Tomatoes are healthy and delicious – we really should be eating more of them!
A recent study showed Italy had lower rates of cancer compared to New Zealand. They eat a lot of tomatoes over there, while we’re low consumers of them. Perhaps there is a connection.
Either way, we should be eating them regularly – they go with just about anything.
You can have them roasted on a slice of Vogels for breakfast, in a salad for lunch, and in a main dish for dinner.
Right now, I’ve got a couple of different varieties growing in my garden. One is the Black Zebra tomato, named because of its stripes. Looking at them, I thought they may be quite tart, but they have a delicious sweetness to them.
I’m trying to grow a tomato-potato hybrid called a Potato Tom at the moment. The plant produces both tomatoes and potatoes, obviously, with different harvesting times.
The tomatoes are ripe now so I did a little taste test with the regular varieties and couldn’t really taste a difference between any of them. So, now I’ve got these potatoes hidden away to enjoy when they’re ready – it’s pretty exciting! They’re a great space saver and something a bit different to try in the garden.
My favourite ways to enjoy tomatoes:
- Roasted
I love to cut them in half, sprinkle over my SG Home Cuisine Italian Seasoning and roast them in the oven at about 180°C until they’re soft. Cooking them this way really brings out those sugars and the flavours of the herbs.
- Paired with mozzarella
There are lots of quality mozzarellas available in New Zealand now – Clevedon Valley makes an excellent one. Take it out of the fridge and wait until it’s at room temperature. Cut a wedge, slice your tomato and serve with a quality extra virgin olive oil, some balsamic vinegar and basil for a traditional Caprese salad.
- In a salad
Add tomatoes to a salad of finely chopped red onion, rocket lettuce, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.