Tomatoes, stuffed with almonds and mushroom

 

I think the first time I cooked stuffed tomatoes was in Portugal.  The markets on the Algarve were overflowing with delicous fruit and vegetables.  They varied too much in shape and size ever to be acceptable to supermarkets, but they tasted sublime.  I would walk all around the market, ostensibly comparing prices, but in reality, just soaking up the wonderful scents and sights.  And as the food was entirely affordable, I could shop to my heart's content.  I always think that a tomato will taste good if, when you sniff the stalk cluster left on (and it should always still be on!), it has an almost peppery scent to it.  Most tomatoes I buy these days not only come without that little green star, but even when they do, have no scent and not much flavour.  I can understand why when voyaging people sell up and move ashore, they nearly always start growing their own fruit and vegetables in an attempt to recapture the glorious produce of good markets.  Some supermarkets sell 'beef' tomatoes and occasionally, these are fairly good.  But the huge, oval, rather flat tomatoes I would buy in Latin countries, starting to split at the top because they are so engorged with juices, are but a distant memory.  I used to buy them, cut the top off, stuff them and serve them for dinner the same evening.  The taste is just so wonderful.

 

However, we must make the best of what we have and recently, I bought some tomatoes from Jack, who brings a well-supplied market stall to Russell every week, and I picked up a bag of tomatoes (it's OK, he takes back the plastic bags and re-uses them!), which contained two lovely, large tomatoes.  They weren't the rich red of those in Portugal, nor bursting with luscious juices (considering it's August, mid-winter, they must have been grown in a poly-tunnel), but they brought back such wonderful memories that I had to stuff one for dinner.  It was good, but ...

 

I generally find stuffed vegetables unsatisfactory and am convinced that they contradict the laws of physics.  You remove all the flesh, cook it with other ingredients and then try to stuff the result back in the empty shell.  I always have heaps left over because even softened, you still have all the original vegetable to put back in plus all the extra ingredients!  The great thing about stuffed tomatoes, is that you don't use the tomato you take out (although you can use it in the accompanying dish), so that there is actually some room to take the stuffing.  This recipe is a genuine voyaging recipe and small-income to boot.  Good fresh tomatoes keep well at sea (and I doubt you could resist the temptation to eat them for long, anyway.  Almonds, although not exactly cheap, are often grown in the same sort of places where you get these great, big tomatoes, and can be replaced with something cheaper (see Variations).  You should get a week out of your mushrooms at sea, but can use dried if necessary.  The tomatoes can be cooked in a variety of ways, which you can find in the Notes.

 

If you can buy really good tomatoes,  this recipe is great for entertaining, being easy to prepare and very attractive - but don't get distracted and overcook the tomatoes!! 

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

2 large, ripe tomatoes, at least 70mm/3in in diameter

1/2 cup almonds

1 tsp za'atar

1/2 to 1 tsp harissa

1/2 tsp garlic granules

2 mushrooms (50mm/2in dia) 

1/4 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper 

 

Method: 

• Cut the top off the tomatoes and set aside
• Depending  on how ripe the tomatoes are, scoop out the flesh and seeds into a bowl, with a spoon - or a knife and spoon if the core is very hard.  Leave a reasonable amount of flesh in the shell for taste and moisture.  
• Now put the almonds,  za'atar, harissa and garlic granules into a blender and pulse until the almonds are a coarse powder: better to have a few chunks of almonds remaining than to have almond butter!  Chop the mushrooms coarsely and then pop them in the blender, together with the salt and pepper, for a few seconds.  The end result is a crumbly paste.
• OR chop the almonds and mushrooms as finely as you can with your knife and mix them in a bowl with the rest of the ingredi ents.
• Now divide the mixture in two and spoon it into the tomatoes, pressing it down to fill the whole cavity.  Put the top back on.
• Light the cooker and put on a flame tamer.  Place a heavy-based pan on top and lower the tomatoes into it.  Put the lid on and as soon as you can smell that the tomatoes are starting to cook, lower the heat right down.  After 10 minutes or so, check them every couple minutes, so that you can take them out when they are cooked through, but before they collapse. 

