Tomatoes
You want a whiff of that odd herby tang that always comes with home-grown tomatoes and sometimes with so-called vine tomatoes from the supermarket. The shape and size are a distraction: tiny cherry tomatoes are the sweetest and big, blowsy beef toms are the least likely to have much flavour. The ones in between are anyone’s guess although I particularly rate tomatoes from the Isle of Wight. On my allotment I grow craggy French Marmande for salads and pointy Italian San Marzano for sauce.
When in doubt about which variety is best for a particular recipe, choose cherry tomatoes. Try them grilled until they pop then tossed while still hot with a little crushed garlic, a splash of balsamic vinegar and three times the amount of olive oil. This makes a great instant pasta sauce with a crumble of feta and torn basil, and a lovely salad, particularly with blanched, peeled broad beans.
Cherry tomatoes are perfect for gazpacho, the salad soup; so called because it’s made with salad ingredients. Set aside a little diced tomato, cucumber and pepper to serve as garnishes, then liquidise 1 kg/2lb tomatoes, 1 peeled cucumber, 2 red peppers, 3 garlic cloves, 150g/6oz stale bread, 2 tbsp wine vinegar and about 100ml/4fl oz olive oil. Adjust the seasoning with salt, Tabasco and lemon, then chill before serving.
If a recipe requires tomatoes to be seeded, save the seeds into a sieve over a bowl then press and use the liquid for vinaigrettes or tomato martini. You’ll be surprised at the flavour.
I love the chapter Too Many Tomatoes in ex-River Café Stevie Parle’s inspiring new book, My Kitchen, Real Food From Near and Far (Quadrille, £14.99), and Simon
Hopkinson offers several tempting recipes, including one for marrow (another glutting ingredient) and tomato marsala in his book, The Vegetarian Option (Quadrille, £20, available at a discount from the Saga Bookshop).
First published in the July 2010 edition of Saga Magazine.
Lindsey Bareham's website is www.lindseybareham.com.