Tomatoes for breakfast, tomatoes for lunch ...

 

So many delicious tomatoes, so quick to turn into sensational dishes. Tomatoes for breakfast, tomatoes for lunch ... Hidey hi, Anyone who knows me knows I am an unashamed tomato addict. If I haven’t eaten them today, I’ll surely eat them tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. I love them for their taste, and their versatility, and I love them for their beauty. No, I’m not doing a Leonard Cohen take-off, and nor am I talking about those even shaped, even coloured globes on supermarket shelves, I mean real tomatoes, sweet or tangy, red, green, orange or yellow, tomatoes that taste like tomatoes. Mike Dunleavy of Low Flying Ducks Onetangi (021 1854112) grows some fabulous tomatoes here on Waiheke Island at Te Motu Vineyard. His garden is currently a riot of colour with tomatoes of every hue. I’ve featured 7 this week, but there are plenty more. Once I started chopping, slicing and tasting I got on a roll and only stopped when I ran out of tomatoes. There’s no recipes – just grab a bunch of great tomatoes, add a bit of this and a bit of that and make them the star of the plate. Go for a contrast of colour or texture, ramp up the sweetness or add tangy bursts, or just make them big and bad, rich and oily, and strike an occasional jaw-dropping combo …Whaaaa? Green tomatoes, nectarines and kaffir lime leaves? Yup. Aunt Ruby’s German Green – shock your auntie with a smattering of jalapeno and white nectarine on a bed of sliced green tomatoesBig Rainbow – Bring on the blackboy peaches … this salad is looking nice and gay!Thessanoliki – Greek style eggplant and tomatoes – you just need breadSicilian ­– nicely stacked with feta and basilJaune Flamme – Oh-la-la Frenchified corn and olives Tigerella – tame the stripes and stick these ones on tomato sourdoughBlack Krim – match these beauties with black garlic Enjoy the summer – or if you are in northern climes, make the most of Shared Kitchen’s expanding recipe repertoire by reversing the seasons to suit you by delving into the archives on the right-hand side of the Home Page under what would be your summer months, June/July/August, to find wintery dishes to warm you up.Info for Cooking Classes here. And a pic of my home-grown Waiheke Island Black Krim tomatoes. They're my fave! Catch you next week! Julie