Seasonal Food and Recipes: September
September marks la rentrée in France. August and holiday time is over, everyone is back to work and school, summer time has come to an end. We are basking in September sunshine at the moment before the arrival of some much needed rain, in the shape of storms for the next few days. The market stalls are overflowing with tomatoes of all shapes, sizes and colours: vibrant red, sunny yellow, green, striped and black. As we have finally had some warm sunny weather, the tomatoes are now plump, juicy and packed full of flavour. Perfect.
This month’s seasonal food and recipe feature celebrates the wonderful tomato, colourful, delicious and such a staple in the kitchen. Now is the time to make pasta sauces and soups for the winter, chutneys, etc but most of all enjoy the fresh seasonal produce while we can. We bought a selection of different coloured tomatoes at the market and made a simple salad with basil and a little olive oil – nothing more. Delicious as the juices and the oil mixed together to make a perfect dressing.
Another favourite of mine is this tomato and red pepper salad – both roasted before being mixed together. We served it at our wedding last year as the starter paired with a lovely local rosé wine. We recently visited the château where the wine is produced – more on that soon.
Salade de poivrons et tomates
This recipe is taken from a fabulous cookery book that we inherited with our house in France: Provence Cookery School by Gui Gedda and Marie-Pierre Moine. I have made a couple of changes for the sake of speed, as I never seem to have quite enough time.
The recipe serves 6, preparation and cooking time takes about 1 ¼ hours.
Ingredients:
6 large ripe but firm vine-ripened tomatoes
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 tbsp olive oil
4 ripe red peppers
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp red or white wine vinegar
Method
1: Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5
2: Halve the tomatoes and place them cut side up on a baking tray. Sprinkle with salt and then turn them over, cut side down and press down gently. Leave them to drain for 5 minutes.
3: Press the tomatoes again, then pour off any excess juice from the tray. Turn the tomatoes cut side up again. Drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil and season lightly. Place in the oven and roast for about 45 minutes.
4: Meanwhile cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds, then cut the flesh into strips. Put the pepper strips in the middle of a piece of foil and bring the edges together to make a loose parcel, sealing well. Place in the oven with the tomatoes and bake for about 30 minutes, until softened with slightly charred skins.
5: Leave the tomatoes until cool enough to handle and cut them into quarters. Place in a salad bowl.
6: Add the pepper strips when they have cooled down, along with any juices.
7: Put the garlic in a cup and add the mustard and vinegar, season lightly and mash together with a fork. Stir in the remaining oil, mixing well. Adjust the seasoning.
8: Drizzle the dressing over the tomatoes and peppers and mix well.
Served warm or cold, this salad is great on its own, as a starter or on toast. It is also lovely as an accompaniment to fish. It keeps well in the fridge and is even more delicious the next day, or even the day after. I often double the recipe and eat it for days – the taste of summer. We finished the latest batch off last night, simply, on toasted walnut bread with a little jambon sec and a sprinkling of grated Vieux Rodez cheese ( a little like parmesan but local).
Enjoy!
