LITTLE WORKS OF ART
Ginny Grant celebrates the taste of summer sunshine in these versatile tomato dishes.
Top tomato recipes oozing the very essence of summer, by Ginny Grant
IT IS THOUGHT THAT tomatoes originated at the northern edge of the Andes in South America, travelled up through the Americas and were then taken by the Spanish to Europe and the Middle East, and more latterly India and Asia. Like their nightshade cousin the potato, they were initially regarded with suspicion or as curiosity. The Italians were early adopters of the tomato, especially once the now-classic red strains became widespread (the earliest varieties were cherry sized and yellow) and that is perhaps why their oeuvre of tomato dishes is arguably the most extensive.
The fruit’s popularity is in part due to its sheer versatility. From eating straight as they are, to sauces, ketchups, pastes and salads, it’s the meaty, umami flavour that makes them a mainstay of many of our diets.
Summer to late autumn is when tomatoes are at their best. When they are sweet, juicy and big flavoured, I tend to do very little to them. Salads of various sorts are always appealing; with a little sea salt, some herbs and extra virgin olive oil they really don’t need much else to shine. Sometimes a little acidity in the form of citrus or vinegar can nudge them to perform a little better, while slow roasting can bring out the natural sugars and intensify the flavours.
GREEN TOMATO & WHITE BEAN SALAD WITH BURRATA SERVES 4-6 / PREPARATION 20 MINUTES PLUS OVERNIGHT SOAKING / COOKING 1 HOUR (IF COOKING BEANS FROM SCRATCH)
Sometimes it can be hard to know exactly what a recipe means when it says a green tomato – does it mean an unripe tomato or one such as the Green Zebra variety that is naturally green to yellow when ripe? In this case it is the unripe tomato that is used. I like the crunch and play of acidity from the tomatoes when tempered with the creaminess of the beans and burrata. It’s not absolutely necessary to cut them with the vinegar and sugar but it does help to mellow them slightly. I’m a firm believer in adding baking soda to both the soaking beans and the cooking liquid – the alkaline helps to cook and soften the beans faster.
FOR THE BEANS
1 cup dried white cannellini beans (or use 2 cans
of cannellini beans)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ onion, peeled
1 stick celery
1 small carrot
2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 red chilli (or a good pinch chilli flakes) 1-2 sprigs sage leaves
Put the white beans in a large bowl, cover generously with water and ½ teaspoon baking soda. Soak for at least 8 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse well, put into a large saucepan and cover generously with water. Add the remaining baking soda. Bring up to a gentle simmer, remove any froth, then add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, red chilli and sage leaves. Simmer for 1 hour or until the beans are tender. Remove the aromatics – you can discard them, but generally I keep most of them, mashing the garlic and chopping the chilli, celery and carrot into a small dice then adding them back into the beans; I do discard the sage. Allow to cool in the cooking liquid. When ready to use (ideally they should still be a little warm) take a cup of beans and mash with some of the cooking liquid, then return to the pot. If using canned beans, drain and then cook in some stock with some of the aromatics listed above, then proceed with the recipe.
TO SERVE
1 good handful marjoram or oregano leaves juice of ½ lemon extra virgin olive oil
3-4 large green tomatoes, cut into thin wedges 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar (optional) ½ teaspoon sugar (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 batch cooked cannellini beans, warmed grilled bread
2 burrata
Using a pestle and mortar, pound the marjoram with a little sea salt. Add the lemon juice and olive oil to taste. If necessary, sprinkle the green tomatoes with the vinegar and sugar and leave to sit for 15 minutes. Add the parsley to the warmed beans and season to taste. Spoon a good helping of beans onto each plate with some grilled bread and add the tomatoes. Break over the burrata and serve.
