Michelle Darmody: Three savoury bakes to make with the best ripe tomatoes

Tomatoes are a base ingredient in many autumn and winter comfort-food faves

Tomatoes are deliciously ripe at this time of year and if you are lucky enough to get locally grown cherry tomatoes, they are usually a burst of flavour and sweetness. Tomatoes are the backbone of a huge number of savoury dishes, from various parts of the world, but when perfectly ripe I like to eat them with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, some olive oil, salt and pepper. Or you can roast similarly dressed tomatoes slowly in an oven at a low heat, adding some lightly crushed cloves of garlic, thyme or rosemary if you wish. I generally leave them in the oven for over an hour at 150°C.

Two of the recipes here pair tomatoes with semi-hard cheese. Cheddar is popular, and probably the cheese most people have available to them, but comté, gruyere or even a goat’s gouda would all work nicely.

Mustard and tomatoes are a classic combination in French cooking and the kick from the Dijon mustard adds a nice bounce to the muffins. You can roast tomatoes as described above and use these, or if you are in a hurry semi sun-dried also work well in the recipe.

Tomato jam has a great many uses. It serves as an accompaniment on a cheese board or can be spread on a sandwich. I particularly like it with fried eggs on toast.

Tomato and cheese tart

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Mustard and tomatoes are a classic combination in French cooking

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 50 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 500g shortcrust pastry

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten and an extra egg yolk

• 150mls cream

• 150mls milk

• ½ tsp ground nutmeg

• ½ tsp sea salt

• ½ tsp cracked black pepper

• ½ tsp Dijon mustard

• 150g semi-hard cheese, grated

• 300g cherry tomatoes

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 190°C and line the base of a 10-inch tart tin with parchment. Grease and flour the sides of the tin.

2. Roll your pastry into a disc larger than the tin. Gently nudge it into place. If there is excess sticking out above the sides do not worry, you can trim this once it has baked. Blind bake the case for 15 minutes. Remove the baking beans and brush the inside of the pastry case with egg yolk. Place it back into the oven for another ten minutes or until lightly golden. Use a sharp knife to trim any excess pastry.

3. Whisk the eggs, cream, milk, nutmeg, salt, pepper and mustard together. Stir in the grated cheese. Pour this mixture into your pastry case and dot the tomatoes on top.

4. Bake for about 25 minutes or until set. Allow to cool in the tin.

Tasty tomato jam

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Tomato jam is delicious with fried eggs on toast

Servings

10

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 1 hours 15 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 20 mins

Course

 Side

Ingredients

• 680g ripe tomatoes, chopped into cubes if large, or halved if small

• 200g golden caster sugar

• 2 tbsp cider vinegar

• 1 tbs finely grated ginger

• 1 tsp sea salt

• ½ tsp ground mixed spice

• ½ tsp mild chili powder

• ½ tsp cracked black pepper

Method

1. Place all of the ingredients into a large heavy-based saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring as you do.

2. Once it has started to boil reduce the heat and allow it to simmer gently for an hour. If it has not thickened to the consistency of jam allow it to bubble away for another ten minutes or so.

3. Once cool place into the fridge in a clean jar or tub with an airtight lid. It will last for over a week.