This dish fits nicely into the season, as main crop potatoes have arrived and home-grown tomatoes are good for cooking.
Baked tomatoes and potatoes
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 large onion, sliced
4 Tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
500g waxy potatoes, such as desiree or Nadine, peeled and cut into ½ cm rounds
600g large tomatoes, sliced
200g olives, stoned removed (optional)
1 cup vegetable stock (approx.)
2 tsp thyme, oregano or rosemary, finely chopped
generous pinch ground cinnamon
handful of parsley and basil leaves, roughly torn or chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
parmesan or pecorino cheese to finish
extra virgin olive oil to serve
Method
Heat the oven to 200degC.
In a large heavy-based pan, add the oil, onions and a generous pinch of salt and cook until soft and sweet (about 10 minutes).
Add the garlic, the thyme, oregano or rosemary and stir through.
Layer the potato slices over the base of medium to large oven dish. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Now cover with the melt onions and garlic, sprinkle over the olives if using and finish with the tomato rounds. Drizzle over any remaining oil. Add the cinnamon to the stock and pour over the potatoes and tomatoes. Cover tightly with foil as this will allow to cook through before getting too caramelised. This will take about 35 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to cook for another 10-15 minutes or until golden and sticky.
To serve
Grate over plenty of parmesan or pecorino cheese. I like to add little a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to finish.
• Alison Lambert is one of the demonstrators in the Otago Farmers Market in Dunedin on Saturday mornings.
