the end of the tomatoes

roasted sausages with fennel and tomato

a couple of years ago i came up with a recipe for roasted sausages with fennel and cherry tomatoes. it is incredibly quick, easy and packed full of flavour.

i love it with crusty bread smeared with butter. last night we had it with a side portion of cavolo nero cooked with garlic and chilli.

the original recipe for the sausages is here but it is something you can adapt according to what you fancy. this time i tossed sausages (i still rate marks & spencer sausages as particularly good), cherry tomatoes and sliced fennel with  glugs of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and red wine. a sprinkling of chopped rosemary, dried oregano, a bay leaf, garlic, salt and pepper were the extra bits needed. an hour in the over at 200c and the result was truly delicious. you really should try it.

roasted tomato risotto

we’re about to go away for a week on a scottish jaunt – glasgow, fort william and the isle of skye – so menu planning is all about using things up.

we had a big bowl of tomatoes, fresh from the garden, which needed to be finished so i decided it was time to get over the mental block i have when it comes to tomato risotto.

as there were so many tomatoes i halved and roasted them a la skye (gyngell, not the island) and then stirred them into a simple risotto, along with some double-podded broad beans. my garnish of crispy pancetta worked wonderfully with the risotto but sadly didn’t do much to make the photo look appealing.

trust me though, it is a terrific way to get through a glut of tomatoes. 

tomatoes and mozzarella

fresh tomato and mozzarella salad with basil - beautifully simple and very delicious.

i also did a version which included roasted tomatoes and sunblush tomatoes, that was then piled on top of cooked puff pastry discs to make a deconstructed tart of sorts. we had this with a rocket salad and warm ciabatta.

roasted potatoes with tomato and basil

we ate sunday evening’s roast lamb with a very simple side dish of roasted potatoes (courtesy of food4) and tomatoes (from the garden!).

i tossed the potatoes with a little olive oil, rosemary leaves, a sprinkle of chilli flakes and salt & pepper. after 40 minutes in the oven at 150c i added a handful of cherry tomatoes and cooked them for another 10 minutes (the tomatoes will begin to burst open). before serving the dish was sprinkled with shredded basil.