Roast tomatoes with potato purée & grilled bread

Roast tomatoes with potato purée & grilled bread

Summer

The English fry-up inspired this dish, but forget the bacon and sausages for a moment – this version is about the fried tomato, the toast and the potato cake. It might be just me, but that mouthful of juicy, sweet tomato, crunchy oily toast and soft, rich potato is such a good part of the breakfast that I felt it needed its own stage on which to be so amazing. It turned out to be a big show... massive, in fact. So much goodness, so much comfort and so much texture, you’ll want to make it again and again.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

  • 1kg (2lb 4oz) mixed, ripe tomatoes, larger ones halved
  • 1 handful of mixed herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, lovage and basil, leaves picked and torn as necessary
  • 150ml (5fl oz) good-quality extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for the toast
  • 500g (1lb 2oz) floury white potatoes, such as King Edward or Maris Piper
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 6–8 slices of sourdough or country bread
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2.

Place the tomatoes in a large roasting tin, cut-side up, as necessary. Scatter over the herbs, then trickle everything with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season the tomatoes really well with salt and pepper. Place the tray in the oven and roast for about 1 hour, until the tomatoes are soft and blistered and lovely.

While the tomatoes are roasting, cut the peeled potatoes into equally sized pieces, each no smaller than a golf ball. Place them in a large pan and cover with cold water. Set the pan over a high heat, add the garlic cloves, bay leaves and 3–4 teaspoons of salt. Bring the liquid to the boil and cook the potatoes for 20–30 minutes, or until they are nice and tender.

Drain the potatoes, discarding the bay leaves and the garlic cloves but reserving about a cup of the cooking liquid. Return the drained potatoes to the pan and leave them for 5 minutes to allow the steam to evaporate.

Mash the potatoes. After the first minute or so of mashing, gradually add the reserved cooking liquid along with the remaining olive oil. Continue to mash until the potato is smooth, light and well combined with no lumps. It shouldn’t be stiff – it should be more of a purée. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to keep warm.

Toast, grill or chargrill the bread, trickle it with a little olive oil and set aside. To serve, spoon the potato purée out over a large, warm serving platter. Lift the tomatoes from their roasting tin and place them all over the top of the potato. Spoon over all the roasting juices and herbs and serve with the toast.

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