All things tomato
WELL, here we are in August and still the village festivals continue, albeit in the evenings now because of the heat. This weekend it is the turn of Çamlıbel, where the Culture and Art Festival (known locally as the Tomato Festival) started last night. If you feel like popping along, there will as usual be concerts by local groups and lots of folk dancing but there will also be produce stalls and a cooking competition with the emphasis firmly on “things tomato”.
For the first time, the organisers are also advertising a “tomato fight” which is down on the programme as the closing event tomorrow night. This worries me somewhat; partly because I have a very low threshold of tolerance for food fights, and partly because of the food wastage aspect. It’s probably inspired by the famous Spanish festival of La Tomatina and we’ll just have to hope that it takes its ethos from that as well, in that the tomatoes used are not fit for human consumption and there is a thorough clean-up immediately afterwards.
La Tomatina is held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Buñol, near Valencia, where thousands of visitors from around the world join the locals in the “tomato battle” that claims to be the world’s biggest food fight. It only lasts for one hour but it is estimated that around 150,000 over-ripe (and in some cases, rotten) tomatoes are splattered round the town centre in that time, with the debris being hosed away afterwards, to leave the streets pristine.
La Tomatina is not an ancient festival, only dating back to 1945, when a street fight broke out (there are several versions of why) with people being pelted with vegetables from a nearby market stall. It is claimed that the same people deliberately picked a fight the next year and brought their own supply of tomatoes. The locals joined in with gusto and a new tradition was born, despite the best efforts of the police to stop it. It was banned by the Franco regime in the early 1950s as having “no religious connection”, but the popularity of the food fight lived on and eventually it returned as a festival.
Prior to 2013, up to 50,000 people took part — Buñol’s normal population is around 9,000 — but since then, visitors have been limited to 20,000, each paying at least 10 euros for a ticket.
The organisers are adamant that food wastage is not an issue as the tomatoes used are deemed unfit
for sale by European regulators and would normally be left to rot in the fields, meaning they could not be used to combat hunger elsewhere. Instead of being wasted, they are used in an event that brings much needed employment and tourist revenue to the area . . . which is all very well but I can’t help wondering where agriculture is going wrong that so much produce has to be declared “unfit for consumption” in the first place.
Fortunately, there are some good tomatoes on sale here at the moment at reasonable prices, so let’s concentrate on making the most of them while they’re around. We’ll start with a pilaf that will go well with a whole range of dishes, from local kebabs or curries to grilled fish or prawns.
TOMATO PILAF
300g long-grain or basmati rice 500g ripe tomatoes, peeled A good quality stock cube, eg Kallo tomato and herb or Knorr vegetable
1 teaspoon sugar Black pepper and pul biber 50g butter, cut into small pieces
Put the rice into a colander and rinse it well under cold, running water. Quarter the tomatoes, remove any hard core and discard as many seeds as possible. Tip the tomatoes into a food processor and blitz until virtually liquid. Pour the resulting juicy purée into a jug and make up to 650ml with water. Pour it into a pan, crumble in the stock cube and add the sugar. Season with a few grindings of black pepper and a pinch of pul biber, and bring to the boil. Stir in the rice, cover the pan and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the rice is tender. Most of the liquid will have been absorbed but drain off any excess. Fold in the butter, cover the pan with a tea towel
under the lid and set aside until required (it will keep warm for up to an hour). Fluff up with a fork before serving.
TOMATO, HELLİM AND CHIVE FLAN
250g cherry tomatoes 1 tablespoon olive oil 200ml cream
3 eggs Salt, freshly ground black pepper and grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives 200g hellim, cubed A blind-baked pastry case made from 375g of shortcrust pastry
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Lay the tomatoes in an oven tray, drizzle with oil and roast for 15 minutes.
Put the cream and eggs into a jug and season well with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Whisk until thoroughly combined, then stir in the chives. Arrange the tomatoes in the pastry case and tuck the hellim cubes in among them. Pour over the creamy egg mixture and bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until set and golden. Serve hot or cold, with a simple green salad
BAKED TOMATOES WITH COURGETTES AND THYME
500g ripe tomatoes 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 garlic clove, cut in half Salt and black pepper 5 sprigs fresh thyme 350g courgettes, trimmed 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan
Preheat the oven to 120°C. Scoop out the core from the tomatoes and cut them into 0.5cm slices.
Pour some olive oil into a roasting tin and rub it well with the cut surfaces of the garlic clove. Arrange the tomato slices in a single layer and season with salt pepper and the leaves from a couple of thyme sprigs. Drizzle over a little more oil and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, open the oven door slightly and insert a wooden spoon to stop it closing fully. Continue to cook the tomatoes for another 30 minutes — the taste will concentrate as they dehydrate.
Slice the courgettes into 0.5cm rings and toss them in a bowl with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. When the tomatoes are ready, arrange them in a gratin dish, alternating with the courgettes. Scatter over the Parmesan and remaining thyme.
Switch to the grill, and cook until the Parmesan melts and the courgettes are hot through. Serve immediately.
A platter of sliced, ripe tomatoes makes a wonderful salad. Try this dressing for a twist on the popular combination of tomatoes and basil.
BASIL CREAM DRESSING
1 tablespoon cider vinegar 2 tablespoons warm water 5 tablespoons cream 3 tablespoons olive oil 8 basil leaves, torn Salt and pepper
Whisk the vinegar and water together in a jug, then whisk in the cream and most of the oil. Stir in the basil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange sliced tomatoes on a platter and spoon over the dressing. Drizzle over the remaining oil and serve.