The Most Versatile Ingredient in Existence
By Tobie Puttock
Tomatoes would have to be one of the most versatile ingredients in existence, from sundried tomatoes, to passata pomodoro tomato puree, to various chutneys.
I have always been taught that in the middle of summer a naturally grown tomato will have a lovely sweetness and its beautiful flavour should not (in my opinion) be tampered with too much at all.
Often I will make a little tomato sauce to accompany some pasta. When the tomatoes are in season, I remove the seeds by quartering the tomato and scraping out the seeds with a spoon and then proceed to make the sauce. If the tomatoes are not in season, the skin of the tomato can give tartness to a finished dish; therefore, I blanch the tomatoes, refresh them and remove the skins and seeds to make the sauce.
A serrated knife is always fantastic to cut a tomato with, unless you have a fantastically sharp knife - a blunt knife will more often that not squash the tomato.
