Food fit for a festival

This week’s recipes are for festival food. Yes, festival food, the more I alliterate the less attractive it seems. But fear ye not, I do not come armed with soggy noodles and limp breakfast rolls. I come with slow roasted tomatoes and hummus, two simple things you can make in the comfort of your own home and take with you to Electric Picnic next weekend.

Taking your own food, aside from bags of crisps, is not the coolest thing to be seen doing (who cares about cool anyway?) but it is quite possibly the cleverest thing you could spend a little time thinking about. Not only will you notice the difference in your wallet (€7 crepes anyone?) but you’ll also save yourself dodgy festival belly on Monday morning.

These two recipes are easy to prepare and bring with you to the festival. Add some crackers, cheese or whatever else you feel like and lunch is sorted on one day, at least. If you’re not going to Electric Picnic or any other festival the recipes are ideal snack foods; the tomatoes are delicious stirred into hot pasta.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

Slow Roasted Tomatoes, tupperware-tastic © Ciara Norton

Ingredients: you can vary the amounts, make as much or as little as you want.

• Cherry tomatoes
• Sugar
• Salt
• Fresh Basil leaves
• Dried oregano
• Olive Oil

Pre-oven cherry tomatoes © Ciara Norton

Method: This is an overnight one, with very little effort involved.

1. Preheat your oven to its highest temperature
2. Half each tomato and place onto a baking tray seed side up, as shown in picture
3. Sprinkle a light layer of sugar, then salt, onto the tomatoes
4. Tear up some basil leaves and scatter over the tomatoes
5. Sprinkle your dried oregano – or any herb you like – over the tomatoes
6. Cover the tomatoes with a layer of olive oil (not extra virgin unless that’s all you have)
7. When your oven is as hot as it can get put the tomatoes in, close the door, turn off the oven and leave for the night. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR! When you awake in the morning the tomatoes should be soft to the touch and absolutely delicious. Add them to salads, use with bruschetta, toss them into hot pasta, spread with cheese on crackers etc etc

Electric Hummus

Ingredients © Ciara Norton

Ingredients: makes LOADS of hummus, enough for a long weekend. You might want to divide by two or three for a more sensible amount

• 3 x 400g tins of chickpeas
• 3 tablespoons Light Tahini (dark or roasted also works)
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 2 teaspoons of Paprika (I used mild, smoked could be delicious too
• 40ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 cloves Garlic, crushed or chopped finely
• Salt ‘n’ Pepper

Method:

1. Drain the chickpeas from the tins and rinse in water
2. Put all of the other ingredients into a bowl and blend until smooth
3. Your hummus is ready, and it’s delicious.

Recipes by Ciara Norton from The Crazy Is Catching

Hummus, a sprinkling of paprika and Suggs © Ciara Norton