Sometimes, the best recipes come about purely by chance.
Last week, I put some sweet potatoes into the oven to roast. Rummaging through the fridge to find something to top them with, I combined the dregs of a jar of sundried tomatoes with the leftovers from a tin of chipotle chillis in adobo, then spread the resulting paste over the soft, roasted kumera. It was delicious…
Inspired, I tried again the following day.
We buy our sundried tomatoes from Costco – they’re julienne cut and come in a one kilo jar. The chipotle chillis are widely available (I source mine from Fireworks Foods online). Both items are pantry staples at our house…
This easiest of recipes is made by simply blitzing together:
- 1 cup (200g) sundried tomatoes (drained, but it’s ok to leave a little of the residual oil)
- ¼ cup (60g) of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Pulse together in the small bowl of a food processor, scraping down the sides as needed. If your tomatoes are very dry, you might need to add a little oil, but I didn’t. Process until the paste is as coarse or fine as you prefer…
This was the perfect addition to a vegetarian plate for our garden elves, Emma and Millie, accompanied by Sawsan’s hummus, sourdough bread and dark chocolate rocky road…
That night, I spread a little of the paste under the tomato base of a focaccia pizza, then topped it with the leftover roasted sweet potatoes, cheese, onion and anchovies…
This very simple but highly versatile paste now has its own permanent tub in our fridge. The sweetness of the tomatoes enhances the smoky heat of the chipotles, and we’ve already stirred it into pasta soups, spread it on crackers and mixed it into dips. Definitely a keeper!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Sounds lovely. Yum
I love the Rocky Road as a side dish. :-)
Looks great -i need a tub too
I’m totally chilli-phobic, but don’t mind the smoky taste of chipotles. I think I’ll give this a go, but maybe reduce the amount of chilli – so as not to startle the horses. ;-)
Lovely that you can buy such big jars of sun dried tomatoes. I used to make my own in Spain with the tomato glut we always had!
I love hearing about your Costco finds Celia! I have the baking sheets mentioned previously and will look out for those sun dried toms. Ta!
What a great idea Celia, I will look for the jar at Costco next time I visit. Love the pizza!
What a great idea! We will soon be trying this at the little house in the big woods!
Thanks, I am always looking for ideas to use up an entire jar of goodies. I do love the flavour of chipotle.
What a coincidence, I have an excess of sundried tomatoes leftover from a photoshoot! This will be a great addition to the charcuterie platter I’m making for Saturday night.
Everything looks mouth wateringly fabulous. I really would like some of that pizza right now. I must try this – it is a sure fire winner.
Yum! Two of my favorites, sun dried tomatoes and chipotles.