Summer skewers with basil, coriander and orange dressing

Michael Craig

This simple recipe celebrates big, fat, ripe tomatoes.

Ingredients

2	Courgettes, cut into 2cm slices
1	Eggplant, medium, cut into 2 cm cubes
8	Tomatoes, or more baby
1 cup	Water
1	Mozzarella cheese, cut into 2 cm cubes or, if using boccocini, half a ball each.
½ cup	Basil leaves
½	Oranges, juice only
2 Tbsp	Coriander seeds, toasted and ground or 1 tbsp of ground coriander.
1	Olive oil
1 to taste	Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degC.
2. In a baking dish, add the eggplant and courgette with a cup of water and half a cup of oil.
3. Bake till just coloured.
4. Remove and cool.
5. Skewer these with the mozzarella and baby tomatoes.
6. Sit the skewers back in the baking dish and brush with some oil, season with salt and pepper.
7. Turn on the grill in your oven.
8. Place the skewers under the grill till the mozzarella is starting to melt.
9. Remove and dress generously.

Basil, coriander and orange dressing

1. Blitz the basil leaves, orange juice, coriander and half a cup of olive oil till well combined.
2. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.

Note: Some years ago, I went to a flavour-building workshop taken by Glynn Christian. This man is a food genius. He pioneered British food television and has written some of most referred-to books. He happens to be a New Zealander. In this class he explained the relationship between flavours and I discovered the synergy between tomato, orange, coriander and basil. Thanks, Glynn.