Carefully lift out the tomatoes and put on hot plates.  Serve with rice, polenta, mashed potates, or whatever takes your fancy, really.  I like to serve them with rice and wild rice in a sort of pilaf: fry an onion in olive oil with rice, until it's soft, chop up the remaining tomato and add that, and then throw in the rice and stir it around, for a few moments before pouring in water, 2:1, to cook it in the usual way.

 

You might want to make some sort of sauce to go over it, if you want something more moist.  Or you can pour the sauce into the pan and cook the tomatoes in the sauce. 

 

Notes: 

• You can replace the garlic granules with 2 or 3 cloves of chopped garlic of you prefer, but the flavour of the granules spreads through the filling more effectively.
• Cooking: If you have an oven, the tomatoes can be baked in a dish, with or without extra sauce, on a medium setting, for about 20 minutes, if my memory serves. You can also cook them on a trivet in the pressure cooker, although this can be a bit fraught: if you overcook them even for a minute, they are likely to collapse on you.  If, however, the cooker is large enough to take a bowl contining the tomatoes (and you can lift it out again without burning yourself), this would be a good choice, with or without extra sauce.  You can cook them, again with or without extra sauce, in a good frying pan, as long as you have a domed lid which will fit over the tomatoes.

 

Variations:

• If you don't have za'atar, use thyme instead.
• Any other nut can be substituted for the almonds, from the lofty heights of pinenuts and macadamia, though hazelnuts, cashews and Brazil nuts down to blanched peanuts.  I wouldn't recommend walnuts, however: in combination with the mushrooms, the stuffing would have to strong a flavour.

 

 

You will find many more recipes like this here.

Chickpeas and wild rice with tomatoes

 

This is one of those really great recipes.  It tastes wonderful, but it’s simple, inexpensive, easy to cook and uses food that you - or at any rate I - always have to hand.  To me, it’s so delicious that it’s fit for a celebration or to give to guests. I love it, and every time I make it, I only wish that I’d made twice as much!  

 

If you don't have wild rice on board, or it's beyond your budget, substitute your normal brown.  It will still make a lovely meal.

 

serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

1 onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil (preferably from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil)

1/2 cup rice

1/4 cup wild rice

2½ cups water

1/2 cup chickpeas, soaked

1 tsp Annie's Mixed Herbs or a handful of chopped parsley

 1/2 tsp (heaped) Annie's Seasoned Salt

400 g/14 oz can tomatoes*

1 garlic clove

 cracked black pepper

 

Method:

• Heat the oil in the pressure cooker and add the chopped onion. Cook for a few minutes until softened and transparent.
• Add the rice and wild rice and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring frequently until the grains of rice become opaque.
• Pour in the water and bring to the boil. Add the chickpeas and the dried mixed herbs (if you're using fresh parsley, keep this until the end). Stir well and put the lid on the pressure cooker. Bring up to pressure and cook for 15 minutes.
• Reduce pressure at room temperature. Add the salt. Dice the garlic and add to the pan.
• Drain the tomatoes and put the juice aside for another recipe. Add the tomatoes to the pressure cooker and chop them very roughly with your spoon – they should stay in big chunks.
• Season generously with pepper, check the salt and reheat, with the lid on, over a low flame. 
• If you are using fresh parsley, chop this finely and mix it through before serving.

Note:

• *If you're somewhere that tomatoes are affordable, this is a good meal to use them, so that you don't have to store the juice.  Peel them first, if you want to and cut them in quarters or eighths, depending on how big they are.  I can't suggest how many to use, but cut up, they would measure a generous cup and a half.
• Fresh parsley truly enhances this dish.

