All-time favourite ways with tomatoes

In peak tomato season, I’ll eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Squashed on to bread with oil, salt and a little cheese on the side in the morning; at lunch, in heavy wedges with a dousing of sea salt alongside a simple chickpea salad; and, at supper time, cooked down into a warm salsa to eat with potato tortilla. When you’re looking for more of a recipe, here are some of my favourite ideas:

SIMPLE TOMATO SALAD WITH TAHINI AND HERBS

Tahini and tomatoes is an unexpectedly good combination. A smooth, light tahini is what you want here (I like Belazu) and, again, the better the tomatoes, the better this will taste.

GRILLED GREEN TOMATOES WITH FETA AND WATERMELON (COVER IMAGE)

Here I use green tomatoes, which are a verdant and altogether different affair from the red ones. Make sure that you use unripe tomatoes here – not the heirloom green variety, which are different. If you can’t get unripened ones you can use red: just don’t grill them. The resulting salad will still be totally delicious.

SPICED OLIVE OIL ROASTED TOMATOES WITH YOGHURT AND HERBS

Tomatoes and olive oil are the culinary equivalent of Fred and Ginger – they just work. Here, the tomatoes are roasted in the oil, making them buttery and the oil vine-scented and sweet. I add spices, but they’d be just as good on their own. Serve warm with yoghurt for a welcome hot-­cold contrast and some bread for mopping up the juices. Don’t be put off by the amount of oil; it’s what makes this dish what it is.

ONE TOMATO SALAD: FOUR WAYS

This is the tomato salad I make the most. Eat it simply as it is or take it in one of four different directions for a bit more of a meal.

FRYING PAN FLATBREADS WITH SPOON SALAD

The part of east London I live in is full of Turkish cafés. They turn out charcoal-baked flatbreads and insanely good salads, and although meat is front and centre in Turkish food, there are some amazing vegetable dishes too.  I use Turkish chilli here, which has a milder flavour, somewhere between a chilli and a red pepper, but if you can’t get your hands on it you can use regular dried chilli flakes, more sparingly. Similarly, if you can’t get pomegranate molasses a 50:50 mixture of good balsamic and honey will do.

 A WEDDING WORTHY TOMATO TART

This is the simplified version of the tart we ate on our wedding day – a perfect summer dinner. Thanks to the wonderful Sarah and Stuart from Bubble and Squeak Food for sharing the recipe.