CHICKEN TRAY BAKE WITH TOMATOES & SOUTHEAST-ASIAN FLAVOURS SERVES 4-6 / PREPARATION 20 MINUTES PLUS OVERNIGHT MARINATING / COOKING 50 MINUTES
Tray-bake dishes are great for quick, weeknight meals but they are even better if they have been marinated ahead of time to allow the flavours to mingle. This one draws on the big and bold flavours of southeast Asia: hot, salty, sour and sweet. I used skin-on leg pieces, but you can use a whole chicken cut into pieces, drums, thighs or even chicken nibbles if you prefer (just adjust the cooking time accordingly). Here the chicken and tomato juices do double duty as the basis for the rice-noodle salad dressing.
MARINATED CHICKEN
1-2 red chillies (or use 1-2 tablespoons sriracha sauce) 2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon fish sauce
3 tablespoons tamarind paste
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons palm or brown sugar
6 chicken Marylands
2 punnets cherry tomatoes
3 lemongrass stalks
4-6 makrut lime leaves
1 cup chicken stock
Depending on how much chilli heat you want in the dish, you might want to remove the chilli seeds before putting into a blender (or smashing in a mortar) with the garlic, fish sauce, tamarind paste, soy sauce and sugar. Put into a large bowl or in a sealable plastic bag with the chicken pieces. Marinate overnight (or a minimum or 8 hours).
Heat the oven 200°C.
Put the chicken pieces (and any marinade) into a roasting dish, skin-side up, along with the cherry tomatoes. Roughly bruise the lemongrass and makrut lime leaves and slip into the pan along with the chicken stock. Roast for 50 minutes or until golden (if the chicken starts to brown too quickly, cover loosely with a sheet of baking paper). Cool slightly before serving. Reserve the cooking liquid for the salad.
NOODLE SALAD
150g rice noodles sesame oil
½ cucumber
4-5 radishes
1 green apple
2 spring onions
¾ cup reserved chicken/tomato liquid (reserve the
rest for the base of a soup) zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon fish sauce chopped chilli or sriracha sauce
1½ cups fresh herbs such as Vietnamese mint,
Thai basil, coriander
While the chicken is cooking, prepare the salad. Pour boiling water over the rice noodles and leave to soak for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until just tender to bite. Rinse with cold water then drain and drizzle with some sesame oil to stop the noodles from sticking together. Slice the cucumber, radishes and green apple into matchsticks (a mandolin is good here). Thinly slice the spring onions. Mix the chicken liquid with the lime zest and juice, fish sauce and chilli or sriracha sauce to taste. Adjust the flavourings adding more of these ingredients as required to get a balance you like. Toss together the noodles and vegetables then mix through the dressing, add the herbs and top with the tomatoes and chicken.
RICOTTA TORTELLONI WITH TOMATO WATER SERVES 4-6 / PREPARATION 2 HOURS PLUS OVERNIGHT DRAINING / COOKING 5 MINUTES
Soup doesn’t need to be just for winter. A lightly clean broth can be good hot or cold, especially when paired with fresh tomatoes and some homemade pasta (but you could use wonton wrappers if you prefer).
TOMATO WATER
1kg very ripe tomatoes 2 teaspoons sea salt
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic
1 handful basil leaves 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar 1 teaspoon sugar
Put all the ingredients in a blender and pulse to a coarse paste. Line a sieve or colander with a double layer of muslin and put over a large bowl. Pour in the tomato mix and refrigerate overnight (don’t be tempted to squeeze the tomatoes as you won’t get a clear broth). Set aside the broth until ready to use. The strained tomato paste isn’t used in this recipe but you can cook it with some olive oil to make a thick tomato paste.
TORTELLONI
250g ricotta (I used Massimo’s) grated zest of 1 lemon
15g (approx ¼ cup) finely grated parmesan ½ cup basil leaves, finely chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
200g ’00’ flour (or use plain flour) semolina flour, for the tray
Combine the ricotta, lemon zest, parmesan and basil and season well with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until required.