You will find many more rice recipes here

Tomato chutney

While this is a traditional Indian chutney, it is very adaptable to western ideas and you can use it as a base for a sauce, a dip or for stuffing vegetables. Or even as an extremely inauthentic pizza base! I think it goes very well with Lentil flatbreads for a light lunch or with sundowners. Unlike ‘chutney’ as most British people would think of it, this is not a preserve, although it will keep quite well for several days.

 

Ingredients

 

1 tsp coconut oil, mustard oil or other oil of choice

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp fennel seeds

a generous pinch of asafoetida)

2 tsp finely chopped ginger or ginger paste

3 or 4 cloves finely chopped garlic or 2 tsp garlic paste

1 green chilli chopped

1 small onion, chopped (optional)

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/4 tsp salt or to taste

1/4 tsp black salt (kala namak)

1/2 tsp Kasmiri chilli powder, to taste

 

Method:

• In a medium pan, add the oil and heat on a medium flame.
• Once hot, add mustard and cumin seeds and let them crackle.
• Add asafoetida and fennel seeds, and mix for a few seconds.
• Add ginger, garlic, green chilli and optional onion and cook on medium, stirring occasionally, until the onion is golden and/or the mixture smells fragrant.
• Add turmeric and ground coriander and mix well.
• Add tomatoes and salt and cook on low-medium heat, covered, until tomatoes are completely softened.
• Adjust salt and spice. Add black salt and chilli powder to taste. Mix well.

You can continue to cook this chutney down to a thicker consistency or add a little water to make it thinner, depending on what you are serving the chutney with. I like to cook it over a low heat, covered, to make a very thick sauce.

Notes:

• For those who don’t have some of the more unusual curry spices on board, you can leave out the mustard seeds and asafoetida. Use ordinary salt in place of the kala namak and 1/4 tsp chilli flakes as a substitute for the Kashmiri chilli (a mild and very red, Indian chilli powder). You could use 1/2 tsp paprika to enhance the colour of the chutney.
• If the pieces of onion or tomato skins seem too intrusive, you could try mashing the chutney, or give it a few seconds in a blender.  Be careful, however: you don't want it to end up as a purée!

Chickpeas and fusilli in tomato sauce

 

 

This is an old favourite of mine. Incredibly simple to make, but astonishingly good to eat. Moreover, this is perfect voyaging food, because it is made from ingredients that you will have in your lockers. I prefer it with fusilli – spirals – but of course it will go with whatever pasta you have on board.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup of chickpeas, soaked and cooked

a good glug of olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed or diced

425 g/14 oz can of tomatoes (See Notes)

a little wine

about a dozen black olives

1 tsp capers

1 tsp Annie's Mixed Herbs

up to 1/4 tsp chilli flakes

salt and pepper

4 handfuls of fusilli

Method:

• Cook the chickpeas as usual.
• Pour the olive oil into a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened and translucent. Add a little salt to speed things up, if you want.
• When the onion is almost cooked, add the garlic and cook until it’s soft.
• Now add the tomatoes and rinse out the can with wine, if you’re using it. If you’re using whole tomatoes, break them up with your spoon.
• If you’re using them, stone and halve the olives. Add the drained capers.
• Season with herbs andchilli flakes - which give a nice lift - and a generous amount of black pepper. Taste and add salt if it can take it.
• Bring to the boil and add the chickpeas.
• Lower the heat and cook until the sauce has become quite thick.
• When the sauce is almost ready, cook the fusilli until it reaches the consistency you like.
• Remove it from the cooking water with a slotted spoon, or drain it into a jug (you may need some of the water to thin down the sauce) and add it to the other pan. Cook for a few minutes longer. Check the seasoning and serve.

Add Parmesan (vegan, if you prefer) at the table, if you like it.

