Recipe: Tomato Confit

Wish you could store all those ripe roma tomatoes for another day, but the thought of canning repels you? Try roasting them. It's super easy, and so tasty. The roasted tomatoes, or "tomato confit", will keep in the fridge for at least a week, and freezes well.

I used the instructions on the blog Chocolate & Zucchini, but didn't include the chili flakes or herbs. When packing the confit into jars, I layered with roasted garlic since I had it on-hand.

The confit has been incredible in sandwiches, omlettes, pasta, or even on their own. My favourite, though, is using the confit in a caprese salad. One slice of roasted tomato, one slice of buffalo mozzarella, one fresh basil leaf, salt, pepper, a glug of olive oil... there's nothing quite like it.

Recipe: Chilled Zucchini and Basil Soup

The summertime is the perfect time, if not the only time, for chilled soups. Sure, you don’t get the same heart-warming, snuggling-by-the-fireplace vibes that you do drinking a hot soup in the dead of winter. But a chilled soup is still delicious as f***.

But don't just stop at gazpacho. How about cucumber? Or this zucchini and basil soup. It's the perfect mid-summer harvest soup. Super simple, but tons of flavour. Serve it with a side of garlic cheese bread, and it's your new favourite summertime meal.

The recipe is adapted it from Emeril’s website, and will make about 4 to 6 meal-sized servings. Ideally you would make it a day in advance to let the flavours develop. Enjoy!


Chilled Zucchini and Basil Soup
Season: Mid-summer, autumn

Ingredients:

1 onion --- roughly diced
4 cloves of garlic --- minced
6 zucchinis --- roughly diced
4 cups vegetable broth
A generous handful of fresh basil --- chopped
2 tbsp butter (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a pot on medium-high heat, sauté onion with some oil (or butter if using) for 2 minutes. Add garlic, and sauté until onion turns transparent. Add zucchini, and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add broth, boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend with hand immersion blender, or in traditional blender in batches. Cool, cover and chill. Season with salt and pepper to taste.