It's been a stonking year in the garden – a glorious spring that promised so much, followed by a somewhat grumpy and reluctant summer, but with just enough sunshine and rain to keep the fruit and veg happy. The result is that it's been a bumper year for most of our produce. Though it's been abit two-faced when it comes to one of my most beloved crops, the tomato: indoors – stunning; outdoors – hopeless. Luckily, our polytunnels are rammed full of them. They've peaked now, but our staggered planting and careful tending of the vines means we'll be harvesting asteady trickle for a few weeks yet.
I love home-grown tomatoes – sweet and warm and hazily aromatic – so much that they'd probably be my answer to one of those slightly annoying and wholly unrealistic journo-list type questions, "If you could grow only one vegetable…"
It wasn't always thus. My childhood relationship with toms was, Isuspect, one shared with many of you: loved the ketchup, hated the insipid, wet, pale red fruit. To me, they wrecked every salad and sandwich they came within oozing distance of.It wasn't until my dad starting growing them in my late teens that Ifinally changed my tune. The variety he grew, Gardener's Delight, packed almost as much flavour, sweetness and intensity as my beloved ketchup. Best of all, they hit that herby scentedness that only the home-grown can deliver.
I always have a sense of sadness around this time, when the toms are almost over for another year. Ienjoy the last of them in as many ways and on as many days as possible: just sliced and served with olive oil and flakysea salt, or roasted (see today's Provençal tomatoes) or even tucked between a couple of slices of buttered white bread – the very preparation that would have made me recoil a few decades ago. Tosoften the blow, I've been loading the freezer with litres of homemade roast tom passata. Huge trays of halved toms of all varieties are slung in the oven with thyme, olive oil and a sprinkling of chopped garlic, then rubbed through a sieve to get their sweet, rich, roasty pulp. They'll go in stews, soups and pasta sauces right through winter, or get reduced to the roasted tomato sauce below.
The final harvest in a few weeks' time will be of the green toms that will probably never ripen. Even they have their uses – fried green tomatoes (see recipe below) are a great accompaniment to a cooked breakfast. They also make better chutney than red ones, particularly when combined with chopped apples.
If you want to grow your own toms, inside or out, prepare for unpredictable growing conditions by trying several varieties. Outdoors, smaller varieties are a safer bet in our climate, because they take less time to ripen: go for Sungold, Nectar, the aforementioned Gardener's Delight or Tumbling Toms (perfect for hanging baskets or window boxes). All are delicious raw in salads, cooked whole (see today's ratatouille recipe) or just left in abowl in the kitchen – as tempting asstrawberries and raspberries to all who pass, they won't be there long.
Ratatouille
Banish all thoughts of ratatouille as a sludgy mess of vegetables – apretty miserable fate for lovely veg. It may seem a bit OTT to use four pans, but the results are worth it, as the flavour of each vegetable is distinct. That way, the combination can really shine. Serves four to six.
Olive oil
250g aubergine, cut into 2cm cubes
250g small courgettes, cut into 1cm slices
250g sweet cherry or Sungold tomatoes, left whole
250g onions, in fairly thick slices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
A handful of basil leaves, torn
To serve
Thick slices of good white bread
A little olive oil
Put a pan over a medium heat, add asplash of olive oil and begin to fry the aubergines (these take longer than the rest of the vegetables, so start them off first).
Put three more small pans over medium heat and cover the base of each with a little olive oil, then put the courgettes, tomatoes and onions into their own pans.
Cook the courgettes until tender, then turn up the heat a little to brown them lightly. The tomatoes should be wrinkled and sweet, but just about holding their shape. Andthe onions should be soft, sweet and slightly caramelised. Theaubergine, when finished, shouldbe very soft and tender, almost creamy.
Season the vegetables towards the end of cooking, then remove each from the heat. When the vegetables are done, toss them gently together in a large pan and heat through for afew minutes with the garlic, then add the torn basil leaves.
Heat a grill or griddle pan, brush bread with oil and toast lightly on both sides. Spoon the ratatouille over the bruschetta and serve.
Roasted tomato sauce
If you have (almost) more tomatoes than you know what to do with, thissauce is not only delicious andenormously versatile, but in itsfreshly sieved state – that is, before you add the sugar and vinegar – it freezes brilliantly for up to six months. Makes 1.4 litres.
3kg ripe tomatoes, halved
5-6 garlic cloves, peeled and thinlysliced
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
4-6 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-2 bay leaves
A little light muscovado sugar
A little cider or white-wine vinegar
Ground mace
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Lay the tomato halves cut-side up in a single layer in a couple of large roasting tins. Scatter over the garlic and thyme. Trickle over the oil and season generously.
Roast for an hour, or until the tomatoes are soft and starting to brown around the edges. Place asieve over a bowl and, working inbatches, tip the tomatoes into thesieve and rub them through witha wooden spoon. Discard the skin and pips. At this point, you can freeze the sauce to keep you going through the winter – use it as a base for soups, stews and pasta sauces, orswirl it on top of pizza.
Measure the sieved puree, then put it in a wide saucepan with the bay leaf (or leaves). For every 500ml of puree, add a heaped teaspoon of sugar, a tablespoon of vinegar and apinch of mace. Bring to a simmer and cook gently, stirring often, untilreduced by half to form a thick, glossy sauce. Adjust the sugar/vinegar balance, if necessary, and season to taste.
How to serve your roasted tomatosauce
With lightly floured andfried white fish such as pollack,gurnard, grey mullet and lemon sole.
As a dip with today's fried greentomatoes.
Diluted with a little vegetable stock and finished with some creme fraiche and basil, for a tasty soup.
As a base for fried, baked or poached eggs.
Provençal tomatoes
A simple, slightly old-fashioned side dish, but none the worse for that. Serve simply with a green salad or asan accompaniment to grilled fish or meat. Serves six as a side dish.
40g fine white breadcrumbs
40g parmesan, finely grated
2 tsp thyme leaves, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 medium-sized tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. In a small bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, parmesan, thyme and garlic, and season well. Cut the tomatoes in half horizontally. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat and put in the tomatoes cut-side down. Fry for five minutes, until the tops of the toms start to caramelise a bit. Remove from the pan and place cut-side up in a roasting tin; spoon any pan juices into the tomatoes. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mix evenly over the top of the tomatoes and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the tomatoes are softened and the tops golden.
Fried green tomatoes
This classic dish from the Americansouth is a delicious way touse up green tomatoes. Chooseones that are quite firm andserve as a snack before dinner oras part of a cooked breakfast. Serves four.
4 medium-large green tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g plain flour
½ tsp cayenne pepper
100ml milk
1 egg
5 tbsp cornmeal (fine polenta)
150g fine white breadcrumbs
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
Rapeseed or vegetable oil, for frying
Cut the tomatoes into 1.5cm slices. Sprinkle with salt and place on arack to drain for 10 minutes. Pat dry with kitchen paper.
Meanwhile, make the coating. Whisk together the flour, cayenne pepper and some salt and pepper in one bowl, the milk and egg in another, and the cornmeal, breadcrumbs, thyme and a good seasoning of salt and pepper in a third.
Heat about 1cm of oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat until hot (the tomatoes should sizzle gently as you put them in the pan). First, dip the tomato slices in the seasoned flour and shake off any excess, then dip into the egg and milk, and finally dip into the breadcrumbs and cornmeal. Fry theslices in batches – don't crowd the pan – for about four minutes aside until golden. Drain on paper towels and eat immediately.
