Sam Lomas’ slow-roasted winter tomatoes with butter beans + chard
INGREDIENTS
Serves 2
- 2 large handfuls of winter tomatoes (marinda, iberico or camone)
- A few sprigs of any available hard herbs, such as sage, rosemary and thyme
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 3 cloves of garlic: 1 finely sliced, 1 bashed and 1 finely grated. (It’s worth it, we promise)
- 1 tin butter beans
- 1 banana shallot, diced
- 500ml good quality veg stock
- 1 small bunch of chard
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Pure White Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Winter tomatoes, grown in Spain and Italy, are completely different from the ripe summer fruits we are all used to. They have a little more crunch, a slight saltiness and lend themselves so well to slow roasting.
Here Sam Lomas has made the most of them in this wintery, vegetarian dish.
METHOD
- Preheat oven to 180c.
- Cut the winter tomatoes in half through their circumference, or into chunks if they are particularly large. Place on a small baking tray, drizzle generously with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, fennel seeds, hard herbs and the bashed clove of garlic. Roast for 45 mins until the tomatoes are crinkly at the edges but not too dried out.
- In a small saucepan sizzle the shallot and the sliced clove of garlic in olive oil until softened. Add the tin of butter beans and veg stock. Simmer for 10 minutes until the beans have broken down slightly and the sauce has thickened. Check for seasoning and adjust as required.
- Take the chard and remove any larger stalks from the leaves and slice into manageable pieces.
- Add the stalks to the simmering butter bean mixture and cook for 2 minutes before adding the remaining leaves, cook until wilted.
- Make a quick aioli by combining the mayonnaise with the grated garlic clove.
- To assemble divide the butter beans between 2 plates, top with the tomatoes, a good dollop of the aioli and a scattering of the chopped thyme.
- Eat with some good crusty bread or just as it is.
RECIPE: Sam Lomas