Morning’s harvest in my walking hat.
We had these last night for supper on the terrace–late, after the big heat had lifted.
I’d tried out a new courgette/zucchini recipe which was a complete failure! These tomatoes were supposed to be the accompanying vegetable.
In the end we settled for the tomatoes, a piece of toast with olive oil dribbled over it and a glass of red wine.
A light supper–as Nigel Slater puts it in the magazine article I found in an old notebook a couple of days ago.
The combination of olive oil, rosemary, garlic and parmesan is comforting and delicious.
for 2
10 medium ripe tomatoes–cut in half
2 cloves of garlic–peeled
2 stems of rosemary leaves–chopped fine
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons grated parmesan or more if needed
heat the oven to 200C/400F
- Put the garlic and rosemary with a good pinch of salt and a few grindings of the peppermill in a mortar.
- Pulp the garlic and the rosemary with the pestle.
- Add the olive oil and stir to make a rough paste.
- Cover a shallow oven tray with foil and bush it with oil.
- Place the tomatoes on it cut side up.
- Using a teaspoon smooth a little of the garlicky paste on each half tomato.
- Place the tray on the top rack of the oven and cook for about 20-30 minutes–the tomatoes should have softened and collapsed somewhat.
- Take them out of the oven and place a small pile of parmesan on each tomato half.
- Put the tray back in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the cheese has browned some on top.
- Serve with a piece of wholewheat/rye toast dribbled with olive oil.
- A very light supper–(the best tomato recipe for a while, pronounces Meredith!)–but we probably slept better for it!
Robin Ellis 
its so delicious to be following yr cookery footsteps a day later. cant wait to fall on yr tomatoes tonight having a bit of bile duct bother but am doing some right things the mad weather has turned hot again so back to pruning the calceolaries…….so love yr writings and pictures much love to u both xxxrog.
Thanks Rog!
Looks yummy -will try out. Been road testing quite a few of your recipes in the past few weeks. Just had the baked mackerel – caught fresh this morning. ( not by me, but a lovely fisherman from Lyme Bay). Love to you both. Joan
Hi Robin–that looks delicious. Will try when I get farm tomatoes this weekend. But I wanted to tell you I made your caponata recipe on Sunday. I used handfuls of little grape tomatoes, both red and yellow, instead of large tomatoes. Absolutely delicious! And good cold–have to admit I keep sneaking spoonfuls out of the fridge. And now I think I’ll heat up a bit and serve with a slice of fresh mozzarella for lunch…
Hello Deborah–it must have looked beautiful and that caponata gets better with age. I love it. Mozzarella melting into it…I’m tempted to get up and make it now!
I think I’ll try this one with some spinach on top!
No basil?!?
Fearless and secure in your masculinity to be walking about in a pink chapeau! But I would expect no less from Ross Poldark . . . Thanks for another idea for my ripening tomatoes. No doubt more healthy than my old trick of slicing and dressing raw tomatoes with Hellman’s mayo.
Hi there, I love tomatoes! Did you know cooked or baked tomatoes are much healthier than “cold ones”.
My youngest daughter likes to grow- home grown tomatoes-, they are small but delicious. Are these tomatoes you used from your own garden?