The Most Versatile Ingredient in Existence![Produce - Chef Cooking Tips About Tomatoes](https://media1.agfg.com.au/images/content/454/865.jpg)
By Tobie Puttock
Tomatoes would have to be one of the most versatile ingredients in existence, from sundried tomatoes, to passata pomodoro tomato puree, to various chutneys.
I have always been taught that in the middle of summer a naturally grown tomato will have a lovely sweetness and its beautiful flavour should not (in my opinion) be tampered with too much at all.
Often I will make a little tomato sauce to accompany some pasta. When the tomatoes are in season, I remove the seeds by quartering the tomato and scraping out the seeds with a spoon and then proceed to make the sauce. If the tomatoes are not in season, the skin of the tomato can give tartness to a finished dish; therefore, I blanch the tomatoes, refresh them and remove the skins and seeds to make the sauce.
A serrated knife is always fantastic to cut a tomato with, unless you have a fantastically sharp knife - a blunt knife will more often that not squash the tomato.