Notes:

• Ideally, use chopped tomatoes in purée, but if you don’t have those, any others will do. It’s worth using better quality tomatoes in this recipe (most recipes for that matter!) for the extra flavour. They seem to be less watery, too.
• Substitute dried, cooked chickpeas with a can

Variation

• Use cannellini or butter beans.
• Add finely diced celery if you have some.
• Try this with pasta shells, or similar. You want a pasta that will hold the sauce.

Italian chickpea Soup

This is a substantial and well-flavoured soup, suitable for winter lunches or a main meal. It would go very well with sun-dried tomato bread. The ingredients are not really voyaging vegetables, but they keep reasonably well and you would still be able to make this soup a week into your passage.

 

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

Serves at least 8 as a starter, 2 or 3 for a main course

Ingredients

 

3 large sticks of celery

1 leek

1 cup chickpeas, soaked

5 cups boiling stock or water

2 bay leaves

1½ tsp oregano

3/4 tsp rosemary

1/4 tsp chilli

14 oz/400 g tin of diced tomatoes

 handful of finely chopped fresh basil or parsley, or 1 tsp dried basil

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Method:

• Thinly slice the celery.
• Trim the leek, removing the root end and any discoloured outer leaves; trim the top. Slice thinly, washing any slices that have grit or soil lodged in them.
• Drain the chickpeas and put them in your pressure cooker, together with the water/stock, celery, leek, bay leaves, oregano, rosemary and chilli.
• Bring to pressure over a high heat and then cook at high pressure for 20 minutes. Reduce pressure naturally.
• Remove the bay leaves and discard. With a slotted spoon, take out 4 or 5 spoons of chickpeas and put them in a bowl together with half the tomatoes. Mash together to thicken the soup.
• Put the tomato/chickpea mix back in the pressure cooker together with the parsley or basil and the vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.
• Simmer for a further few minutes so that the tomato flavour permeates the whole and serve hot. 

Variations:

• Add (vegan) Parmesan cheese at the table.
• Try using butter beans instead of the chickpeas

Minestrone soup

The name ‘Minestrone’ has become something of a catch-all for a tomato, vegetable and pasta soup. I don’t pretend that the following version is any more authentic than most, but it certainly is attractive and full of flavour.  Even if I weren't a vegetarian, my Minestrone would always contain beans and recipes which don't, seem very odd to me, because white beans are so often used in Italian peasant food, which is surely what this is.  Cannelini beans would be first choice, but if you can't buy them, any white beans will do.  Even borlotti beans would do, if you have those, also being popular in Italy. 

 

Non-vegetarian recipes call for bacon, but I've seen more than a few which are strictly vegetarian. Ideally, one would chop in a stick or two of celery, but I don't find this a good voyaging vegetable, because you buy so much at a time.  Even in a fridge, I suspect it doesn't last forever, so I suggest celery seed as an alternative: it's a shame that you can't just buy three or four sticks of celery at a time! This soup makes for a great and filling meal with chunks of freshly-baked bread.   

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

 

Serves 4 to 6 as a starter, 2 for a main course

 

Ingredients

at least 2 tbsp olive oil
2medium onions or one large
2 garlic cloves
1 carrot

1 small potato 
1 stick celery OR 1 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp fennel seeds 3 cups water

2 tsp Annie's Mixed Herbs OR 1 tsp rosemary + 1 tsp thyme

1 tsp sweet paprika

2 cups water 

1/4 cup white beans, soaked in 1 cup boiling water for an hour 

about a packed cup full of shredded cabbage
a piece of Parmesan cheese rind

14 oz/400 g tin of crushed tomatoes

about 20 lengths of spaghetti

coarsely ground or cracked black pepper

optional Parmesan cheese or "Parmegan" cheese to serve

Method:

