This is taken from a recipe by Rose Elliot. It was originally a recipe for a pie with a puff pastry crust but the filling is just as good on its own.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes
Ingredients
2 cans butter beans, rinsed and drained
25 g butter
225 g carrots, peeled and diced small
450 g leeks, cleaned and cut into 1 cm slices
125 g mushrooms, wiped and sliced
1 Tbs flour
1/2 can tomatoes
150 ml vegetable stock or water
salt and pepper
Method
Melt the butter in a medium-sized pan, add the carrots, cover and cook very gently without browning for about 10 minutes. Add the leeks and mushrooms and cook for a further 10 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour then stir so it gets mixed with the fat. Mix in the tomatoes and stock or water and cook gently, stirring for 2-3 minutes, until thickened. Add the butter beans and season to taste. Cook for a further 5-10 minutes until the beans are heated through. Serve with a green vegetable and potatoes.
This is a brilliant way to use up a surplus of tomatoes. Once made it can be frozen for later use as a pizza topping or with pasta. It is from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Veg every day.
Makes about 500ml
Cooking/preparation time: 1-1hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
1.5-2 Kg ripe tomatoes, larger ones halved
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
a few sprigs of thyme
A couple of sprigs marjoram (optional)
2 tbs rapeseed or olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4. Lay the tomatoes, cut side up if halved, on a baking tray. Scatter over the garlic and herbs and trickle over the oil. Season with salt and pepper. Put the tomatoes in the oven for about an hour until the tomatoes are completely soft and pulpy and starting to crinkle and caramelise on top. Leave to cool then tip them into a sieve and rub through with a wooden spoon. Your tomato sauce is now ready to use.
A conversation on Facebook reminds me of this delicious method of making tomato soup from Felicity Cloake in the Guardian. Roasting the tomatoes first gives it an exquisite, deep flavour. Best made with the freshly-harvested tomatoes, basil and onions from Camel CSA’s veg boxes. Excellent warm or cold.
Serves: 4
Preparation/cooking time (mostly roasting): 1½ hours
Ingredients
1kg ripe tomatoes
4 tbsp olive oil
Pinch of sugar
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Small bunch basil, separated into leaves and stalks
600ml chicken stock
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
2 tbsp creme fraiche
Extra virgin olive oil, to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 190C and cut the tomatoes in half horizontally. Arrange, cut-side up, in a baking dish, drizzle with half the oil and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Bake for about an hour, until softened and beginning to char around the edges.
Heat the remaining oil in a large, heavy-based pan over a medium heat and add the onion, carrot and garlic. Cook, stirring regularly, for about 7 minutes until softened. Meanwhile, chop the basil stalks, and then add to the pan and cook for another minute.
Add the tomatoes, plus any juices from the dish, to the pan along with the stock. Stir and bring to the boil, then turn the heat down, cover and leave to simmer for 25 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft. Leave to cool slightly.
Use a blender to purée the soup, then stir in the vinegar and creme fraiche, and season to taste. Reheat gently, while you tear the basil leaves into pieces, then serve with these and a drizzle of olive oil on top.
Another easy summer dish that can be assembled in no time at all, using vegetables and herbs in Camel CSA’s seasonal weekly veg boxes. Thanks to allrecipes.co.uk
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
No cooking!
Ingredients
6 tomatoes, diced
1 small cucumber – peeled, quartered lengthways and chopped
3 spring onions, chopped
15g fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp crumbled feta cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
Enjoy this delicious, spicy Indian omelette at the start or the end of the day. This version (there are many) comes from the Edible Garden. Kerala-born food blogger Nags (Nagalakshmi V ) says: “Needless to say, the omelette has many forms in India and every household makes it differently. Even I have a few variations… depending on what I have in the pantry and vegetable tray.”
As I didn’t have any sweet pepper to hand, I used some freshly-cooked French beans along with the tomatoes and coriander in Camel CSA’ s veg boxes this week.
Serves: 2
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
4 eggs
3 tbsp of shallots or minced onions
3 tbsp of finely chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp of finely chopped capsicum (bell pepper)
1 green chilli, deseeded and chopped (see notes)
3 tbsp of finely chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves
1/2 tsp of freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp of curry powder or garam masala
1/2 tsp of salt (adjust to taste)
2 tsp of oil
Method
Break the eggs into a large bowl and beat lightly with a fork. Add all other ingredients (except oil) and beat again.
Heat the oil in a small pan and swirl around so it coats it completely. Pour half the egg mixture in the pan and cook until the edges curl over and the centre bubbles up. Gently flip the omelette over and cook for another minute (the centre may be jiggly but the edges would have cooked). The omelette will rise a bit and then fall, making it fluffy and soft.
Add more pepper powder on top if you prefer. Serve hot with toast / ketchup or eat on its own.
We’ve a glut of tomatoes in Camel CSA’s polytunnel. This quick and easy way of using up a surplus is rich and full-flavoured. I added a big bunch of our homegrown basil at the whizzing up stage.