To make the pasta, combine the eggs and flour in a food processor and pulse to a crumb. Put onto a lightly floured bench and knead until smooth, adding extra flour if needed. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
On a floured bench, use a pasta machine to roll out the dough. Run the dough through the rollers three times on each setting (running the dough through, folding it over and running it through again) until you get to the second finest setting, dusting with flour if it seems sticky. Cut the dough into 6cm rounds using a pastry cutter and put ½ teaspoon of filling onto each round. Brush the edge of the rounds with a little water and fold over into a half circle, ensuring there are no air pockets, then join the two edges around the filling. Put onto a tray lined with baking paper and sprinkled with semolina flour.
This should make around 60 tortellini, which is more than you’ll require, but these freeze well. Just put the tray into the freezer until frozen, then put into airtight containers until required. Add a few minutes extra to the cooking time.
BASIL OIL
1 handful basil leaves ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Pour boiling water over the basil leaves and leave for 10 seconds until just wilted, then immediately drain and put into iced water. Squeeze out excess water and purée with a stick blender with the olive oil. Allow to steep in the fridge for an hour or so and strain through a piece of cheesecloth. Keep refrigerated until required.
TO SERVE
1 batch tomato water
5-6 tortelloni per person
4-5 mixed tomatoes, roughly chopped 1 small handful basil leaves
1 batch basil oil
If serving warm, heat the broth gently and ladle into bowls (otherwise just ladle into bowls). Cook the tortelloni in boiling, salted water for 3-4 minutes until bite tender, remove with a strainer and divide between the bowls. Scatter over the fresh tomatoes and basil leaves and drizzle with a little of the basil oil.
TOMATO SORBET, BUFFALO YOGHURT & PINENUT BRITTLE SERVES 6 AS A STARTER/ PREPARATION 1½ HOURS PLUS FREEZING TIME / COOKING 30 MINUTES
Tomato works well as a sorbet; it is a fruit after all so that's not particularly surprising. On a hot day, added to a salad of tomatoes and buffalo yoghurt it makes a refreshing starter. I’m not fond of adding invert sugars or gums to the sorbet to keep it soft, so this will set quite hard and needs to be brought out from the freezer at least 20 minutes before eating to soften (or alternatively serve it straight from the churner). If you forget to bring it out early, don’t panic; use a fork to break up the sorbet and serve it as a granita over the salad. Any leftover sorbet is ideal to add to a Bloody Mary.
75g sugar
1kg heirloom tomatoes
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons honey a few good sprigs basil finely grated zest of 1 lemon, and juice of 1-1½ lemons 2 tablespoons vodka
1 teaspoon sea salt
Put the sugar and 75ml water into a saucepan and bring to the boil so the sugar dissolves. Cool and refrigerate. This simple sugar syrup is great to make in large batches and keep in the fridge (for up to 1 month); it's useful for drinks, to add to summer fruit salads and such like.
Cut a cross in the base of the tomatoes and remove the core. Plunge into boiling water for 20-30 seconds, refresh in iced water then remove and set aside the skins. Cut tomatoes in half and put a sieve over a bowl to catch the seeds, allowing any juice to drain into the bowl. Discard the seeds. Add 600g tomato to the tomato juice and set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan and add the remaining 400g tomatoes, 1 tablespoon honey and the basil with a good seasoning of salt. Cook for 15 minutes or until thick. Set aside to cool, then remove and discard the basil.
Put the fresh and cooked tomatoes in a blender with the sugar syrup, the lemon zest and 2 tablespoons lemon juice, the remaining honey, vodka and sea salt. Blitz to a purée. Once frozen, the flavours will dull a little, so you want the sorbet mix at this stage to be slightly sweeter than you want the finished sorbet to be (if necessary add a little more sugar or honey to the mix). Likewise you might want to add a little extra lemon juice to add some freshness. Chill the mix. If you have an ice-cream machine, churn according to the instructions until frozen and creamy.
If you don’t have an ice-cream machine put the mix into the bowl of an electric mixer. Put into the freezer for an hour or so, bring out and beat with a whisk attachment. Return to the freezer and repeat 1-2 times until it reaches the desired consistency. Once churned, transfer to an airtight container. Keep in the freezer until required, for up to 5 days.