• Heat the olive oil in the pressure cooker.
• Chop the onions and garlic and cook over a fairly high heat until they’re starting to brown. If you are using it, add 1 tsp salt.
• While this is happening, dice the carrot, potato and the celery. Add to the other vegetables, together with the celery seed (if using) and the fennel seed, and cook until they are aromatic - about 5 minutes.
• Add the dried herbs and paprika and toss the vegetables to ensure that they're mixed well. 
• Pour in the water, the beans their water, and bring to the boil. Pressure cook for 10 minutes. Reduce pressure gradually. 
• When you can safely remove the lid, add the cabbage to the pan. Return it to the flame. If you’re using the Parmesan cheese rind, cut this into small dice and add. 
• Empty the tomatoes into the pan and mix them in. 
• When the soup is boiling once more, lower the heat to a simmer, break the spaghetti into 25 mm (1 in) lengths and add this. Stir to separate the pieces of pasta.
• Gind in a generous amoun of pepper. Minestrone also responds well to ½ tsp of cracked black pepper. Taste after a couple of minutes to see if it needs more salt.
• Cook until the spaghetti has softened – you can bring it back up to pressure for 3 minutes if you wish.

Serve with chunks of bread and, if you have it, plenty of Parmesan cheese.

 

Notes:

• Don't be mean with the olive oil and use a nice, peppery one if you can get it.
• The rind from the Parmesan cheese adds a wonderful depth of flavour, which vegans will have to do without.  However, probably most small-income voyagers will have to do without it, too and indeed, even if you have lots of money, Parmesan cheese, complete with rind, is often difficult to source.  In the days when I ate Parmesan, I used to enjoy eating the piece of rind in the soup, but most people apparently take it out before serving.
• If you don't have crushed tomatoes, use whole ones and crush them yourself. 

Variations:

• Ideally, this recipe would include green beans. I tend to eat soup in cold weather, when green beans are expensive and/or hard to come by.  But they certainly enhance the soup.
• Some recipes call for red kidney beans, but I find that they make the soup too dark,  By all means use them if that's what you fancy!
• Use black-eyed peas or chickpeas, if you have no white beans. The black-eyed peas won't need soaking first. Or you could use a can.
• Most recipes call for a bay leaf.  I can never taste them, myself, but feel free to add one, with the rest of the herbs, if you like them.   
• Replace the cabbage with kale or Swiss chard/silver beet.
• You could also use the leaves from a cauliflower, instead of cabbage.
• Broccoli florets, added at the end would go well, but not if you're intending to reheat the soup for another meal.
• Use another type of pasta, such as elbow pasta, or alphabet, but keep to small shapes so that you don't overwhelm the soup with it. 
• Add tomato purée for a richer flavour, especially if your canned tomatoes are a bit watery. 
• If you miss the bacon flavour from traditional Minestrone, use smoked paprika instead of the sweet.  
• A couple of mushrooms, sliced are also a pleasant addition.
• Add a tsp of mushroom stock powder for more flavour.
• Add chopped pepper to taste
• Use chopped tomatoes in purée for a thicker soup.
• Add 1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
• Fresh tomatoes are also great, if they're available and have plenty of flavour, but in cold weather, canned will probably be a better choice.   

You will find many other recipes for soup here 

 

Edited 19/08/26

 

Cream of tomato soup

Most of us were brought up with Heinz or Campbell’s soups, and their Cream of Tomato Soup is the standard by which all are judged. Fresh tomatoes make lovely soup, but if you are trying to achieve that almost-cloying sweetness of Mr Heinz’s comfort food, it’s best obtained via tins. As this makes the recipe particularly appropriate for voyagers, I include it with some satisfaction.

The following recipe is simplicity itself, and actually pretty wholesome, to boot, especially when served with large hunks of freshly-baked bread.

If you’re feeling particularly wealthy, the milk can be replaced with cream. Take care not to boil the soup once the cream has been added, because, particularly if it’s canned or UHT, it may well separate.

