Balcony Garden: Harvest Monday #48

Last weekend was the annual Sydney Food Bloggers X-mas picnic. We all gather in Centennial Park, eat the food we’ve brought along and participate in what seems like a never ending Kris Kringle.

The first year I went to the picnic I brought alone some Turkish Delight from Rowda’s in Newtown. There was NO way I was going to cook for a bunch people I’d never met – that’s panic inducing stuff. The second year I was brave and cooked something simple; and this year I again pushed my “cooking for others” anxiety to the background, turned on the oven and cooked…for 70 other bloggers!

I knew I could make something that tasted “OK” as long as it was simple, didn’t involve too many steps or ingredients. I also wanted to use something from my Balcony Garden…which meant basil as that’s all that I’ve got going on out there really (and the mint course).

And thus the “Tomato and Pesto Puff” was born. I found this recipe on Pinterest and I’m of the school of thought that anything on Puff Pastry tastes freaking AMAZING! It was super simple – puff pastry, a slice of tomato (sadly not home-grown), a bit of Parmesan, a dollop of pesto (also not homemade as I don’t have enough basil ready) and a sliver of my #balconyGarden basil.

They tasted GREAT hot and also weren’t too bad cold – which is how they were served at the picnic.

I think these were pretty successful. There were only two left by the end of the picnic – so unless people were hiding their uneaten puffs in their handbags I think I did…OK.

A big thanks to Helen and Suze who organized the picnic (the links are to their posts on the picnic if you're interested), and a big thank you to Mother Nature for not raining on our parade.  At one stage it looked like the day may be a washout and that rain was SO bad that there was NO way I was going to drive into town. Oh – and a BIG thanks to Mr Crackles who donated a 25kg box of crackling to the picnic – OMFG! I may have shed a tear or two when I saw that box of crackling.

Happy gardening!