Oven Dried Cherry Tomatoes and A New Portfolio Website

If you like tomatoes as much as I do, then you will like today's recipe. We picked the last of our cherry tomatoes about a mont ago, and I wanted to preserve the sweet red taste of summer for longer. I've been wanting to make my own sun dried tomatoes for quite a while. Sadly, London weather can't be considered sun-dried tomatoes friendly. I could succesfully make rain soaked tomatoes. However, drying tomatoes in the oven is an easy alternative. I had already made one batch in the summer, but we ate them all in a few days. Just imagine fresh wholemeal bread with slices of cheddar topped with these red gems, or scrambled eggs, enriched with a few dried tomatoes. The combinations are endless.





Making oven dried cherry tomatoes is very easy and doesn't actually need a recipe. Because cherry tomatoes are really small, you don't even have to remove the seeds. Just cut them in half, place on a baking tray, pour over olive oil mixed with your favourite spices and herbs, and dry them in the oven until they reach the desired level of dryness. Let them cool down and enjoy!





In the meantime, before I let you dream about how delicious and sweet these oven dried tomatoes are, I have some news I'd like to share with you. I have finally finished my new photography portfolio website. It still needs some finishing touches, but it's up and running already. My huge thanks go to P. who not only built the website (designed by yours truly) but also spent a particularly long time to make sure the website works fast. I think he succeeded.





Oven dried cherry tomatoes
for one 40x30cm baking tray 

50-60 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
enough olive oil to fill your jar

Preheat oven to 65°C.
In a small bowl, combine olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano. Adjust seasoning to your liking. Place the tomatoes cut side up on a baking tray. Spoon the olive oil mixture over the tomatoes and bake for 4-5 hours, until they reach the desired level of dryness . Let them cool completely, then transfer to a clean jar. Fill the jar with olive oil, making sure the tomatoes are completely submerged.
Keep the jar refrigerated and the tomatoes will last for at least a  month.

Halloween Pumpkins - Pick Your Own

It seems like summer ended recently and it's already Halloween weekend coming up! I really like this time of year. The colourful leaves, fresh air, morning breeze, apples, pears, autumn vegetables and pumpkins, they all remind me, it's autumn. Pumpkins and Halloween however, are quite new to me. I had obviously seen and eaten pumpkins before, but we don't celebrate Halloween in the Czech Republic. I'd never carved a pumpkin until we moved to the UK, but I quickly embraced this tradition.

Last weekend P. and I took our first trip to the pumpkin patch. We usually buy pumpkins at a supermarket or garden centre. However, since I read a few blog posts about pumpkin picking, I've wanted to pick my own Halloween pumpkin. Luckily, I stumbled upon Beluncle Farm. Weather was beautiful and sunny last weekend so going to the pumpkin patch sounded like a great idea for a Sunday trip.











We arrived at the farm in the afternoon and on our arrival we were welcomed by a lovely lady who showed us the way to a large field full of gorgeous orange pumpkins of all sizes and shapes. All kids at the farm were having lots of fun picking pumpkins. I felt happy like a kid wandering through rows of pumpkins, trying to find all members of our “pumpkin family“.
We had the pleasure to chat with Mark Batchelor, who runs Beluncle Farm together with his wife Verity. He let me take some photos of his artichoke farm, but more on that some other time. The lovely lady turned out to be Mark's mother and she shared her favourite way to roast squash - with a little bit of honey. I can't wait to give it a try.

What made this trip even more special was the fact, that all proceeds from the PYO event went to Colitis and Crohn's UK.  Mark and Verity's son Luke who is only 10, suffers from Crohn's disease and his parents organised the PYO weekend as a fundraising event. Is there a better thing than spending a great afternoon and helping a good cause?

I think this was an amazing event. I hope to come back next year for more pumpkin picking!






Now it's time to carve our pumpkin family! Have a happy and spooky Halloween weekend! :)

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Beluncle Farm, Stoke Road, Hoo, UK

Smoked Salmon and Potato Salad with Dill

On Tuesday I arrived back home from a short holiday to Budapest. We had such a wonderful time enjoying delicious Hungarian food, the charming city of Budapest and gorgeous Indian Summer sunshine. I couldn't have wished for more. Once I finish editing 500+ photos, I will post about our trip. There will be many foodie places tips, so stay tuned. To make the waiting easier, here's a quick recipe for my favourite smoked salmon salad. I made this recipe a few times already, and it's always a hit.

I usually use soured cream for the dressing. This time I didn't have any soured cream, so I replaced that with greek yogurt. It's a bit lighter but still very tasty.

Smoked salmon and potato salad with dill

Serves 2

400g baby potatoes

125ml (1/2 cup) greek yogurt (soured cream)

1 small garlic clove, crushed

1tsp lemon juice

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 handful fresh dill, chopped

1 spring onion, chopped

170g smoked salmon, torn into small pieces

Wash the potatoes, put them in a small pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile, prepare the yogurt dressing. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and season with salt a pepper. Stir in about half of the dill.

Strain the potatoes and let them sit for a while to cool down. Arrange potatoes and salmon on plates, sprinkle with the remaining dill and spring onion. Finally, spoon over the yogurt dressing and serve.