the onion mix on to the pastry first, then the roasted peppers and garlic. Cover with cheese and put the tomato slices on the top.

Bake at 200 C for about 25 minutes until nicely browned.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Marinated mozzarella with tomato

I made this marinated mozzarella with tomato as a starter yesterday and it was a really striking looking dish and very tasty. The recipe is by Yotam Ottolenghi Marinated buffalo mozzarella and tomato from his vegetarian cookbook Plenty (p. 126-127). It can also be found online here. It's a simple and fine dish like Ottolenghi says.

I followed Ottolenghi's recipe otherwise, but scaled it down by the half, as there were only two eaters. The dish was exquisit: lemony, garlicky mozzarella with a punch of qualitative olive oil and a flavour of the fennel seeds going through accompanied by tasty local tomatoes. I will definitely serve this as a starter at a future dinner party and can only recommend it.

Your VegHog

Cheese and tomato baguettes

We make these cheesy oven baguettes quite often as evening snacks at my mum's house. Then we can use wonderful Finnish chanterelle soft cheese, it's so good in these, but a regular soft cheese will also do. This time I made these for breakfast and they kept me going for a long time.

Here's how I made them.

Ingredients

2 baguettes

100 g mini cherry tomatoes

½ onion

1 garlic clove (optional)

Soft cheese

Salt

Ground black pepper

Grated cheese

Method

Slice the baguettes and tomatoes. Cut the onion into thin rings.

Rub the baguettes with garlic and spread the soft cheese on them.

Place the tomato slices and onions on the baguettes, season with salt and pepper and cover with grated cheese.

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes and enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Your VegHog

Tomato and chickpea soup with harissa

I'm not officially participating in Veganuary, as I basically missed the beginning and also have the lame excuse that I opened my favourite Finnish cheese in late December and now have to eat my way through the one kilogram bauble not to let it ruin. Anyhow I've been eating predominantly vegan otherwise and want to do so more now.

This tomato and chickpea soup with harissa that I made yesterday evening is an easy recipe for weekdays. It's a very warming vegan soup with a hint of spice. I wanted to add that oak smoked Anglesey sea salt to it, which indeed added quite a nice smokiness to the dish.

Here is my recipe.

Ingredients

400 g / 1 can chickpeas

300 g plum tomatoes

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

400 ml vegetable stock

4 tbsp tomato purée

2- 3 tsp harissa

Few fresh parsley leaves

Smoked paprika to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Pinch of oak smoked sea salt

Method

Soak the dried chickpeas overnight, or just use some from a can.

Chop the tomatoes coarsely and onion and garlic finely.

Cook the onion and garlic in olive oil until soft and then add the tomatoes.

After a while add the vegetable stock and simmer the soup.

Purée the soup, if you prefer. I puréed it a little bit by still leaving some tomato and onion pieces.

I wanted to leave the chickpeas whole, so they were added after the puréeing.

Season the soup and let simmer until the flavours have blended nicely.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Gnocchi with tomatoes and pine nuts

Here's just a very quick meal, gnocchi with tomatoes, pine nuts, basil and mozzarella quickly tossed together in a pan and served with garlic bread. I love this kind of quick meals when there isn't much time or strength to cook. I don't know why, but I'm extremely drained today. I could have fallen asleep while walking several times today. I'm not quite with it today, but let's hope it's only a severe case of Monday blues and I will be a bit more energetic tomorrow. I can't even write more right now, better luck tomorrow. I'll soon be off to bed.

Have a great week!

Your VegHog