Tomato party
This dish celebrates all the juicy tomatoes we’re picking in our garden at the moment. We only had red ones when we made this but a week before we had a glut of yellow toms too. It doesn’t matter which you use, they’ll all taste great.
Wine suggestions: We have tried a couple of very successful wines with this dish, but the trick is to make sure the wine has a slightly higher acidity and good minerality; try smaller, quality winemakers and this will be a good guide. Successful wine matches have been Umani Ronchi’s Vellodoro Pecorino and Casal di Sera Verdicchio – both great matches, Joguet’s Chinon Cuvée Terroir (delicious Cabernet Franc), and the Gulfi Cerasuolo from Sicily.
Tomato Couscous – serves 4
- 125g couscous
- olive oil
- 150ml boiling water
- 150g fregola (giant couscous)
- 300g medium vine-ripened tomatoes, quartered
- ¾ tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 150g yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 tbsp roughly chopped oregano
- 2 tbsp roughly chopped mint
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 small green tomato, cut into thin wedges
- 100g tomberries or halved cherry tomatoes
- salt and black pepper
Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas Mark 3.
Put the couscous in a bowl with a pinch of salt and drizzle of oil. Pour over the boiling water, stir and cover the bowl with cling film. Set aside for 12 minutes, then remove the cling film, separate with a fork and leave to cool.
Put the fregola in a pan of boiling salted water and simmer for 18 minutes, or until al dente. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water. Leave to dry completely.
Meanwhile, spread the quartered vine tomatoes over half of a large baking tin and sprinkle with the sugar and some salt and pepper. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar and some oil over the top. Place in the oven. After about 20 minutes take the tomatoes out of the oven and increase the temperature to 200ºC/Gas Mark 6.
Spread the yellow tomatoes over the empty side of the baking tin. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil. Return the tin to the oven and roast for 12 minutes, then remove and allow to cool.
Mix the couscous and fregola in a large bowl. Add the herbs, garlic, cooked tomatoes with all their juices, the green tomato and tomberries. Very gently mix everything with your hands. Taste for seasoning and add salt, pepper and olive oil as needed.
(Original recipe from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ebury Press, 2010.)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 