Weekend Cooking: Cherry tomatoes!!

Last weekend my son turned 18 years of age. 18! Can you believe it?

For those of you who have followed my blog for any length of time, he started out as the boy, and then was the little chef but I guess now he's an adult (legally anyway) and so I should call him something else. Maybe the young man or something.

We had a family event for Sunday lunch and it was a veritable hit list of dishes that I have posted as part of Weekend Cooking over the years but there were a couple of new recipes too.

This is the menu:

Barbecue lime and chilli prawns (with lemon instead of lime)

Thai Pork Burgers with pineapple relish

Barbecued chicken (marinated in lemon and olive oil)

Sausages

Greek style roast beef

Tomato, bocconcini and spinach salad

Roasted vegetable salad

Apple and custard crumble

And my sister did another amazing job with the cake.

Anyway, the title of this post is cherry tomatoes, so I guess I should talk about the delicious red orbs that are cherry tomatoes.

If there is one thing that I love the flavour of it is cherry tomatoes. I like them in salads, not only because they are so easy to chuck in a salad (I don't even chop them up) but my favourite way to eat them though, is cooked, say in a recipe like Pasta Pomodoro but  especially roasted. There's something so delicious about taking a bite and have a burst of deliciousness fill your mouth as you get the full roasted flavour. I have been known to roast them just by themselves, but also as part of a bigger dish.

Whilst I did go back to some of my favouirite recipes for the barbecue I did also want to try a couple of new recipes and so when I saw that this recipe was for a salad that included cherry tomatoes, I couldn't resist. Because I was making a few other dishes I only did half the vegetables. 

I was trying to be very organised and not stressed for this lunch, so in the end I roasted all the vegetables the night before and just cooked the ricotta that day but I would say if you are going to do this it is probably best to also make the dressing the night before as I suspect the garlic mixes in a bit better if it is still warm. There is a note that this salad can be served warm or at room temperature.

Roasted Vegetable and Ricotta Salad

2 red capsicums, cut into chunks (peppers)

2 large zucchini, cut into chunks (courgette)

1 eggplant, cut into chunks (aubergine)

2 red onions, cut into thin wedges (red onions as far as I know!!)

2x 250g punnets cherry tomatoes

3 Tbspn extra virgin olive oil

1/2 head garlic

200g piece low-fat ricotta, drained overnight in the fridge on paper towel, covered in plastic wrap

Olive oil cooking spray

1 Tbspn balsamic vinegar

Freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 190C (fan forced). Line 2 large roasting pans with baking paper. Divide vegetables between prepared pans. Drizzle over oil and toss to combine. Wrap garlic in foil and add to 1 of the pans. line a small ovenproof dish with baking paper. Add ricotta and spray with cooking spray.

Roast vegetables and ricotta for 25-30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove vegetables from oven and set aside. Continue to cook ricotta for a further 15 minutes or until ricotta is golden brown around the edges. Set aside.

To serve, squeeze garlic into a small bowl. Add vinegar and lemon juice. Whisk to combine. Drizzle over vegetables and toss to combine. Transfer to a serving platter, crumble over baked ricotta and serve.

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