Summer Fest - Tomatoes!

I'm so thrilled - although it's the last of this year's Summer Fest posts, this is actually the first of the Summer Fest posts where I've had my OWN VEGGIES to show off!!! Yes, that's right, our tomatoes have ripened. I really didn't think that we were going to have much success with the tomatoes - I've never grown them before and they weren't something that my parents grew when I was growing up so I guess I just figured that without a greenhouse, we wouldn't have much luck. But look at them all!! The ones above are a currant tomato and boy, they're so sweet. Little intense explosions of tomatoeyness (yep, that's a word). The ones below are a hanging basket cherry tomato. They hang just next to our patio furniture so great for sitting out on a sunny evening with a glass of wine and nibbling on home grown tomatoes... That's what growing your own is all about!
We really didn't think they were going to make it as they've been transplanted about a million times and then were knocked over about another hundred times. It was only a month ago that they were planted into hanging baskets (or hanging pots really). But wow, they've certainly come up trumps. They're all weighed down like this one with lots of beautiful fruits. YUM!!!

Alas, there aren't quite enough ripe ones for cooking with yet. But I grabbed these lovelies and whipped up a light, summery tomato sauce to go with home grown beans and home grown courgettes and baked salmon. Just perfect - can you tell I'm proud of our growing achievements??!

There's not really a recipe - all I did was chop up a red onion, fry in a little oil until nice and jammy, throw in a chopped red pepper (only because I had a questionable looking one in the bottom of the fridge). Then add a couple of cloves of garlic, sliced, and deglaze with a slosh of balsamic vinegar. I then added a teaspoon of brown sugar (I always add a tsp of sugar to tomatoes - really helps the depth of flavour). The tomatoes were peeled and chopped (you can use a can if you don't want to bother with peeling tomatoes) and added with a tablespoon of tomato puree and a good season before letting it bubble away gently. Simply boil for longer for a richer sauce but I was after a fresh, light sauce to go with the salmon.

We're having the left over sauce with pasta for a super quick supper dish tonight!

Rosy x