It’s certainly starting to feel like summer is over in the UK – I had to dig out my winter boots already this week and to rub salt in the wound got splashed by a very inconsiderate car. It might seem unbelievable, but the sun does in fact shine for slightly longer in other countries. In Italy, the beautiful sun not only tans speedo clad bodies all along the beaches, but also gives us some truly fantastic culinary delights.

Thanks to our lovely Italian buyer Roberto, we can at least enjoy some second hand sun through the treats on offer at Milan market. Although available all year, vegetables like tomatoes, courgettes, peppers and aubergines are particularly good at their peak in the summer months. The markets are packed with these sunkissed delights, so its a great time to make the most of them!

At Natoora, we have a bit of love affair with tomatoes.  We could sing their praises all day long, particularly at this time of year. At the moment we have seven wonderous varieties on offer. Take advantage of their versatility and amazing flavours with our simple tomato guide!

Great for Salads

Datterini and Baby San Marzano Tomatoes

These are so good and so sweet you don’t want to spoil them too much by cooking a sauce with them. Of course you can have them with pasta, but try adding them last in the pan (you will have halved them first). We love them in salads, and try marinating them with your favourite herb and extra virgin olive oil to dress meat, fish or the most amazing brushetta you will ever have. Their flavour is very intense and sweet, so bear that in mind when you add other ingredients to your salad… these like to be the star of the show!

The Meaty Beasts

Bull’s Heart Tomatoes

The meatiest tomatoes of all, big, soft textured, are amazing in salads. For their shape and texture, they’re also interestingly good pan fried. Their flavour is decisively more delicate compared to the above varieties and for this reason they pair deliciously with intense ingredients, so use them if you need meaty texture to pair something more overpowering… a good example is a starter of tomatoes with bottarga.

The Saucy Ones

San Marzano Tomatoes

Buy these if you’re thinking of making a quick tomato sauce for pasta, or a chuncky raw sauce for fish. They’re incredibly flavoursome and meaty, and the water content is quite low so you’ll get a sauce that will hold on to the pasta with the right amount of sweetness, which will not overpower the other ingredients.. they’re great “binding” tomatoes. Plus, the skin is quite thin, so if you quickly blanch them whole, it will peel off very easily. This is a basic preliminary operation when using them in cooking. Try doing this first, then dice them up thinly, add capers, garlic, salt, pepper, add on top of fish when baking.

Home made tomato passata

On top of tasting best at this time of the year, tomatoes are also cheaper at the moment so it’s good to make the most of them by buying large quantities. Of course one can eat only so much, so what to do with them if you’re not feeding an army? Make passata!

5kg San Marzano tomatoes
2 onions
250g carrots
250g celery
salt

Wash the tomatoes, them roughly chop them. Dice up the vegetables and put everything in a large pot. Boil for half an hour, removing any water forming on the surface. Puree in a moulin and pour into clean, dry jars. Sterilise for 15 minutes (follows the jars manifacturer’s instructions) and once cool, close and store. You will have a great base for any tomato sauce ready in minutes.

Notes on preserving

Always use sterilised jars, and make sure the vegs are perfect by discarding any speckled parts. This will ensure a perfect preserve and will make it last for longer! Always close the jars when the contents are cool, storing them in a cool dry place, away from the light. If you notice any activity in the jars or moulding, discard immediately and do not eat.

Top Tomato Tips

- Vine vs Single: Buying on the vine is a pretty definite guarentee that your tomatoes have been ripened on the vine as opposed to being gassed with ethylene to make them look red and ripe. Of course all the tomatoes we sell have been ripened on the vine, whether they are still attached to it or not, but you can’t be so sure in the supermarket.

- Do not refrigerate: Tomatoes can lose their flavour if kept too cold so these red delights are best kept at room temperature.

- Peeling: The best way to remove the skin is to quickly blanch them whole. The skin should loosen so you can easily peel it off.

- Not so tasty: The vine and stalk are actually toxic so best avoiding eating that part, no matter how good they smell! In the 1600s, us Brits thought the whole tomato was a pretty nasty cousin of deadly nightshade and deemed it unfit for consumption! Oh how very very wrong we were…best eat a few more to make up for such a terrible error in judgement!

If we’ve managed to spread some tomato love today, try our tomato selection today. All our favourites in one handy bag!