Tomato, Basil & Red Onion Salad

 

I used up some of those delicious tomatoes that I bought last week in a tasty salad built just for two (or three if you are not a big salad eater.)

 

These tomatoes are amazing and I don't want any to go to waste. Like my mother I store my tomatoes in a bowl at room temperature.  There is nothing to ruin the flavour of fresh tomatoes more than to store them in the refrigerator.

 

Like pears, tomatoes are a fruit that continue to ripen as they sit out.  Most of the ones you buy in the shops have been picked before they are totally ripe, which gives us more time to get them to the shops and into our homes.

  

Leaving them at room temperature in a bowl helps them to acheive their maxiumum flavour potention.  Although admittedly at certain times of the year there is just not a lot you can do to  make them taste better.

 

These ones I got last week are amazing however.  Fresh from the Isle of Wight and The Tomato Stall.  It must be the air and the soil down there. 

 

For this salad today I used a mix of golden tomatoes and baby plum tomatoes.  So sweet and delicious. 

 

They also looked very pretty together in the bowl.  I slivered some red onion as well and added it into the mix.

 

The vinaigrette is a simple one  . . .  a good olive oil  . . .  the one I used today was such a good one you could actually taste the olives in it  . . .

 

A quality red wine vinegar . . .  don't use cheap and nasty. It never tastes as good  . . .

 

 A touch of honey . . . to just add a bit of sweetness  . . .  the tomatoes are already plenty sweet . . .

   

Some fine sea salt, a good grinding of black pepper and then some lovely slivers of fresh basil. Magnificent!

Tomato, Basil & Red Onion Salad

Yield: 2 - 3

Author: Marie Rayner

Such a simple thing and yet so delicious.  This is fabulous as a side dish but also great served with chicken or fish as a tasty garnish.

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

• 60ml of a well flaoured olive oil (1/4 cup)
• 120ml of a good red wine vinegar (1/2 cup)
• 1 tsp liquid honey
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely minced
• fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the salad:

• 1 pint of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 small red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced
• 6 large leaves of fresh basil, rolled into a cigar and then jullienned

Instructions:

1. Put all of the ingredients for the dressing into a jar with a lid.  Give it a good shake to emulsify them. Set aside.
2. Gently toss the tomatoes and onions together. Give the dressing another shake and drizzle over top.  Sprinkle with the basil and gently stir to combine.  Serve at room temperature.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

This is one of my favourite salads to make with tomatoes.  I love the dressing. I could eat this on its own just with a slice of buttered crusty bread. Oh so tasty! 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Read more

Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce

  

I really love tomatoes as I think I have told you in the past.   They are quite simply one of my favourite things.  For months and months now I have seen other food bloggers being gifted with boxes of beautiful boxes of rich and delicious looking tomatoes from The Tomato Stall, on the Isle of Wight. .  Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. lask week I decided that Todd and I deserved a bit of a splurge after being stuck in our home on lockdown for the past 10 weeks. I bit the bullet and ordered us a mixed family box. 

 

I think it is just amazing that we live in a day and an age where something like this, grown and harvested on the Isle of Wight, can be picked on one day and then be sitting on my dining room table the next.  They are absolutely beautiful, and arrived undamaged except for one which was slightly squashed. I ate that right away like an apple, lightly sprinkled with sea salt.  Oh boy was it ever good!!  I was not sorry I had ordered them. Not one bit. 

 

We have both been enjoying them very much in the ensuing days.  Yesterday I decided to make an Oven Roasted Tomato sauce with some of them.  I am not sure what each variety of tomato is, but I think I picked the right ones for roasting and saucing anyways . . .

 

I used two different kinds. I think the longer one is one that would be used for cooking with. It was nice and fleshy.  Not sure about the smaller ones, but they worked well in any case.

 

If you have never made an oven roasted tomato sauce before now, you really need to try it!  This recipe is so simple and always turns out so delicious!  Its a great recipe to use when you have a glut of tomatoes in the garden or when you have some anoemic tomatoes from the shops that you want to make taste better.  Roasting tomatoes is always a real flavour enhancer!

 

Cut in half, roast in a special mixture, peel, blitz and serve. Simple.

 

There is nothing extraordinarily unusual in the roasting mixture.  A good olive oil and some garlic  . . .

 

Some dried basil and oregano  . . .

 

You cut your tomatoes in half and lay them cut side down in the mixture and then roast them in a hot oven  . . .

 

About 35 to 40 minutes in a hot oven until they are all rich and caramelised and have released their juices . . .  mingling with the olive oil, garlic and herbs in the roasting tray . . .

  

You don't need to peel them afterwards. I always do because I don't like the feel of cooked tomato skins in my mouth.

 

The roasted flesh slips very easily out of the skins in any case.   I just held them one at a time over the bowl of the food processor and they fell right in.

 

I don't bother to remove the seeds. I don't mind them.  You can if you want to.  I actually don't have a full size food processor anymore. It is on my wish list to get one.  The lid jammed shut on mine and I cannot get it off for love nor money. I use my Cookhouse mini chopper.  Its a great little tool. I bet I use it just about every second day or so!

 

Anyways, just blitz the sauce until smooth and you are good to go.  You can leave it a bit chunky if you like it that way.   I do sometimes, and other times I like it smooth.

 

It is perfectly flavoured, with just the right amount of garlic and herbs . . .  in short perfect.  Just like the tomatoes I used to make it.

  

Today I served it on some radiatore so that there were plenty of little pocket to hug onto that lush sauce.  Seriously tasty with some grated Parmesan on top.

Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce

Yield: 4

Author: Marie Rayner

This is the best tomato sauce.  Fresh tomatoes when roasted have the most beautiful rich flavour.  Simple and delicious.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds fresh tomatoes
• 3 or 4 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 TBS really good quality extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Wipe your tomatoes off with a damp cloth, cut them into halves and set aside.
2. Pour the olive oil into the bottom of a large shallow baking tray with one inch sides. Scatter in the minced garlic, basil leaves, oregano leaves, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add the tomatoes, cut side down, fitting them all into the sheet and spreading the olive oil mixture around beneath them. Roast for 30 to 40 minutes until soft, the skins are starting to peel off, and some of them are beginning to colour.
3. Remove from the oven and let cool somewhat. Lift off all the peels and discard. You can then put them through a mouli to remove the seeds and puree them, but I prefer to just mash it all together with a fork. I like the extra texture and flavour of the seeds.
4. Serve hot with your favourite pasta, or let cool and freeze in containers.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

I could seriously eat pasta until it comes out my ears. Todd not so much. I don't mind. More for me! 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Read more