This summer’s scorching sun has been just what the tomatoes needed. Pity, then, that I couldn’t grow any this year, spending far too much of the season working away from home. All but the largest Marmande do rather well in pots on the back steps. At the shops I pick up the most oddly shaped tomatoes I can find, the smaller the better. The large, deeply ridged yellow fruit, though beautiful to admire in their shallow wooden crates, are often a little soft and squidgy. I get round this by slicing them thickly, and marinating them in olive oil, shredded basil leaves and a sprinkle of red wine vinegar for an hour. They soon perk up.
But it is the smaller tomatoes that interest me most. This week I brought them back from the shops by the paper-bag-full: a variety barely bigger than a grape, the striped Green Zebra, and some of the black fruits I was determined to give a second chance. Many ended up as a cushion to soak up the juices from grilled lamb cutlets and a salty black-olive tapenade. The less interesting seemed happier in a pan on the stove, in a thick, scarlet sauce with harissa paste and thyme to cheer up some roast chicken wings.
The best of them, the size of a golf ball, craggy and green-shouldered, were sliced and laid out on an oval plate, then dressed with a dazzling mixture of rocket and ricotta. The wild rocket, hot and peppery, no bigger than your little finger, was quite finely chopped and folded through crumbled, salted ricotta. I scattered them over the sliced tomatoes, then dressed everything with a little olive oil. We ate them, on the back steps, where the tomatoes would be growing, with nothing more than bread, its crust charred and chewy and almost black from a blistering oven.
Tomatoes, black olives and lamb cutlets
The lamb cutlets I like best are those cut no more than a couple of centimetres thick and small enough that they are gone in two or three mouthfuls. They will have a long, clean bone with which to hold them by and a neat nugget of meat the diameter of an espresso cup. Cut this way, the skinny bone will blacken deliciously and their thin rim of creamy fat will have the chance to crisp on the bars of the grill. I suggest three per person here, but you alone know how many you can eat. There is plenty of dressing for four a piece.
Serves 3
For the dressing:
black olives 100g
capers 1 tsp
anchovy fillets in oil 4
tarragon 6 bushy sprigs
olive oil 4 tbsp
red wine vinegar 1-2 tbsp
tomatoes 450g, assorted
olive oil a little
lamb cutlets 9, cut thin
Remove the stones from the black olives, putting the flesh into the bowl of a food processor or blender. If the capers are salted, rinse and dry them, then add them to the olives. Add the anchovy fillets to the olives. Tear the tarragon leaves from their stems, then add them to the olives, capers and anchovies, then pour in the olive oil and process to a rough, loose paste. Sharpen with the red wine vinegar, adding a little more or less as you wish. Set aside.
Get a griddle hot. Slice the tomatoes horizontally, about as thick as a pound coin, and lay them on a serving plate. Trickle them lightly with olive oil and grind over some black pepper. Lightly oil and season the cutlets then cook them on the griddle till golden outside, pink within.
As each cutlet comes hot from the grill, dip it briefly into the olive dressing and place on top of the tomatoes. Serve immediately.
Chicken wings, tomato and harissa
I make a point of asking for the chicken wings to be left complete. (Butchers seem to have slipped into the habit of removing the tips from chicken wings and I do wish they wouldn’t.) I love the way the pointed tips caramelise chewily in the roasting tin.
This recipe is very much a fork and fingers job. One of those dishes for which you will need a fork or spoon for the tomato sauce, but only fingers and some enthusiastic nibbling will get at the most delectable nuggets of flesh lurking on the crisp, roasted wing bones.
Serves 2-3
chicken wings 500g
olive oil 3 tbsp
thyme 10 small sprigs
garlic 5 cloves
tomatoes 450g, small
red chillies 2 small, hot
harissa paste 1 heaped tsp
boiling water 150ml
Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Put the chicken wings in a roasting tin, pour over the olive oil, season with salt, black pepper. Pull the leaves from the thyme and scatter over the chicken, then tuck the whole garlic cloves among them. Turn the wings over with your hands so they are nicely dressed with the oil and seasonings, then bake for 35-40 minutes till deep gold and crisp.
Lift out of the roasting tin and keep warm. Squeeze the soft garlic from its skins into the roasting tin, then add the tomatoes, halving them as you go. Tuck the two whole chillies among the tomatoes then place the tin over a moderate heat and leave to bubble for five minutes, adding a little more oil if necessary, until the tomatoes are starting to soften. Stir the harissa into the pan with a wooden spatula, then pour in the boiling water, scraping at the surface of the roasting tin as you go. Just as the tomatoes are starting to caramelise and the juices are bubbling, return the wings to the pan, continue cooking for a couple of minutes, then serve.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @NigelSlater