It’s a River Cottage Community recipe. Lula, the author, says: “Once you have made this you will never use tinned tomatoes again! Make throughout the tomato season, freeze and defrost in the depths of winter when you need a reminder of summer…”
Serves: 4
Preparation: no more than 10 minutes
Cooking: 45 minutes
Ingredients
1kg ripe, full flavoured tomatoes (perfect for using up a glut)
2-3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
Method
Arrange the tomato halves, tightly packed but not covering each other, in an ovenproof dish. Slice the garlic and place a piece on each tomato half. Drizzle olive oil over the dish evenly and season with salt and pepper. Roast in medium hot oven around 180 degrees until soft, pulpy and slightly charred.River Cottage suggests rubbing through a sieve but for speed and to save waste, whizz in a food processor, skins and all. Perfect as a pasta sauce on its own or as a base for other sauces.
We have so many tomatoes in our weekly veg boxes at the moment we hardly know what to do with them!
Some of us are roasting the split, slightly over-ripe ones with garlic and onion, then whizzing them up into a tasty pasta sauce with basil and parsley from our veg boxes. Others are busy making green tomato chutney from the fruits that drop before ripening.
I keep the small, sweet cherry tomatoes in a bowl on the worktop and dip into them like sweets. The larger ones are so full of flavour they’re ideal for cooking.
This variation on the classic tomato gratin is from Lindsey Bareham’s new recipe collection The Big Red Book of Tomatoes.
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
1kg tomatoes, ripe, full-flavoured cored, scalded, peeled and thickly sliced
150g wholemeal bread, without crust
2 medium onions, very finely chopped
1 very large clove of garlic, finely chopped
25ml flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
30ml basil, finely chopped
6 tbsp parmesan, freshly grated
4 tbsp olive oil
25g butter
Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Chunk the bread and process to crumbs in a food processor. Mix together the breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, herbs and parmesan, and season generously with salt and pepper.
Use 1 tbsp of the olive oil to grease an approximately 25cm x 5cm metal oven dish. Cover the bottom with a third of the bread mixture and top with half the tomatoes. Season, then dribble over a tbsp of the olive oil. Cover the tomatoes with another third of the bread mixture and then the remaining tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and another tbsp of olive oil. Finish with the remaining third of bread mixture and dribble over the remaining olive oil. Finally, cover the bread with thin slices of butter.
Cook for 35 minutes in the middle of the hot oven or until the top is well-browned. Serve from the dish, cut like a cake using a fish slice. Dust with more parmesan.
This simple but tasty version comes from The Hairy Bikers. Perfect for the tomatoes and chillies in Camel CSA’s veg boxes this week.
Raw salsa is a delicious and easy accompaniment to all sorts of food – from simple Mexican corn chips to Tex Mex dishes from chilli con carne to guacamole to beef fajitas to beef tacos to vegetarian nachos. It also makes a very good chunky dip for raw vegetables.
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: None
Ingredients
250g/9oz fresh tomatoes, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 mild chillies, finely chopped
bunch coriander, finely chopped
salt, to taste
lime juice, to taste
1 tbsp water
Method
To make the salsa, combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and serve immediately.
Couldn’t be easier!
From Annie Bell’s Evergreen. She recommends ‘any squat and tubular pasta’ and says that both the cauliflower and the pasta should be ‘on the firm side. The sauce is richly flavoured and hot, and just coats the pasta and cauliflower. Parmesan would be out of place.’
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients
400g cauliflower florets (1 large cauliflower)
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 level tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp harissa
3 tbsp olive oil
450g tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (or a tin of chopped tomatoes)
salt, pepper
225g penne
Method
Cut the cauliflower into 1cm florets. Finely chop the garlic cloves. Dilute the tomato puree with 3 tbsp of water and stir in the harissa. Take a deep frying pan and heat the olive oil. Cook the garlic until it gives off an aroma, then add the tomato solution, the chopped tomatoes and seasoning. Simmer the sauce for a couple of minutes. Add the cauliflower and cook, covered, for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should remain on the firm side.
While the cauliflower is cooking, boil the pasta, leaving it firm to the bite. Drain it, though not too dry, and toss it with the cauliflower. Adjust the seasoning and serve.
In her Garden Cookbook, Sarah Raven credits this recipe to the River Cafe. She says it’s an ‘incredibly fresh-tasting and yet comforting pasta dish’. Good now when there are beans and tomatoes aplenty.
Serves 6
Preparation and cooking: 25 minutes
Ingredients
1kg tomatoes, ideally plum or small beefsteak
300g french beans, topped and tailed
salt
150ml double cream
1 garlic clove, whole and peeled
handful of basil leaves
400g spaghetti
50g grated parmesan cheese to serve
Method
Skin the tomatoes, deseed with a teaspoon and chop them coarsely. Cook the beans in plenty of salted boiling water for 3 minutes until they are just tender. Cool them quickly in a bowl of cold water and drain.
Bring the cream to the boil and add the garlic. Take the pan off the heat and leave the cream to steep for 5 minutes before removing the garlic. Then add the beans, tomatoes and torn-up basil, and toss just for a minute to warm the veg through.
Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, drain and mix with the tomatoes and beans. Serve with freshly grated parmesan.
