This is a great recipe to use when you have a glut of tomatoes, transform them into a summery starter or main course.
Serve with a green salad

Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes

2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
450g Tomatoes, skinned (optional) and roughly chopped
1 tsp Caster Sugar
1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp sun-dried Tomato Purée
4 fresh Basil sprigs, torn plus extra to garnish
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
500g frozen Puff Pastry, defrosted
450g small mixed heritage Tomatoes, sliced
25g Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6.
2. To make the tomato sauce, heat 1 tbsp of oil in a saucepan, add the onion and fry for 5 mins until softened and just beginning to brown around the edges.
3. Add the garlic and tomatoes, fry for a minute or two and then stir in the sugar, vinegar and tomato puree.
4. Add the basil leaves, season generously and cook over a medium heat for 15 mins until you have a thick pulpy sauce.
5. Stir more frequently towards the end of cooking to prevent the sauce from sticking to the pan.
6. Cut the pastry in half, roll each half out on a lightly floured surface and trim to a 25 × 18cm rectangle.
7. Transfer to a lightly oiled large baking tray and score 2.5cm in from the edge of the pastry.
8. Be careful not to cut through to the base.
9. Prick the inner rectangle with a fork.
10. Bake the pastry for 10 mins until it is well risen and partly cooked.
11. Take the baking tray out of the oven and press the centre of the pastry down with the back of a fork, inside the marked line, to make a deep tart case.
12. Spoon half the tomato sauce into each tart in an even layer, arrange the sliced heritage tomatoes on top and season generously.
13. Drizzle with the remaining oil and grate the Parmesan over the top.
14. Return to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
15. Serve warm, garnished with extra basil and cut into pieces.

Tip
For those whose tomato crops aren’t quite so bumper, simply halve the recipe and make just one tart. Cut it into four small pieces and serve as a starter or with other dishes.
This idea can also be scaled down to make tiny tarts that are just a little larger than a slice of tomato – great to serve with drinks before dinner.
Make sure to reduce the cooking times down to just 5 mins until the pastry is risen and then 5 mins or so once the tomatoes are added.

This recipe is from Cooking from the Garden by Sara Lewis and published by Simon & Schuster in 2012 ISBN 978-0-85720-860- priced £9.99

This is a south american dish of spicy chicken served with rice

Serves 4 – 6

1 Onion
1 Clove Garlic
2x15ml spoon Oil
25g Flour
450g Cooked Chicken
375g tin Tomatoes
small tin Tomato Puree
2 or 3 Cloves
1 Bay Leaf
25g Okra, (Ladies Fingers) sliced
A little Chilli Powder
275ml Chicken stock
Seasoning
225g Long Grain Rice
15ml spoon Parsley, chopped

1.Peel the onion, crush the garlic and de-seed and slice the pepper
2. Fry gently in the oil until the vegetables are soft
3. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 mins
4. Dice the chicken and add with all the other ingredients except the rice and parsley
5. Simmer gently to heat through, stirring from time to time
6. Meanwhile cook the rice in boiling salted water
7. Drain and rinse the rice.
8. Stir the parsley into the rice
9. Serve immediately

An elegant yet easy dessert to create for a dinner menu

4 Egg whites

225g Caster Sugar

120g Hazel Nuts, ground and browned in the oven

1/2 tsp Vinegar

150ml Double Cream

Few Drops Vanilla Extract

Icing Sugar

8 Hazel Nuts for decoration

Method

1. Draw 2 x 20cm circles in pencil on Bakewell paper and place on baking sheets
2. Set Oven to Gas 5 190C
3. Whisk the egg whites stiffly then gradually beat in the sugar. continue to beat and add the vanilla extract and vinegar
4. Lastly fold in the hazel nuts
5. Divide equally and spread over the 2 prepared circles
6. Bake for 30 – 40 mins until pale golden and set
7. Remove from the paper and allow to cool completely
8. Fill with whipped cream, dust with icing sugar and pipe a rosette of cream then top with a hazel nut
9. Serve immediately