I'm Just Sweet On Tomatoes... ; It May Be a Fruit Masquerading As a Vegetable, but the Succulent Tomato has Become the Basis of an Entire Country's Cuisine. Here, Rachel Allen Looks at the Magic Ingredient That Really Puts the Sauce Into Italian Cooking Rachel's Kitchen [Eire Region]

Summary

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Tomatoes are such a versatile ingredient. They will happily star in salads, soups or sauces while, in a supporting role, they add depth and sweetness to curries and stews. They can be stuffed and roasted, fried and braised; they make gorgeous tarts and even work well in a sorbet!

A bad tomato -- pale and mealy without a hint of sweetness -- is an insipid thing to behold. Yet a good one that is perfectly ripe, deep red, ever so slightly soft and wonderfully juicy is an amazing thing to eat and a fabulous ingredient to cook with. I find it hard to imagine Italian food without tomatoes. There's the caprese salad, with its tomatoes, mozzarella and basil -- the red, green and white echoing the colours of the Italian flag -- as well as the plethora of pizza and pasta sauces that have endless variations, but almost all of which have that sweet tomato base.

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I'm Just Sweet On Tomatoes... ; It May Be a Fruit Masquerading As a Vegetable, but the Succulent Tomato has Become the Basis of an Entire Country's Cuisine. Here, Rachel Allen Looks at the Magic Ingredient That Really Puts the Sauce Into Italian Cooking Rachel's Kitchen [Eire Region]

There are nearly as many varieties of tomato as there are ways to cook with them. Plum tomatoes have less water content than most and are used for tomato pastes and sauces. All differe...

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