Early autumn is the best time to enjoy fresh tomatoes, unless you’re fortunate enough to live where the season is long and happy.
The first tomato commandment: don’t touch the out of season, air flown ones from the darkest Peru or somewhere similar (unless, of course, it’s where you live). They have no flavour, no taste and hardly any nutritional value. Ripe, sun-kissed fruit is what it’s all about.
Arguably, to enjoy ripe, delicious fresh tomatoes you only need good salt, pepper and excellent olive oil, but there is a good pairing or two worth trying plus some wonderful tomato pastry recipes.
Here are my top ten tomato recipes, using tomatoes both raw as well as cooked.
The best dish to celebrate fleshy, plum tomatoes whether they are of the large San Marzano variety or the small Santini ones. Yes, the pastry is made from scratch and yes, the tomatoes better be peeled but the tarte is so glorious, it’s worth every minute of the effort.
This calls for really, really ripe tomatoes but the resulting savoury sorbet is the most delicious savoury ice cream possible. Flavoured with basil, frozen without the help of ice cream maker, it can be served as a starter, a palate cleanser or a sophisticated dessert. Personally, I just scoff it as and when.
Another fancy snack, requiring a little more effort but soooo delicious! A large tomato filled with pesto-flavoured burrata or cream cheese, with a whipped cream collar does look like a fat red nun – or a wrong-coloured snowman.
A glut of home-grown tomatoes usually means you make bottles and jars of passata. Which is very good too, but try using some of the fruit to make this condiment/spread/sauce. It’s a killer spread on toast or fresh bread, as well as stirred through pasta or rice.
Shakshuka is a tomato classic, with a few peppers and onions added in for company. This recipe, with cumin, garlic and thyme flavours, features salmon fillets poached gently on the gorgeous tomatoey bed.
Shakshuka with poached salmon
RECIPE
A fabulous dish to use small, cherry tomatoes. With a tin of chickpeas, a handful of olives and chunks of feta cheese, a super tasty vegetarian dish is ready in just over half an hour.
Tomato and chickpea tray bake
RECIPE
The combination of flavours is amazing! And if tomatoes are in season, so should be figs, with the best of all variety, Turkish Bursas. Sliced tomatoes and figs are sparsely dressed with balsamic-based sauce and scattered with crumbled blue cheese.
Call it crostata or galette, which depends on whereabouts in Southern Europe you are, it is a rustic, casual tart or pie. This recipe is flaky pastry made from scratch, marinated tomato slices and honey and thyme glaze.
There is no easier, better or more seasonal pasta than pappardelle with fresh tomatoes. This is no tomato sauce: the pasta is dressed with raw, barely warmed up chunks of tomatoes. Parmesan, basil and a drizzle of olive oil complete the feast.
Pappardelle with fresh tomatoes
RECIPE
Baked tomatoes stuffed with a simple but flavoursome mixture of garlicky, herby and cheesy breadcrumbs. With or without anchovies, it’s a supremely tasty budget dinner option.