The basil is going great guns in the garden so it’s time to drum up a few recipes that need a goodly amount of this fresh, fragrant herb that perks up any summer dish.
This is my take on Nigel Slater’s recipe that was posted in the Guardian this weekend.
For 4 people you’ll need
A handful of cherry tomatoes per person (you don’t need to be precise here)
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Sea salt and pepper
Olive oil
One 400g can of chickpeas drained
20g of freshly picked basil leaves
One clove of garlic roughly minced or chopped
Good olive oil
4 slices of sourdough or other bread
Preheat your oven to 210°C fan. Pop the tomatoes into a bowl, season with salt and pepper, mix together with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until they are all coated. Throw in a few springs of fresh thyme and pop in the oven for 20 minutes or so until starting to char and split.
Meanwhile. Empty the chickpeas into a small saucepan and cover with boiling water. Add a couple of sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf, bring back to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
When the 10 minutes is up, drain the chickpeas reserving half a cup of the cooking liquid.
Remove the sprigs of thyme and bay leaf, add the basil leaves, half a teaspoon of salt, some ground black pepper, the chopped garlic, some of the cooking water (start with half) and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Blitz with a hand held blender until you have a coarse paste. Check for seasoning and put to one side.
Remove the tomatoes from the oven.
Grill the bread on both sides then spoon on a generous amount of the chickpea cream on top of the toasts. Place the roasted cherry tomatoes on the top and then dress with some fresh herbs (I used thyme and dill). Drizzle a little good olive oil on top to dress and sprinkle with a little fleur de sel for texture and crunch.
Bon appetit!
If you have any left it’s delicious cold. Sort of like a basil flavoured houmous.
Serve with a Touraine Sauvignon blanc or a Menetou Salon. Of course a Sauvignon from New Zealand would also be great!
