THIS week's recipes are delicious, tomato-based dishes. When you walk into any green-grocer or supermarket, tomatoes are always there in abundance, making them one of the most versatile ingredients available. You can leave the best tomatoes in the sun, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, making a simple meal all on their own.
But for now, we'll try something a little more exotic: For the first recipe, Tomato Galette, store-bought puff pastry is perfect, but if you would like to have a go at your own puff pastry there will be a from-scratch recipe on the James Street website this weekend.
:: Tomato Galette (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
400g all-butter puff pastry
450g mixed tomatoes, sliced thick
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
3 stems of fresh oregano, picked and chopped
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp sea-salt
1 tsp cracked black pepper
Method:
To begin, preheat the oven to 200C. Next, start preparing your pastry by rolling it out to 2cm thick, then place in a greased tart case and set it in the fridge. Next, chop up the tomatoes and leave on a clean, dry kitchen towel to bleed out, allowing all the water to be removed. Following this, place the tomatoes in a bowl and season with salt and pepper, sugar, garlic and dress with the olive oil and oregano.
Take the puff pastry from the fridge and decorate with the tomatoes and place in the oven for 15 minutes, until golden on top. Then remove the dish from the oven and leave to cool, before serving with more olive oil and salt.
:: Orecchiette, Mozzarella and Tomatoes (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
150g of orecchiette pasta
100g of cherry tomatoes
200g of plum tomatoes
1 red pepper
1 tsp of capers
2 shallots, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 sprigs of oregano, picked
3 tbsp of olive oil
125g Toonsbridge mozzarella, Irish cheese
1 large pinch of sea salt
1 pinch of cracked black pepper
Method:
To start, heat the oven to 200C. Place the pasta in a pot of boiling water and cook to al dente. Refresh, strain and leave to the side. Place the garlic and shallots in a pan and sweat down. Add in the plum tomatoes and 100ml of water, then stir. Once mixed, add in the picked oregano and season with salt and pepper then cook for 20 minutes on medium heat. Next, add in the chopped red pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes. Once cooked, add in your pasta, red cherry tomatoes, capers and cook in the oven for 8 more minutes at 180C. The cherry tomatoes should still be slightly firm at this point. Place mozzarella in the middle of the tomatoes and drizzle with olive oil and set back into the oven. After three minutes, remove and serve with a drizzle of basil pesto.
