Guest blog for Tomato Week from the Thrifty Cook

Fresh tasty British tomatoes[/caption]It’s British Tomato Week and the first British tomatoes are starting to come into the shops. The British consume around 400,000 tonnes of tomatoes each year but only a quarter of those are grown in the UK. Many of the imported tomatoes are grown in vast computer controlled glass houses and are drip fed with the precise amount of water and fertilizer required to produce fruit. They aren’t even grown in soil but in white Perlite gravel and are picked before they are ripe so as not to damage them in transit.

Forget these orange “bullets” with their thick skins, green seeds and hardly any juice, not to mention flavour, and look for the new season’s British tomatoes! They will have been grown under glass to ripen them but are totally different from imported ones. They should have a strong colour and that wonderful earthy smell.

Tomatoes should smell of tomatoes! That may sound rather ridiculous but if tomatoes don’t smell of anything they won’t taste of anything!
Store tomatoes in a shallow bowl or basket to let them ripen more or store in the fridge if they are very ripe and leave at room temperature for about half an hour before using.

I grow two varieties of tomato, a cherry and a beef tomato. Mine are only starting to flower at the moment so it will be a while before they are ready to eat. However, it’s certainly not too late to grow tomatoes this year if you buy some plants from a garden centre or mail order nursery.
In the meantime, I will enjoy commercially grown British tomatoes.

I have a simple recipe below for Tomato Salsa which is really delicious and makes the most of full flavoured fresh tomatoes.

Tomato Salsa
Ingredients

1 lb/500g fresh tomatoes (about 5 medium sized tomatoes)
½ red pepper (bell pepper)
½ red onion
2 garlic cloves
1-2 chillies (depending on how hot and spicy you like salsa)
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp sugar

Method

Chop the tomatoes into chunks. Deseed the red pepper and chop finely. Chop the onion finely. Mince the garlic. Deseed and carefully slice the chillies.
Put the oil in a saucepan on medium-low heat and add the onion, garlic, chilli and peppers. Cook for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
Then, add the tomatoes and sugar. Stir, then cook for another 5-10 minutes until everything is soft.
To store the salsa, allow to cool completely at room temperature then cover and store in the fridge (it will keep for a few days), or place in a lidded sterilized jar.

Serving Suggestions

Use on corn tortilla chips with grated cheese to make Nachos: place the tortillas in a baking dish, top with dollops of salsa and cover with grated cheese then place under a hot grill until the cheese has melted. Serve alone or drizzle with fresh lime juice and spoon over some soured cream.
Serve as an accompaniment to beef burgers or other barbequed meat.
Delicious as a quick snack: spread cream cheese on toast and top with a generous layer of salsa.
Use as a dip with sliced vegetables or breadsticks.

Support British Tomato Week!