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

 

Serves 2 for a main meal, 4 as a starter

Ingredients

 

1 small onion

1 large knob of butter OR 2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp gram flour

3 cups water

150 ml (5½ oz) tin of tomato purée

1/8 tsp dried, minced garlic

1/4 tsp basil

1/4 tsp dill (weed)

1 tsp honey

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

• Dice onion and fry gently in the oil or butter.  
• Remove from the heat and stir in the gram flour. Gradually add the water until all the flour is blended; return to the heat.
• Bring to the boil, adding the tin of tomato purée and stirring to mix it in.
• Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and add the basil and dill, honey and salt. If you prefer to leave the honey out, do so, but it’s necessary for the Heinz effect. Add the milk and pepper.
• Simmer, very gently, for about 10 minutes. Ladle into warm bowls.

Tomatoes, stuffed with bulgur wheat, onions and herbs.

If you can get the really big tomatoes sometimes (incomprehensibly) known as ‘beef’ tomatoes’, they make a gorgeous starter when stuffed with a savoury filling. There are, of course, countless ways of making these, but this an easy example, together with a couple of variations. Experiment as you wish.

I use bulgur wheat rather than breadcrumbs, for making the stuffing, but either gives excellent results.

Serves 2

 

2 tbsp bulgur wheat

1/4 cup boiling water

2 large tomatoes

1 small onion

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp basil

1/4 tsp thyme

salt and pepper

 

Method:

• Put the bulgur wheat into a small bowl and pour the boiling water over it.
• Cut a thin slice off the top of each tomato and put to one side.
• Scoop out the insides with a teaspoon. You won’t need these for this recipe, but will undoubtedly find a use for them. (If you’re worried about it going mouldy, heat to boiling with a little hot water and put in a vacuum flask until you can use it the following day.)
• Put a little salt on the insides of the tomatoes to draw out excess juice. Turn them upside down to drain.
• Dice the onion and garlic and fry them in the oil until golden.
• When the bulgur wheat is softened, add the onion/garlic and the basil and thyme and season with salt and pepper. Be generous with the pepper.
• Place the tomatoes in the pressure cooker’s vegetable separator and put half the stuffing in each. Cover each tomato with its top.
• Put the trivet in the pressure cooker together with 1/2 cup water. Put the stuffed tomatoes on top. Bring up to pressure. Cook for 1 minute and allow the pressure to reduce naturally.
• Carefully lift out the tomatoes and serve hot.

Variations:

• Add 2 tbsp pine nuts to the filling, to make them even more special.
• Serve with rice (and wild rice) for a main course.
• Leave out the onion and the herbs and mix in 1/2 cup grated cheese with the bulgur wheat.
• Use 1/4 tsp dried, minced garlic with the bulgur rather than frying the garlic.

Tomato Sauce (Marinara Sauce)

For some reason, North Americans invariably refer to this as marinara sauce, which always sounds a bit pretentious to me!   Whatever you choose to call it, the easiest way to make it is with a can of chopped tomatoes.   However, if fresh tomatoes are cheap and full-flavoured, they are also very good, so long as you don’t mind little bits of skin in it. 

If you want to peel the tomatoes first, immerse the tomato in boiling water for 1 minute and then immediately plunge it into cold water to stop it cooking.  A bowl of seawater is fine for this. If you pierce the skin first, it is easier to start the peeling process.

 

Serves 2

1 onion

1 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove

400 g/14 oz can tomatoes OR 4 or 5 fresh ones

salt and pepper

 

Method:

• Dice the onion and cook it in the olive oil for 5 minutes or so. Dice the garlic and add it to the pan.
• When the garlic is softened, add the can of tomatoes, or the fresh ones, diced.
• Cook for 10 to 15 minutes over a moderate heat until the sauce has thickened to the texture you want. Season with salt and pepper.

Variations:

This is a very basic, but surprisingly good sauce. It can be seasoned with basil, thyme or any other herb that takes your fancy: fresh basil, of course is particularly good as is fresh Italian parsley. Cinnamon or chilli can also be used, and a dollop of red wine raises it to gourmet standards. If you are feeling especially elegant, put it through a wire sieve to make a smooth purée.