Issue #10 August 2023
Hello & happy August!
As I sit here writing this summer themed issue, it is absolutely chucking it down outside & I feel like I should be writing up recipes for sausage & mash or apple crumble with custard instead of this months tomato salad…
July was FUN (which is the reason this issue is a bit late!) I got taken on a surprise trip to Portugal for my birthday where we ate our way around the West coast & fell into that gloriously slow pace of life where the only thing you have to worry about is if ordering a whole fish, the prawns & the octopus is maybe a bit too much for lunch…the answer is no, order it all & then order the same again for dinner!
If you find yourself on the West coast of Portugal, I HIGHLY recommend a stay at Muxima a beautiful, sustainably focused guesthouse nestled in the forest near Aljezur.
But back to reality & food wise we are still seeing summer fruit & vegetables in abundance. Blackberries, currents & gooseberries are at their best right now. I ate an absolutely delicious gooseberry fool this week at one of my favourite places in London, The Allotment Kitchen at Stepney City Farm.
This weekend, we picked our own blackberries from the hedgerows in Hackney Marshes. Growing up in the countryside, foraging was such a normal thing to do, but somehow picking your own food in London feels kind of strange!
What’s at its best this month…
Hero Ingredient Tomatoes
I absolutely love tomatoes! If there is a tomato based dish on a menu, you can guarantee I’ll be ordering it.
They are one of my favourite ingredients to cook with & are also very easy to grow at home, as they do just as well in pots & containers as they do planted in the ground in your veg patch.
With a relatively long harvesting season, tomatoes in the UK are at their best from June to October.
If you want to treat yourself to some of the most delicious tomatoes we have to offer in the UK, I highly recommend ordering a box from The Tomato Stall on the Isle of Wight (not sponsored…I WISH!) I just LOVE their tomatoes & they are perfect for my tomato salad recipe.
Recipe 01
Tomato Salad
If you take anything away from this issue of ABMS, let it be this…
ALWAYS SALT YOUR TOMATOES
Also, if eating tomatoes raw, in say a salad like this one, you 100% need to be bringing them to room temperature before serving. This will bring out the natural flavour, which is suppressed when they are straight out of the fridge cold.
This salad is inspired by many tomato salads that I have eaten & I encourage you to customise it as you see fit…if you don’t like raw onion, take it out, if you can’t find fresh oregano, leave it out etc etc, but do try to buy the best, British tomatoes you can find.
I have used Isle of White Heirloom tomatoes.
Ingredients
Serves 4
Roughly 1KG Heirloom British tomatoes (or enough for 4)
Bunch fresh oregano
Bunch fresh basil
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
Sea salt (I use Maldon but any good sea salt will do)
For the dressing
Zest 1/2 a lemon
4 TBSP good extra virgin olive oil
2 TSP red wine vinegar
Freshly cracked black pepper
Pinch of sea salt
Method
Start by prepping the tomatoes. Roughly chop or slice all of the tomatoes, place in a bowl & sprinkle over a really generous pinch of sea salt. Leave the tomatoes to come to room temperature for around 30 minutes.
Make the dressing by combining all of the ingredients in a small bowl & taste. If it tastes too sharp then add a bit more olive oil, if it’s not sharp enough, add a little more red wine vinegar etc. The trick to finding the right balance for your taste is to just add a tiny bit at a time & taste, then add more.
Once the tomatoes are at room temperature they will have likely produced quite a lot of liquid, this is delicious so leave it in the bowl! Roughly tear the oregano & basil & add this to the tomatoes.
Add the sliced onion & dressing to the bowl of tomatoes & stir to coat everything. Taste & season as required.
Serve.
Recipe 02
A Super Quick & Easy Tomato & Caper Pasta
This is a great mid-week dinner that you can rustle up from scratch in under half an hour (I did try timing it, but I forgot to turn the timer on my phone off & found it still running 4 hours & 27 minutes later!).
You could definitely jazz this pasta up by adding prawns or extra veggies like aubergine or courgette.
I have used on the vine Cherry tomatoes in this recipe because they are super sweet & delicious & its pretty easy to source British grown at the supermarket at this time of year.
When I develop these recipes, I obviously want you to include everything I’m telling you too, because that’s what I think is delicious, but I am super aware that a lot of people don’t like a lot of things! So, if you don’t like capers, take them out, if you don’t like chilli, take it out, ya get what I mean?!
& lastly, yes you did read the recipe correctly, I said 8 cloves of garlic.
Ingredients
Serves 2
500g Cherry tomatoes
8 garlic cloves - sliced
3 TBSP capers
Bunch of fresh basil
Pinch dried chilli flakes
Extra virgin olive oil
Linguine
Salt & black pepper
Method
Take half the tomatoes & cut them into halves.
Heat a large frying pan to medium, add a little olive oil & then gently cook the garlic for 1-2 minutes. Do not let it burn.
Add the chilli flakes & cook for a couple of seconds before adding in all of the tomatoes & a generous pinch of salt.
Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the packet.
Once the pasta is on, add the capers to the tomatoes & continue to cook for around 10-15 minutes or until the pasta is ready & most of the tomatoes have broken down into a sauce.
Add some extra virgin olive oil & season with salt & pepper then add the pasta to the sauce.
Serve topped with a mountain of parmesan!
Thanks for taking the time to read A Bit More Seasoning & please share photos & feedback of any of the dishes you make from the newsletter.
Take care & see you in September.
Emma x