More Favourite Ways with Tomatoes

I have counted 24 different tomatoes in my local (admittedly very good) greengrocer, but even on the supermarket shelves it’s possible to find tomatoes beyond the bog-standard (which are picked unripe and never get to their best) and ubiquitous vines and cherry varieties.

I am not a tomato purist: I do eat them outside of summer, and I do look forward to the first crop of hardy, salty, winter tomatoes. But, for now, I will feast on them while they are truly at their best, often with nothing more than salt and olive oil.

Ricotta gnocchi with brown butter tomato sauce

These are a forgiving ricotta dumpling; they use a little flour and sit in a cherry tomato sauce spiked with the toastiness of brown butter.

Tomatoes on toast with chilli and fennel seeds 

It virtually goes without saying that the better the tomatoes, the better the toasts. I love Ligurian bull’s heart tomatoes and, of course, our rainbow ones from the Isle of Wight. If your tomatoes are less tasty, roasting them intensifies the sweetness so I have included an option for roasting the tomatoes, too.

Melon, tomato and mozzarella with two chillies

This is perfect for a hot day; it’s cooling and invigorating all at once. This offbeat salad uses one of my new discoveries in the kitchen: pickled red peppers.

Favourite lentils with roasted tomatoes & horseradish

A quick and delicious meal that I make a lot.

Kale, Tomato, and Lemon Magic One-Pot Spaghetti

One of my most popular recipes to date.