Serves: 6
INGREDIENTS
Salad
8 roma tomatoes, halved
6 baby yellow or red sweet chillies
3 red capsicums
3 red onions, peeled
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Dressing
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons capers, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
To finish
300 grams peeled watermelon
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Salad: Halve the tomatoes and place on a lined baking tray. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cut the sweet chillies and capsicums in half and remove the seeds. Cut the onions into sixths through the root end.
Place them on another lined baking tray and toss with the oil, cumin seeds and garlic and season. Roast all the vegetables in the oven until tender but not falling apart. Set aside to cool.
Dressing: Whisk the oil and lemon juice together and stir in the remaining ingredients. Season.
To finish: Cut the watermelon into small chunks. Halve the cherry tomatoes and squeeze out the seeds. This stops the salad from being too wet. Rip the capsicums into long strips. Gently combine all the ingredients and place in a bowl. Pack the salad and the dressing separately and combine both at the picnic.
Pantry Note: Sweet chillies are mildly hot. Look for them in specialty stores and good greengrocers. The variety commonly found is called New Mexican.
Menu: pack a summer picnic with Fillet of Beef Rolls with Black Olive and Currant Relish, Stilton, Spiced Walnut and Celery Pâté with Toasted Walnut Bread, Asian Noodles with Sesame Dressing and Barbecue Pork, and Sour Cherry and Chocolate Meringue Cookies.
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latest issue:
126
We start by sharing what’s on the dish team’s radar, what we’re watching, listening to and reading. Harry Butterfield puts a twist on his Nonna’s agnolotti, Malissa Fedele reminds us of the importance of fibre, and Phoebe Holden fulfils a long-held dream, sitting down with Yotam Ottolenghi. Autumn is an abundant time, we make the most with pumpkin, kūmara, cabbage, cauliflower, feijoas, apples and pears. We’re dishing up dinners for two, including a Chicken Dumpling Lasagne, alongside easy weeknight meals. We honour our mums, revisit timeless classics, and add a little baking challenge. This issue, we encourage you to slow down, to enjoy writing your shopping list, and spending time in the kitchen. Because even when life feels relentless, there’s always space to share something delicious.