Farm Tales Ep. 3 with Giorgia McAllister Forte

After jumping into the tomato tunnels with farm manager Jay and an in-depth tasting of each variety they grow, Giogria took her favorites back to Monforte’s kitchen to plate up a seasonally focused and foraged dish. Check out her recipe below for Five Tales Tomatoes, Sunflower Seed Cream, Fig Leaf and Garlic Soldiers and watch her full FARM TALES episode ‘here’.

Five Tales Tomatoes, Sunflower Seed Cream, Fig Leaf and Garlic Soldiers

INGREDIENTS

Sunflower seed cream

250g sunflower seeds
⅓ garlic clove
120g lemon juice
zest of ½ lemon
390g honest toil extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt

Fig leaf oil

50g fig leaves (stalks trimmed)
225g sunflower oil

Garlic soldiers

4-6 slices of really good bread (cut into 3cm wide pieces)
½ garlic clove
30g honest toil extra virgin olive oil

Assembly

600g five tales tomatoes
35g sunflower seeds (toasted)
salt & honest toil extra virgin olive oil
confetti coriander

METHOD

For the sunflower seed cream:

Soak the sunflower seeds overnight in cold water, stored in the fridge. The next day, drain and rinse the sunflower seeds to remove any impurities.

Place the soaked sunflower seeds, half garlic clove, lemon juice, zest and a sprinkle of sea salt in a blender.

Blitz the seeds, stopping and stirring regularly until well broken up and paste-like in texture.

With the blender running, slowly pour in the oil, stopping and stirring as necessary to ensure a smooth consistency.

Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary – you can add a splash of water if the cream is too thick, but note if you are making in advance, it’ll thicken in the fridge.

Reserve the other half of the garlic clove to rub on garlic soldiers.

For the fig leaf oil:

Preheat oven to 140C.

Toast 20g fig leaves for 8-10 minutes until lightly dried – this brings out a sweeter, more coconut-like quality to offset the grassy vegetal flavour of the fresh leaves.

Combine the toasted fig leaves, fresh fig leaves and  oil in a Thermomix and

Blend, while heating to 60C for 12 minutes.

Line a deep colander with either a coffee filter or muslin cloth, place in an appropriate-sized container and immediately strain the oil. Once all the oil is in the colander, place in the fridge whilst straining to keep the vibrant green colour.

For the garlic soldiers:

Preheat the oven to 150-160C.

Brush the bread with the oil on both sides, sprinkle with sea salt flakes and toast in the oven until golden, about 15 minutes. Flip halfway through to colour both sides evenly.

Once removed from the oven, rub the cut side of the garlic clove over each side of the toast.

To assemble:

Toast sunflower seeds over medium heat, tossing regularly and until uniformly golden. Set aside to cool.

Cut the tomatoes into thin wedges; quarters or eighths depending on the size.

Combine tomatoes in a bowl and gently toss with a splash of Honest Toil and sea salt.

On the plate, spoon a generous layer of sunflower seed cream across the dish. Place

tomatoes over the cream, dot with fig leaf oil, sprinkle a handful of the toasted seeds and finish with confetti coriander.

Serve with garlic soldiers to scoop up the tomatoes and cream.