Paper Palate

I was in the west of Ireland last weekend, my excuse? 21st birthday party.  Nope, nothing to do with the European vote, though, as you can imagine, there was a lot of heated discussion fueled by drinks and party food. If I have to describe Ireland in a few words, I would choose “family oriented” and “laid back.”

On return, while visiting my supermarket, I spotted Easy Food, which claimed to be “consumer specialist magazine of the year.” I challenge you to resist a food magazine you have never seen before - IMPOSSIBLE. Well, in this case, I was rather amazed to have stumbled over Ireland’s number one food magazine in my local supermarket just after spending an Irish weekend away. And if I was to describe Easy Food, I would say, ”family cooking” and “rather cool.”

Easy Food is a magazine that keeps it real. It has also a rare quality: it is interactive; there is a kind of conversation taking place between the team and the readers via recipes - NICE. It offers what you expect: easy-to-follow recipes for family cooks who are short on time, but somehow it includes an element of surprise. It may be because some sections are sponsored, or it might simply be part of the general magazine ethos. Take the burgers section . . . wouldn’t you be intrigued by the recipe for a “bistro burger” with caramelized onions, Brie cheese, lettuce, and walnuts piled on the top of the named beef burger?

Easy Food is packed from cover to cover with recipes: 82 pages, 90 recipes. I know when one likes something, one should not count . . . but I did - sneakily I wanted to verify the claim on the cover: “86 easy recipes with calorie counts.” Among this plethora, it has a weekly budget menu, hello credit crunch, a couple of sections devoted to the little ones, a fruit of the month, country markets, and more.

I went for cool food. My dad’s signature dish is the classic apple tarte Tatin; Easy Food’s tomato version had provided material for our Father’s Day conversation, therefore I had to go for it, and very tasty it was.

If you would like to subscribe to Easy Food magazine, it might be worth contacting them; they sound like a friendly bunch.

Tomato Tarte Tatin
serves 4-6

Ingredients
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp thyme leaves, finely chopped
400g cherry tomatoes
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry, cut to fit over a 20cm/8in ovenproof flan or quiche dish
100g mozzarella, goat’s cheese, or Parmesan shavings
Fresh basil leaves, to garnish
2 tbsp olive oil, for drizzling

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6 and grease an ovenproof quiche or flan dish with a little butter and set aside.
2. Put the balsamic vinegar, sugar, and thyme into a nonstick frying pan and heat until the sugar has melted. Bring to boil. Add the tomatoes and stir until they are completely coated with the syrup. take the frying pan off the heat and set it aside to cool.
3. Arrange the tomatoes in the bottom of the buttered dish and drizzle the sauce on top. Unroll the puff pastry and flatten out slightly with a rolling pin. Cute out a round slightly larger than the buttered dish. Place the circle of pastry on top of the tomatoes. Trim the edges or tuck them down the sides of the dish.
4. Bake the tart in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until it is well risen and golden brown. Place a large serving dish upside down on top of the tart dish and carefully turn it upside down so that the tomatoes are on top, protecting your hands with a thick towel.
5. Tear the mozzarella cheese into small pieces and sprinkle over the tomatoes. Garnish with a few leaves of fresh basil and serve drizzled with a little olive oil.

Fat 28g - Carbs 40g - Energy 437Kcal - Protein 9g - Sodium 3g - Fibre 3g