This week we’ve got a recipes for Breakfast Danishes by Bri DiMattina.
@iatemygarden
Hi Autumn Gardeners,
We’re mid-March and things are definitely starting to cool down. We notice, in particular, the chilly dewy morning and evenings.
But don’t be fooled. Though we can feel moisture returning to the air, the earth is still extremely dry after a long hot summer and a rainless start to autumn. Keep your pots and gardens well watered at this time to keep your plants happy and your edibles producing.
Today we have a special guest joining us for our March Harvest garden notes.
Bri DiMattina is a recipe developer, gardener & author of recipe book: Nostrana.
Bri has a large garden in Māngere Bridge (Auckland) with amazing volcanic soil. She bought the section well over 15 years ago, so it’s a large old-fashioned size plot that she has transformed into an edible haven, based on permaculture principles.
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Today we’ve got a recipe from Bri to help you use up those end-of-season tomatoes – a delicious breakfast danish.
If you love the look of Bri’s recipe this week (and throughout the series), you can buy her cookbook, Nostrana [here].
But first, some tips on seasonal planting and harvesting this month.
Emma x
March — Edible Planting
- Plant leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, parsley, silverbeet
- Brassicas — broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi
- Leek, spring onions, onions, celery
- Early garlic
- Fruit trees
March — Harvest
- Apples, pears, beans, kūmara, pumpkin, potatoes, aubergine
- Onions and garlic — when bulbs are firm and foliage has turned yellow, folded over or ia starting to die back
- The first of feijoas and citrus
- The last of strawberries, nectarines, peaches, plums, tomatoes, chillies, cucumbers, zucchini
- Many root vegetables including beetroot, carrots, parsnips can be left in the ground until you need them. But if you’re worried about slugs or extreme frost, lift them now and store.
A word from Bri.
“Because its the end of summer and top of autumn, I thought I’d share my favourite use for tomatoes which didn’t quite make it into my recipe book (Nostrana), but is something I make on a really regular basis — and they’re really delicious!
This recipe is a riff on the classic Pissaladière, but done as a savoury danish. We eat this for breakfast and pop it in lunchboxes.”
Breakfast Danish
Makes 8
Ingredients
- 2 sheets of Puff Pastry (each cut into four)
- 8 small rectangles of gruyere, roughly 3x10cm (substituting for any cheese is better than no cheese)
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 3 large onions (halved & thinly sliced)
- 2 large tomatoes (or a collection of cherry toms) sliced
- 8 anchovies
1 small egg & dash of milk (to make an egg wash)
(Capers and olives are also good additions instead of, or as well as, the anchovy)
Method
- Place the puff pastry pieces on a baking tray
- Lay the pieces of cheese diagonally in the middle
- In a pan, heat the olive oil and add the sliced onions and thyme sprigs. Keep the temperature really low and cook these slowly, stirring occasionally until they have almost melted into each other and are a lovely golden colour. Once cool, layer on top of the cheese.
- Next add the tomato and then anchovy
- Take the opposite diagonal corners of the pastry and join them in the middle on top (seal together with a little egg wash)
- Egg wash the pastry
- Bake until the pastry has cooked
