Homemade pesto and slow roasted tomatoes

At the weekend, after braving the garden centre on a Bank Holiday weekend, I bought a new herb trough, along with tomato plants and a cucumber plant.  This mini vegetable plot made me feel very domesticaed, and I was inspired to make my own pesto plus slow roasted tomatoes.

For the pesto I blended a large bunch of basil (bit more than shown here as I added more), a handful of pine nuts, half chopped clove of garlic (optional) a handful of grated parmesan and a tablespoon of olive oil plus seasoning – and that was it!

On to the tomatoes…. I took a pack of cherry tomatoes and halved them, and then mixed two chopped sweet pointed red peppers in a little olive oil – chilli oil would be nice.  These were then roasted at 110 degrees for one hour, turning once.

 Roasting in this way makes them even sweeter.

I then combined these with some crispbread, feta cheese and olives and sat in my newly dug sunny garden.

 

Happy days !