Summer for me says “tomatoes”. Salads, tarts, sauces, I remember fondly the squashed tomato sandwich’s I used to take on school picnics. Probably been in my pocket for 5 hours , but they were delicious the bread dyed red with the juice. Maybe I invented the first Panzanella!!
I love Diana Henry’s recipes and this one using tomatoes is no exception. Her opening remarks “Cooking is often about balance and contrast, and I particularly like dishes where the contrast is extreme,” “Hot, spicy tomatoes with cold, sharp yoghurt is especially hard to resist.
Ingredients. Serves 4
750gplum tomatoes cut in half lengthways
4. Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil ( Diana Henry observers: A Ligurian oil makes this buttery, a Greek oil a bit more robust. Your choice will really change the character of the dish.)
3 teaspoons chilli flakes
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
Sea salt and black pepper
4 teaspoons of runny honey
225g Greek yogurt
150g feta cheese
1 garlic clove crushed
10g mint
10g dill
10g unsalted pistachio nuts chopped
Method
Preheat oven to 190C
Put the tomatoes into a roasting tin, in which they can lie in a single layer. Spoon 3 tablespoons of the oil over them, turn them over do they all get well coated. Leave them cut side up.
Put the chilli flakes and fennel seeds in a plastic bag and ” bash” them. Sprinkle over the tomatoes. Season. Mix the remaining oil with the honey, and Spoon a little over each tomato.
Roast for 30 minutes, you want them soft but with a little shape.
Stir the yogurt, feta and garlic together and season. Place the yogurt mix on a serving plate, pile the tomatoes on top. Sprinkle over the herbs, and nuts.
Original recipe Diana Henry “oven to table”
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