A Seasonal Meal

Vegan MoFo Day 22: Make a dish using all seasonal produce.

For today's prompt, I figured I'd stop b my local food co-op and see what caught my eye. 
I found some very fresh and pretty fennel bulbs, sweetcorn, plums, apples, and cantaloupe--all locally grown and organic. (The tomatoes are from the garden.)

First up, I made some cantaloupe bites wrapped in smokey maple tempeh. I didn't have any toothpicks, so used the old rosemary-sprigs-as-skewers trick. Aside from possibly being able to qualify for the Most Retro Dish prompt from earlier this month, these were kind of fun. 

They tasted ok...the melon is juicy and sweet, and goes well with the salty, smokey tempeh. A drizzle of balsamic reduction would have been been nice...it was a bit dry.

Then I came across a recipe for Tomato and Fennel Bisque, which calls for adding a garnish of fresh sweetcorn kernels to what is essentially a creamy tomato soup.

As I read through the recipe, I was confused by the sweetcorn. But hey, why not? It adds freshness and texture.

And finally, I pulled some puff pastry out of the freezer and made some fruit tartlettes with the cherry tomatoes, apples, and plums.

The tomato tarts were meant to be sweet as opposed to savory. I coated the tomatoes in sugar and lemon zest and topped them with sugar-coated basil. They were a bit ill-defined--"am I eating a starter or a dessert?" But in the end, I think you could put almost anything in puff pastry and call it good.

Tomorrow's theme is autumn equinox eats--a bit northern hemisphere-centric. I'm not sure what I would do differently for that prompt than I did today, so I think I'll skip it and catch up on reading blogs.

Make a dish using all seasonal produce.