This month I’m loving tomatoes, juicy, colourful and full of flavour. Tomatoes are a basic yet understated ingredient. So many different types: salad, heirloom, vine, plum, baby, green…. everyone’s talking and writing about them but I’m actually buying them, tasting them and cooking with them this month.

From farmers markets to supermarkets there are so many types on offer and you will be amazed at the differences in tastes and look. They are such a beautiful fruit, I never realised the selection of shapes and colours you could buy. 

You don’t have to do too much to tomatoes, simple seasoned salad with olive oil and fresh herbs and cheese tastes so fresh!

I forget that sometimes you just have to let the main ingredient shine.

Stuffed tomatoes are also a great way of introducing new flavours and textures. I tried a take on a spicy Thai stuffing using jasmine rice combined with a nutty coconut coriander mix. It was juicy and the flavour combination was a nice surprise! The juicy tomato complimented my filling by adding a nice freshness.

A common Indian dish is tomato curry. Plain and simple but soooo tasty when cooked with the right ingredients. It can be made so quickly and cheaply. The one thing I most like about this one is that it’s a healthy and gluten free dish that can be eaten as a meal or even as a side. I cooked a version topped with golden sev (gram flour vermicelli) but that was just for a bit of crunch, you could add nuts or crushed vegetable crisps instead and still keep it gluten free!

My favourite summer side at the moment centres on tomatoes- ‘SALSA’. Love making it in so many ways, finely chopped or smoked and blended to chunky. Just grilling off salsa ingredients on a griddle pan (on a medium to high heat ) to a nice smokey burnt level brings out a fantastic flavour when blended together with some lime and coriander. My cheat but it works the best is smoked paprika! But even with the lime and garlic and herbs THE TOMATOES are the star for sure.

Tomatoes are the base for a lot of soups, pasta sauces to curry sauces but as you can see you can actually eat them in so many different ways. Summer is still here, make sure you go out and purchase some beautiful tomatoes, I promise you won’t be disappointed!