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Diana Henry’s Provençal tomatoes.

We had these with some salmon and the new potato and green bean salad mentioned in a previous post.

They combine what is I think one of the holy trinity’s of cooking: tomato/anchovy/garlic this combination sings to me like a Holland Dozier Holland song. The addition of crunchy, lemony, thyme-y breadcrumbs adds a flavour and textural lift that turns this very humble dish into something very very lovely. 



Ingredients

8-9 large plum tomatoes or 4-6 beefsteak tomatoes, halved

50-100g jar or tin of anchovies, drained (reserve the oil)

2 fat garlic cloves, very finely sliced

100g coarse white breadcrumbs (day-old is good)

zest of ½ lemon, finely grated

leaves from 4 sprigs thyme

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Diana’s recipe note: I adore anchovies so have no trouble with this being heavy on them, but if you are less keen (and want a waft rather than a  full-on flavour), go for the 50g option. 

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C/gas mark 5 

Put the tomatoes into a gratin dish large enough to hold them in a single layer. They should be quite snug but not too squashed up (otherwise they sweat – you want some of their moisture to evaporate as this makes them sweeter).

Halve each anchovy and stick some slices of garlic and some anchovy into each tomato half. Spoon two tablespoons of the anchovy oil over the tomatoes. Season.

Toss the breadcrumbs with the lemon zest, thyme and some seasoning. Scatter on top of the tomatoes and drizzle on the olive oil.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the tomatoes have shrunk and the top is golden brown.

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