TOMATO SALT
If you have a dehydrator you can dry the tomato skins in there, or alternatively in a low oven for a few hours. But for a fast fix and bright vibrant colour the microwave wins hands down for this simple salt.
tomato skins, reserved from making the sorbet sea salt
Spread out the tomato skins in a single layer on a double layer of paper towels and sprinkle with salt (you may need to do this in batches). Microwave for 4 minutes, check and see if they are dry; if not, cook in 30 second bursts until they are. Crumble in a spice grinder then mix with 1-2 teaspoons of sea salt. Keep in an airtight jar. (recipe continues on page 104)
SUMMER TO LATE AUTUMN IS WHEN TOMATOES ARE AT THEIR BEST. WHEN THEY ARE SWEET, JUICY AND BIG FLAVOURED,
I TEND TO DO VERY LITTLE TO THEM.
(recipe continued from page 102) PINENUT & THYME BRITTLE
½ cup sugar
½ cup pinenuts
1 tablespoons chopped thyme leaves ½ teaspoon sea salt
Put the sugar and ¼ cup water into a small saucepan and cook over a gentle heat until the sugar melts. Keep cooking until the sugar caramelises to golden-dark brown. Add the nuts and cook, stirring for a few minutes until golden, then add the thyme and sea salt. Remove from the heat and pour onto an oiled baking tray. Allow to cool, then break up the pieces. Keep in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.
TO SERVE
1 tub natural buffalo yoghurt (I used Clevedon Buffalo Co)
or use a thick Greek-style yoghurt tomato salt
3-4 tomatoes, diced few basil leaves, shredded extra virgin olive oil tomato sorbet pinenut brittle
Put a spoonful of yoghurt on each plate and sprinkle generously with the tomato salt. Toss the tomatoes with the basil leaves and a drizzle of olive oil. Add a spoonful to each plate along with a scoop of sorbet (or a sprinkle of granita) then scatter over the pinenut brittle. Serve immediately.
TOMATO TONNATO SERVES 4 / PREPARATION 15 MINUTES / COOKING 5 MINUTES
Tonnato or tuna sauce dates from the mid-19th century. Most commonly served with sliced cold veal, it incorporated the veal broth as part of the sauce. The mayonnaise version, which is most commonly used today, became popular during the mid-20th century. This is a bastardisation of the latter, using tomatoes as a wonderful substitution for meat; use thickly cut slices of tomatoes and do use a good-quality tin of tuna packed in olive oil. For a little kick, add some chilli flakes to the tonnato. This does contain raw egg, so you may want to avoid it if pregnant or immune compromised; you could omit the egg yolk, but the mix won’t be quite so creamy.
1 small tin (approx 100g) good-quality tuna in oil 3-4 anchovies (or more if you are a fan)
1 clove garlic zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 egg yolk
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil oil for frying
2 tablespoons pinenuts
2 tablespoons capers
4-5 tomatoes, thickly sliced
Put the tuna and its oil in the jug of a stick blender with the anchovies, garlic, lemon zest and egg yolk. Blend until it is a smooth paste, then slowly start adding the olive oil until it emulsifies. It should be the consistency of lightly whipped cream. Taste and adjust seasoning, maybe adding a little lemon juice if required. Refrigerate until required.
Heat a little oil in a small pan and fry the pinenuts until golden. Remove, drain on paper towels and set aside. Pat dry the capers and add to the same pan and cook until crisp, then remove and drain on paper towels.
Put the sliced tomatoes on a platter and season with a little salt. Drizzle with the tonnato and scatter over the pinenuts and capers.
CREDITS Cutlery from Acme; bricks, rectangle plate (page 96), bowl (page 102), jug and black platter (page 95), salt dish and salad bowl (page 99), small jug and small bowl (page 101), rectangular platter and small bowl (page 103) by Maureen Allison; albarello (page 97), beakers, jug (page 99) and lidded jar/tea caddy (page 103) by Duncan Shearer from Rahu Road Pottery; platter (page 95) and bowls (page 101) from Good Girl Ceramics; round salad servers from Petley Store. All other props are stylist’s own. For full details see the Credits Index.