A Glut of Tomatoes with Sirloin, Mozzarella and Home Baked Focaccia

Well, despite having planted our (2nd generation) low yield heitage tomatoes (Noire de Crimee), we are having a bit of a glut this year. The original plants came from Sarah Raven, but this year we just used the seeds we got from last year's harvest. You just keep some seeds from the tomatoes you are eating, dry them on a piece of kitchen roll and plant them early spring.

So, what do you do with lots of tomatoes??? Well, you get some Mozzarella - of course ;-) I got this one from Waitrose and it is from Campania, the best region for it (in my humble opinion).

Now, apparently you don't use Balsamico in Insalata Caprese, but I like it - sorry.

So then my wife asked how that would make a meal for dinner. Well, that of course is a bit of an issue... So to start with I thought that a nice Focaccia would make a good filler. Delia Smith's Summer Collection got a really nice recipe for that. The only thing I do different is to mix plain flour and strong flour 50/50. For this one I mixed roasted onions into the dough and topped it with rosemary and salt.

Another lovely Italian dish I came across on my travels is a piece of fillet (or trimmed Sirloin in this case) thinly sliced and seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper. No idea what it's called but it is half way between a roast and Carpaccio.

Seeing as it is close to a good old British roast, I quite like to use some off cuts and an onion to make a cold gravy. I'd say that anything goes as long as it's full of flavor.

So, bringing it all together, this is what we ad for dinner tonight. We loved it, me, my wife and the kids. Light, satisfying and full of flavor.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.