Tomato and basil bread

I love to take recipes and make them "my own". Add a little something here. More of this. Less of this. Cook it longer. Cook it slower. Substitute this for this. You get the picture. What I did with this recipe was read it out loud and do exactly what it said. I didn't change a thing. The flavour combinations seemed perfect for me and I didn't mess with it. It came from the Woolworths Taste Cookbook and it's a cracker. I knocked it up for breakfast on a recent trip to Wellington with Power, The Awesomes, Mama Kee and of course The Queen. I'm not sure if it was the stinging hangover (it definitely wasn't just them being polite) but they seemed to love it. I served it for breakfast with some silky, scrambled eggs but honestly it could work with pretty much anything. At pretty much any time of the day. It would also work if you used the mixture to make muffins. 

Stuff you need to feed 6:

• 15 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 120g flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 free range eggs
• Half a cup milk
• 125g basil pesto
• 165g parmesan, grated

What to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 140 degrees celsius. Halve the tomatoes, season with sea salt and black pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 2 hours. Remove and set aside. 

2. Increase the temperature to 180 degrees celsius. Combine flour and baking powder. In a bowl beat the eggs, then mix in the flour mixture. Add the milk and basil pesto and stir through. 

3. Fold half the roasted tomatoes into the mixture and stir in the parmesan. 

4. Grease a loaf pan and spoon in the mixture (or into muffin tins)

5. Bake for 50 minutes, or until cooked. To test, insert a skewer and pull it out. The bread is done if the skewer comes out cleanly. 

Like I said, I served mine with scrambled eggs. If you want to just throw it onto a chopping board and present it like that (and it will still look incredible) roast some extra tomatoes and use them as a garnish with some basil leaves. 

Cheers,

Jamie Who