With desserts, I'm pretty
lazy. If there are too many ingredients that I don't already have in
the cupboard, I'll be reluctant to make it. Besides the fact that my
sweet tooth is small, health-wise I don't mind if there isn't something
sweet around. It could have something to do with the few months of my
life where I ate a sweet muffin at least every other day (a whole other
story), or maybe it's that small guilt factor that comes with pouring a
cup of sugar into a bowl with half a block a butter already sitting in
it. Of course, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do but I'd
probably save the guilt for a cheeseburger.
Our annual office
picnic in the weekend however did call for desserts and I thought long
and hard about my contribution. A raspberry chocolate brownie? A
flourless black doris plum upside down cake? Both personal favourites
when the occasion arises but I was feeling lazy for baking. And I had no
chocolate in the pantry. Fresh fruit salad? I did need to go to the local
fruit and vege market anyway...
I
turned to Heidi Swanson for some inspiration. Award-winning author of
the blog 101 Cookbooks and books Super Natural Cooking and Super Natural Every Day, she had made a name for herself through her natural and
whole food cooking philosophy made easy, delicious and accessible
through her blog and publications. I hadn't read much of her work before
I picked up Super Natural Every Day in Portland's Powell's bookstore,
but I was already in a phase of wanting to cook with less processed
ingredients. I was sold.
So,
I turned straight to the dessert or 'Sweet Treats' section and slowed
down straight away. As I mentioned in my first post, I like reading
cookbooks just to read and in the urgency of needing to find a dish to
make, I couldn't help myself. Gorgeous recipes such as Watermelon Salad
and Membrillo Cake led the chapter, though were out of my reach due to
not having any medjool dates, quince paste or rose water around. Then,
the perfect simple recipe: Sweet Panzanella.
Panzanella
is traditionally an Italian savoury bread salad often made up of stale
bread tossed in typical Italian flavours such as tomatoes, onions,
basil, capers and olives, in a oil and vinegar dressing. A beautifully
easy summer's picnic lunch, making Swanson's sweet variation fit for my
occasion. The list of ingredients exceeded no more than 6 and I only
needed to buy a loaf of whole grain seed bread and some fresh fruit.
The original recipe calls for raspberries but suggests the option of
using either plums, peaches or nectarines - all fruit fiercely in season
right now. My plan was to find the cheapest juiciest option at the
market, and cheap and juicy I found: Plum Delights for $1.99/kg.
Yahtzee.
