Feeling a little brain dead on the way home from the UK last week, I decided to invest in a little bit of light entertainment. I purchased a book by Celia Imrie called Nice Work (if you can get it).
A story about a group of expats who live in the South of France and try their hand at opening a new restaurant, I thought it might be quite entertaining and perhaps give me some useful tips for our new life here in the Dordogne.
It served its purpose. A light, reasonably entertaining read, it diverted my mind away from the pressures of pitch meetings, politics, budgets and deadlines, and into a world of glamour, love triangles and “business skulduggery”.
What is also did was share some of the recipes used in the restaurant. My recipe books are currently holed up in the storage and I am missing them considerably, so I decided I’d have a bash at making something from this book: tomatoes a la chapelure.
Delicious they were too. The saltiness of the anchovies mixed with the intense flavour of the basil and garlic complemented the tomatoes perfectly. Even more so when washed down with a glass of Perigueux’s finest Cathédrale Saint-Front.
Tomates a la chapelure
6 tomatoes
4 cloves chopped garlic
2 diced anchovy fillets
50g breadcrumbs
1 tsp chopped parsley
1 tsp chopped basil
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the pips, sprinkle with salt, rinse.
Place on a well-oiled baking tray and pop into a warm oven (90-100C) for about 15 minutes.
Mix the garlic, anchovies, breadcrumbs and herbs.
Lay now-soft tomatoes open side up in a well-oiled baking dish, stuff each tomato with the herb and crust mixture. Season and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake in a hot oven at 200C for about 20 minutes. Eat hot or cold.
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