Personally, I think that big ones and small ones both have their merits, so I'm not too concerned about size. As long as it tastes good, I don't mind what size my tomato is. What was that? You thought I meant something else? Wash your mind out with soap - this is a family friendly blog!
Here in Spain, we're lucky enough to have a wide variety of tomatoes available, all year round, and the choice can be a bit baffling sometimes. I love those small sweet cherry tomatoes. I always keep some in the fridge to snack on, and they're ideal for the buffet table.
I like to put out a dish of multi coloured cherry tomatoes, so people can just pick them up as they go past. I also make some mini kebabs as tapas with a cherry tomato, an olive, a square of Manchego cheese and a chunk of pepper. I make up a batch, then drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika. It's a quick, tasty, healthy tapa, and it always go down well.
At the moment, there are a lot of beefsteak tomatoes around, and they are so full of flavour. Last week, we had beefburgers for tea. I cooked them in the halogen oven, and also prepared a dish of chopped onions, tossed in olive oil, and a couple of slices of beefsteak tomato, which I cooked on the lower rack of the oven. When everything was cooked, I served the slices of tomato on top of the burgers, with the onions underneath. It made a tasty change from relish.
Beefsteak tomatoes are also handy for grating - one tomato will do a big dish of tomato paste, and it will keep for at least a week in the fridge. That's handy to put on tuna sandwiches, or on your toast in the mornings.
And if I want a light supper, I'll halve a couple of beefsteak tomatoes, then scoop out the flesh and cook it with some chopped mushrooms, celery and onions. If I have some cooked brown rice around, I'll mix in some of that, otherwise I'll use some prepared breadcrumbs with garlic and parsley, then add an egg to bind it all together. Then I pile the mixture into the tomato shells, cover with grated cheese and brown under the grill. Delicious!
So, does size matter to you? What's your favourite way to serve up lovely fresh Spanish tomatoes?
