Tuesday, September 22, 2015

A Seasonal Meal


Vegan MoFo Day 22: Make a dish using all seasonal produce.

For today's prompt, I figured I'd stop b my local food co-op and see what caught my eye. 
I found some very fresh and pretty fennel bulbs, sweetcorn, plums, apples, and cantaloupe--all locally grown and organic. (The tomatoes are from the garden.)

First up, I made some cantaloupe bites wrapped in smokey maple tempeh. I didn't have any toothpicks, so used the old rosemary-sprigs-as-skewers trick. Aside from possibly being able to qualify for the Most Retro Dish prompt from earlier this month, these were kind of fun. 


They tasted ok...the melon is juicy and sweet, and goes well with the salty, smokey tempeh. A drizzle of balsamic reduction would have been been nice...it was a bit dry.

Then I came across a recipe for Tomato and Fennel Bisque, which calls for adding a garnish of fresh sweetcorn kernels to what is essentially a creamy tomato soup.



As I read through the recipe, I was confused by the sweetcorn. But hey, why not? It adds freshness and texture.


And finally, I pulled some puff pastry out of the freezer and made some fruit tartlettes with the cherry tomatoes, apples, and plums.



The tomato tarts were meant to be sweet as opposed to savory. I coated the tomatoes in sugar and lemon zest and topped them with sugar-coated basil. They were a bit ill-defined--"am I eating a starter or a dessert?" But in the end, I think you could put almost anything in puff pastry and call it good.


Tomorrow's theme is autumn equinox eats--a bit northern hemisphere-centric. I'm not sure what I would do differently for that prompt than I did today, so I think I'll skip it and catch up on reading blogs.
Make a dish using all seasonal produce.

16 comments:

  1. That soup sounds delicious!! I adore tomatoes and fennel, glad to see there is some bread nearby too, I always need some bread to dip in my soup.
    Everything tastes good on puff pastry:))
    Ttrockwood

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    1. I agree with you on the bread!

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. All very beautiful, but I am eyeing that cherry tomato tartlettes. I am hoping to make a Upside down tomato tart with puff pastry later this week in an effort to use up my tommy tatoes, but your tartlettes have me tempted too. Shame you won't participate in the Autumn Equinox, but I understand - some of the questions are skewered in a certain fashion, hence I have missed a couple of Vegan Mofo prompts for different reasons though.

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    1. Tommy tatoes! hehe

      Upside down tomato tart sounds good--I'm looking forward to it.

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  3. The rosemary-sprigs-as-skewers is such a creative idea & it looks so cute! :D

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    1. They do look kind of cute...I like they way they're all twisty and wonky.

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  4. The rosemary sprig skewers are such a great idea and I am a huge fan of tempeh bacon. What great things you made with your purchases. I also like the idea of sweetcorn as an alternative to croutons!

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  5. Yeah, I didn't think of it that way...the corn is like croutons!

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  6. Totally, anything wrapped in puff pastry is great... You went all out for this prompt! I really like the idea of wrapping melon in tempeh strips... I'll keep the rosemary sprigs in mind next time I'm in need of toothpicks.

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  7. I know it's a little OTT; I thought the prompt was to make a seasonal meal, hence all three courses. I didn't see it was only for a dish until I went to post it. :P

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  8. The comment about puff pastry made me chuckle - I have to agree that most things come out better with a bit of puff on them! The tomato tart sounds intriguing and it looks so fancy!

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    1. I think you could put puff pastry in puff pastry and it would be twice as good. It's magical.

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  9. mmmm... pastry! Always a good choice !

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  10. Wow! What a spread. What is Mr. Dandelion saying? Or is this how you always cook?

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    1. Oh, Mr. Dandelion is a fussy eater....he doesn't eat everything I make, but I nothing goes to waste as I eat it all eventually...

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