Watching and waiting for the tomatoes to ripen in my vegetable garden is agony this year. It all seems to be very late. Now we have had almost four inches of the most beautiful rain I cannot help but wonder if they will ripen, or if they will all split with all the extra water, or are we going to dive straight into Autumn with the early frosts.
I dream of sunny, ripe and tasty homegrown tomatoes, and it has not happened yet for me this year. We had planned to bottle the year’s supply of tomato sauce this year, but it just hasn’t happened yet, and will only happen if the sun can have a good go at ripening them. Even before one gets to dealing with the surplus by turning them into a delicious sauce, one of life’s seriously wonderful pleasures is enjoying a newly ripened tomato uncooked.
A sun-ripened squishy tomato on toast for breakfast is the best. I just toast some good bread, rub half a clove of garlic on the toast, and drizzle a fruity olive oil on the bread, then grate the fleshy tomatoes (discarding the skins), on to the toast, and season with salt and pepper.
Or a tomato salad or a salsa is perfect with some grilled chicken or fish and is so quick to prepare.
A salsa can be made with diced red onion, tomatoes, Lebanese cucumbers, rinsed capers, with either mint, or basil, or coriander or parsley. Dressed with olive oil and lemon juice at the last minute. This dish always looks refreshing served in a glass bowl.
Another favorite tomato dish is an uncooked tomato sauce for spaghetti, which goes a bit like this:
1 kg best ripe tomatoes
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled
a dozen fresh basil leaves
1 hot green chili
sea salt and pepper
Pour boiling water over firm ripe tomatoes in a bowl. Drain the hot water and refresh with cold water, then peel and seed them. Cut the flesh into thin strips and put in a bowl in which you are going to serve the spaghetti.
Pound in a mortar the garlic, chili, and basil leaves with some salt, then add the oil and stir the contents of the mortar into the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Leave to marinate for an hour.
When the spaghetti is cooked, drain well then toss thoroughly in the sauce.
This is refreshing, and no cheese is added.
That covers a few options for those picked fresh off the plant without cooking, but like anything fresh picked, the flavour of them cooked will trump anything that has been transported, hung around in cold storage, and lumped out to supermarket shelves under ultra-violet light. They are just so versatile, it is worth eating them uncooked and cooked.