I made this originally as a snack, and it was so good that I thought it book-worthy, says Hasan Semay. Confit tomatoes last a good while and, if you don’t have any labneh, they’re just great on bread by themselves anyway. Serve as breakfast, lunch or a cheat’s dinner. It goes a long way.
Ingredients: serves 4
- 400g mixed cherry tomatoes on the vine
- 1 peeled garlic bulb
- 100ml good olive oil
- a bunch of basil, plus extra for serving
- a good amount of labneh or strained yoghurt (you can make your own by adding a pinch of salt to full-fat yoghurt and straining it in the fridge through a cheese-cloth or tea towel for around 24 hours)
- 4 slices bread of choice (I went with doughy flatbreads)
- 2 tbsp black sesame seeds, for scattering
- sea salt
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C/355°F/gas mark 4.
- Take your cherry tomatoes off the vine and place them in a shallow tray with the garlic and olive oil. Roast in the oven for 35-45 minutes, until the skins just start to blister.
- Turn the oven off and add in the entire bunch of basil, stalks and all. I let the tray sit in the warm oven for a good couple of hours.
- Once it has cooled, you can then transfer the tomatoes to a jam jar and, as long they’re under oil, they’ll keep in the fridge for at least a month.
- The rest is an assembly job really. Smear a good spoonful of labneh across a nice piece of warm bread. Add your tomatoes over the top and give them a squish.
- Additionally, I like to drizzle over a little bit of the oil that the tomato has cooked in.
- Hit it with some fresh basil for vibrancy, a pinch of salt and a little scattering of black sesame seeds to add a little contrast.
Taken from Big Has – Home: Recipes From North London to North Cyprus by Hasan Semay, published by Pavilion at £20. Photography by Haarala Hamilton. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £15.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.
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