Last week I revealed my love for lentils. Now Iwant to talk about a second store-cupboard saviour, an unassuming but unbelievably valuable ingredient: tinned tomatoes. There are very few vegetables that tin well. Apart from beans and chickpeas, I can count them all on one… finger. Because tomatoes are the only veg (OK, fruit, if you're a pedant) I use regularly in tinned form.
I wouldn't say a tin of plum toms is better than a handful of juicy red ripe 'uns straight off the vine in summer – not much is – but it can be equally good. It's certainly more versatile. It sits on the shelf with the dry goods – pasta, grains and pulses – plump with the power to transform them with its closeted freshness and vibrancy.
One reason tomatoes are loved by cooks the world over is their acidity, which, balanced with their subtle sweetness, is such a gift when paired with bulky, stomach-filling starch. They are also rich in glutamic acid, found more often in meat than in fruit, which gives them that full, savoury flavour. In high-quality tinned tomatoes, I think these attributes are emphasised.
I'm not a fan of chopped tinned toms – the supposed convenience is just not worth the disappointment in terms of the flesh-to-juice ratio. They always seem on the thin side, lacking sauciness and oomph. So Ibuy tinned whole plum tomatoes, tip them into a bowl and crush them to a pulp with my hands, picking out any tough, stalky ends and bits of skin. Brands do vary a lot in quality, though, and it's worth paying a few pence extra to get more tomatoes in a thicker juice (Biona and Suma are two organic brands I like). That aside, I'd second Lindsey Bareham's advice in her Big Red Book Of Tomatoes: in general, Italian toms are the best, not least because the Italian market is so demanding.
Even though they're cooked, Ialways simmer canned tomatoes further – as little as 10 minutes, but up to 30 or 40 – in a wide pan. This intensifies the sweetness and flavour. Beyond the crucial salt and pepper, I'll add garlic, olive oil and acouple of bay leaves or sprigs of thyme, if they're to hand. And I often finish with a pinch of sugar, to round out the tomatoes' acidity.
This week's recipes follow a theme: cooked-down tomatoes paired with a relatively bland, starchy food such as pasta or rice. Indeed, some kind of reduced, garlicky, tomato sauce will work with almost any carbohydrate: fried or roast potatoes, for instance, where you can add a hit of chilli to the tomatoes to create patatas bravas. Add a chilli-spiked tomato sauce to cheesey polenta wedges, too, for a gorgeous supper. Pulse-and-tomato combos are also great, such as in simple curries using tomatoes and chickpeas or tinned beans.
All of these ideas are "stay-at-homers" – that is, things you should be able to rustle up without having togo out to the shops, assuming you've reasonably well-stocked cupboards and fridge and are happy to adapt a little where necessary. The tinned tomato is often at the heart of such recipes. Season it well, cook it simply and Bob's your uncle; or, more accurately, Tom's your best friend.
Bread and tomato gratin
Based on a Sardinian dish, mazzamurru, this is a wonderful way to turn some stale bread and a couple of tins of tomatoes into a warming supper. Use different cheeses if you don't have mozzarella or parmesan to hand – good cheddar, something oozy like taleggio or camembert, or even a goat's cheese are all worth a go. Serves four.
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to trickle
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tins plum tomatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf (optional)
Pinch of sugar
About 200g slightly stale, open-textured white bread
150g mozzarella
Freshly grated parmesan
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and sweat gently for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes more.
Crush the tomatoes and tip into the pan. Season, and add the bay leaf, if using, and a pinch of sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Don't cook it any more because you want the sauce to stay quite wet and juicy. Taste and add more salt, pepper or sugar as needed to produce a nice, savoury sauce.
Meanwhile, cut the bread into 1-1.5cm thick slices. Tip a little less than half the tomato sauce into a deep oven dish around 20cm square. Arrange half the bread pieces over the tomato, tearing them to fit into a roughly even layer and pressing them down lightly into the sauce. Trickle with a little olive oil and scatter with salt and pepper. Tear up half the mozzarella and arrange over the bread, then top with a good grating of parmesan. Spread the remaining sauce over the bread and top with the remaining bread pieces, pushing them down a little. Trickle with more oil, scatter over the remaining mozzarella and finish with a grating of parmesan. Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Leave to settle for 10 minutes or so, and serve with a big green salad.
Pasta with tomato sauce and bacon
Every cook needs a basic tinned tomato sauce recipe. This is mine. Leave out the bacon if you prefer. Serves four.
350g pasta of your choice
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
About 150g streaky bacon or pancetta, cut into small pieces
For the tomato sauce
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and cut into very thin slivers
2 tins whole plum tomatoes
1 bay leaf (optional)
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
Pinch of sugar
Make the sauce first. Heat the oil in a wide frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the garlic and sweat gently for a couple of minutes – don't let it colour. Crush the tomatoes, then tip into the pan. Add a bay leaf, if you have one, bring to a simmer, and cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring often and crushing down the tomatoes with a fork until you have a thick, pulpy sauce. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Leave it as aslightly chunky sauce or, if you prefer a smooth finish, blitz it with a hand-held blender (remove the bay leaf first). You can make the sauce ahead of time and chill or freeze it.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil, salt it well, then add the pasta and cook until al dente.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan, add the bacon and fry until crisp. Add the tomato sauce and let it simmer with the bacon for a few minutes, stirring often, allowing it to reduce and thicken a little further. Add black pepper to taste – it probably won't need more salt.
Drain the pasta and toss immediately with the sauce. Serve straight away, with a trickle more extra-virgin oil on top and more freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Tomato and mozzarella risotto
If you don't have fresh stock, use a high-quality cube or granules. As with the gratin, the mozzarella can be replaced by cheddar, parmesan or scraps of bacon, or even left out altogether. Serves two.
450ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 tin tomatoes, crushed
1 large knob butter
1 small onion, peeled and finelychopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finelychopped
125g risotto rice
Sea salt and blackpepper
1 ball buffalo mozzarella
Extra-virgin olive oil, to finish
Put the stock and tomatoes into a saucepan, bring to a gentle simmer and keep over a very low heat.
Meanwhile, heat the butter in a saucepan over a low heat. When foaming, add the onion and sweat it for eight to 10 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two more, then add the rice and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes.
Now start adding the hot stock and tomato mixture, about a quarter at a time. Let the risotto cook, stirring often, adding more stock as it is absorbed. After 20-25 minutes, the rice should be cooked with just ahint of chalkiness in the middle and you should have used up all thestock and tomato mix.
Stir in some salt and pepper, then tear the mozzarella into chunks and add. Cover, leave for a minute, then stir the melting cheese through the rice, so there are lots of nice, stretchy, melty bits. Serve topped with a generous trickle of extra-virgin olive oil, with some peppery leaves on the side.
