Stokes Sauces: Tomatoes - home grown and much loved

British Tomato Fortnight

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/mayo-range

Tomato vines are starting to grow in domestic greenhouses the length and breadth of Britain as gardeners feed and water them with loving care. Commercial growers will be celebrating British Tomato Fortnight between 20th May and 1st June.

We, Stokes, would love to use British tomatoes in our products if we could get sufficient of these ripe, juicy fruits all year round.

That's why our Award-Winning Tomato Ketchup and other tomato-based sauces use tomatoes ripened on the slopes of southern Italy where the growing season is lengthened by the temperate Mediterranean climate.

Short of plucked from the vine in your greenhouse, the best way to enjoy British Tomatoes is freshly cut into a salad of feta cheese, cucumber and avocado with a delicious drizzle of Stokes Olive & Balsamic Dressing.

Tomato Tarte Tatin

Looking as good as it tastes, the sweetness of the tomatoes comes through beautifully.

Here's how:

Preheat the oven to 210°C / Gas Mark 7. Halve a dozen tomatoes and set them to one side.

Slice and fry 1 onion until it softens, then add 1 tbsp of chopped thyme and rosemary leaves, 1 tsp of caster sugar, 1 tbsp of Stokes Raspberry & Balsamic Dressing and 2 or 3 tbsp of Stokes Bloody Mary Ketchup, cooking them through for 2 or 3 minutes.

Coat the tomatoes with this juicy mixture as you set them into the pan, packed closely together. Cut a sheet of ready rolled puff pastry in a circle about 2 cm larger than the pan and lay it on top of the tomatoes.

Tuck the edges of the pastry down the sides of the tomatoes within the pan and bake for 25 minutes. Let it rest for a few minutes before flipping it over onto a serving plate.

Gazpacho

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/ketchup-and-sauces

This famously chilled tomato soup is one of the most refreshing ways to enjoy new season tomatoes.

Here's how:

Roughly chop: 1 kilo of vine tomatoes, 1 small, peeled cucumber, 1 red pepper, 2 grated cloves of garlic and 2 Spring onions. Mix all this together in a bowl with 4 tbsp of Stokes Bloody Mary Ketchup, 2 tbsp of Stokes Olive & Balsamic Dressing and a dash of cider vinegar.

Put 2 or 3 slices of stale white bread into the mixture, squashing it down to soak up the the juicy combination. Cover and chill, preferably overnight.

Whizz it all up in a blender or with a hand blender until it's smooth. If it is too watery, blitz in more bread. If it's too thick, blitz in some ice cubes. Drizzle 2 tbsp of olive oil into the Gazpacho and serve. A garnish of chopped tomatoes, basil and cucumber sits well with this soup.

[TIP: For a Bloody Mary garnish, blanch and peel little plum tomatoes; prick them with a sharp knife and soak them in vodka overnight. They soak up the vodka adding a new taste sensation to the Gazpacho.]

Caprese Tart

A warm simple tart named after Sicily's Caprese Salad, replicating the colours of the Italian Flag: Green (basil), White (mozzarella) and Red (tomatoes).

Here's how:

Preheat the oven to 200°C / Gas Mark 6. Slice and roast 10 or so tomatoes in a baking tray with a good drizzle of Stokes Olive & Balsamic Dressing, 3 or 4 tbsp of Stokes Tomato Ketchup and a scattering of dried thyme leaves.

After 15 minutes, they will have caramelised and the taste intensified. Remove the tomatoes, let them cool a little and turn the oven down to 180°C / Gas Mark 5. Roll out a puff pasty sheet and score a 2 cm border on each side.

Layer the tomatoes and 200 g of sliced mozzarella, alternating rows of red and white within the border. Brush the visible pastry edges with a beaten egg, drizzle the contents with a little oil, then bake for 20 minutes until the pastry crisps. Garnish with basil leaves and serve.