{dried tomato+basil muffins}

Miguel and Shana had brought us this lovely jar of dried/smoked tomatoes with herbs and I've been wondering about what to do with them...

Until I found a recipe on the Sep. '05 issue of Delicious (p. 88) for sun-dried pepper and basil muffins. I adjusted the recipe a bit, but here's how it goes...

::: 4 tbsps olive oil, plus a wee bit more for greasing
::: 250 g plain flour (I guess you could try whole, too)
::: 1 tbsp baking powder
::: 1/2 tsp salt
::: 50 g grated Parmesan
::: 30 g dried tomatoes, finely chopped
::: 10 g basil leaves, finely shredded
::: 150 ml milk
::: 1 egg, lightly beaten
::: black pepper (this I forgot!)
::: a bit of rosemary


1. Preheat oven to 180º C. Lightly grease the muffin tins with a little oil.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add some ground black pepper and rosemary. Stir in the Parmesan, tomatoes and basil leaves.
3. Pour in the milk, egg and olive oil. Beat with a wooden spoon until just mixed. Divide between the muffin tins and bake for about 20 minutes, until risen and firm to the touch.

Serve warm with a dollop (or 2!) of butter - this is actually real butter, made by this lady in a nearby town. I would have added some more salt and maybe some more cheese. But if your butter is salty, it's just perfect.

It's lovely with some soup! The soup is tomato+potato+onion+leeks+basil with some other herbs...

If you'd like to make your own sun-dried tomatoes at home, check these recipes here, here, here or here.