If there was only one solid ingredient that would be considered the most essential and versatile of Mediterranean cuisine, it would be TOMATO.
Available all through the year but at their most delicious during the summer months, tomatoes bring simple joy just with their colour to any plate either red raw or cooked and blended to enhance other flavours.
You think you know what a tomato tastes like; after all we’ve all eaten them countless times in countless ways. In fact if you don’t like tomato, it would be hard to avoid it in any dish in any type of international cuisine. This is certainly the case with the gastronomy of the Mediterranean, and in Menorca tomatoes are one of the few ingredients that no home should ever be without.
Have you bought freshly picked farm grown tomatoes from local produce markets?
Or tasted a tomato plucked from your own home grown veggie patch in the heat of the summer sun?
Then perhaps you should add that to your list of not so guilty pleasures yet to be indulged! Luscious like apples and can be eaten the same way at this time of year, the sweet juicy tomatoes of Menorca are of premium quality. Just smell one to know the difference!
One of the best ways to bring out the flavour is as a tomato salad: tomatoes sliced, sprinkled with salt and drizzled lightly in olive oil (extra virgin for a real treat).
At most meals, Menorcans dine with a side order of pa amb tomate fregat bread with rubbed tomato and olive oil, however there are many traditional dishes of the island that are tomato based.
Unlike the extravagance of Lobster, simple tomatoes are so plentiful during July and August that buckets of them are used to prepare additional sofrito for the winter. Sofrito, like many of the tomato based recipes is easy to make, however some recipes require more constant attention and time than others.
Interested in trying a few tomato recipes yourself?
We’ll post a few of our traditional favourites from Menorca, from the fast and easy to the gourmet!
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