6 Feb 2013

quick and fresh tomato sauce


I never thought I'd say this: I have a glut of tomatoes. Of my own. From my own bushes. Yes! But a glut of tomatoes is a wonderful thing to have spread over your kitchen bench (far more welcome than a glut of zucchinis or broad beans).

For the past week I've tippy-toed about, really, enjoying deep scarlet chunks on salads and steamed vegies, bowls of pasta-and-pesto, or on a thick slice of wholegrain toast with just basil and salt (a most luxurious breakfast).

But these have really been garnishes, little entrees into the tomato supply.

So tonight I made a fresh sauce, suitable for pasta or vegies, using so few ingredients it feels wrong to call this a recipe. I was inspired by London-based chef Giorgio Locatelli, whose 'Made in Italy' writings I am currently salivating over reading.

I merely heated a very good glug of olive oil in a small frypan, then added a few juicy garlic cloves I'd sliced up (wonderful fat things bought at the Bellerive farmers market). I sauteed this gently until the garlic started to soften, then added a few fresh tomatoes, cut into small but rough chunks (skin, seeds and all). I added a generous pinch of salt, raised the heat and let it all bubble away for, oh, 15 minutes? Until it started to reduce and just catch on the bottom of the pan.

And that was it, bar the fresh basil leaves I generously adorned the final plate with. The richly red tomatoes and the velvety oil made it a beautiful sauce. Quick enough to make for a colourful mid-week dinner; quick enough to retain the flavour of those ripe home-grown tomatoes.

10 comments:

  1. I can understand your delight over a glut of tomatoes. I share your views on gluts of zucchini (especially when one has blinked for a few seconds and 5 small and delicately flavoured zucchini have turned into 10 or more giant marrows).

    But broad beans? Freshly picked, tender and green inside their little grey skins....I can never have enough!!

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  2. hi susannah! i may have a BB prejudice as most of the ones i've eaten have been tough and 'mealy' and a real chore to get thru. but perhaps when young - like those small zucchini before they race into monsters - they are a lovely thing!

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    1. I suspect that bad experiences with too-old mealy broad beans are the cause of the bad press that broad beans have. My sister currently lives in Queensland, and loves the chance to have "proper" broad beans when she visits Tassie. On a recent visit, she took a small packet of my home grown babies back with her (no restrictions on taking veggies out of tasmania and into queensland). Unfortunately she packed them in her case, which a nameless low cost airline managed to mislay within Brisbane airport. When it was finally found by baggage handlers (no thanks to the nameless low cost airline), the lovely babies had turned to green slime. Her only consolation was that the jars of blackberry jam and mixed black and red currant jam were fine. (The nameless low cost airline, who promised to let her know as soon as her bag was located, is providing her with regular updates that they are still looking for the bag. They really have no idea!)

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    2. oh dear. the 'green slime' - i can only imagine!

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  3. Delicious, perfect summer food. A glut of tomatoes is the best glut to have!

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    1. it's the most versatile of excesses, isn't it jane?

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  4. Congratulation on your glut! I just got my first red tomato yesterday... I reckon my glut is about three weeks away. Happy times in the garden for sure.

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    1. congratulations on your first, sue! i was picking tomatoes last night and realised what a joyous thing it is to hold your own tomato in your hand, still warm from the sun... it was late and i was tired and a bit sentimental!

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  5. Your tomatoes look heavenly, I am currently in between harvests, I do have a handful of romas about to ripen, though my next lot will be ten weeks away.
    I love a glut. Enjoy cooking

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    1. 'in between' is the most impatient place to be! thanks lizzie - you too.

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