It’s looking good so far this month on the tomato front: the varieties which I chose to grow this year have a good taste and are also cropping well.

The Gardeners’s Delight cherry tomatoes have a nice sweet taste and you can see in the picture that they are smaller than the other types of tomatoes that I have grown outdoors and in the greenhouse.

The bigger wrinkly beef tomatoes are from the Marmande variety which I am growing this year for the first time. I am growing some in the greenhouse and also outdoors although the outdoor ones take longer to ripen. I have found that the Marmande tomatoes are very handy to use in my new recipe for courgette and tomato bake which you will find below.

The third variety which I am currently growing in the greenhouse is called Tigereta. This is a small to medium size tomato with distinctive stripes as you can see in the top right hand corner of the picture.

I have also harvested some Alicante tomatoes grown outdoors which have just ripened. Unfortunately I had a bit of an accident whilst I was away on holiday with my Roma plum tomatoes plants which were pushed by the wind and are not ripening very well as they collapsed on a bundle on the floor. And as I was trying to pull them back up the branches were breaking under the weight of tomatoes.

Anyway, I am currently harvesting tomatoes of all types on a daily basis so the crop level is not bad. I use them in salads and also tomato to accompany any pasta. If you are having a bit of a tomato and courgette glut then I’ve got the perfect recipe for you!

My simple Marmande tomato & courgette bake recipe:

Grease the insides of a large heat proof dish. Then slice a few marmande tomatoes and courgettes into even slices (so that they cook evenly). Place in a baking tray making sure that you alternate slices of tomatoes on top of slices of courgettes.

If you like garlic you can sprinkle some of top as well as some chopped basil or alternatively you may try some herbes de provence (thyme, rosemary, etc…).
Then drizzle the tomato and courgette slices with olive oil and place in the centre of a preheated oven on medium heat for about 30 minutes. Keep an eye on your bake and then enjoy!

I have seen other recipes which involve adding grated cheese or breadcrumbs on top, so if you feel adventurous it may be worth a try too. If you don’t have any Marmande tomatoes, I guess Alicante or any other average size tomatoes will do.

Tomatoes that have ripened naturally in your garden taste so delicious. And when you’ve managed to grow-your-own successfully then they deserve a treat and there’s no better way than some home cooking.