Datterini are the Rolls Royce of small, plum tomatoes. Like all plum tomatoes, their flesh is dense with fewer pips and their skin thicker than other varieties, so they cook well. I get them from Ocado via Natoora who import them from Sicily and am happy to pay over the odds for their sweet, intense flavour. I roast them briefly with crushed garlic, a splash of olive oil and basil and keep them on hold ready for instant salads with mozzarella, peas and green beans, sometimes all together. Some transformed a large tail fillet of Cornish hake (www.fishforthought.co.uk), the last from the freezer, with a scattering of creamy pitted black olives and splash of white wine. I split the hake lengthways, found a dish that held it snugly and roasted everything together. You can see how well it turned out; stunning with a flat leaf parsley garnish, peas and Cornish new potatoes to squash into the gorgeous juices. Very yum, yum.
Serves 2
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 20 min
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp olive oil
20 datterini or other small plum tomatoes
1 large or two portions hake fillet
14 pitted black olives (Crespo, from a sachet)
small glass white wine
few sprigs flat leaf parsley Heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Chop then crush the garlic with a pinch of salt and stir into 1 tbsp olive oil in a small ovenproof frying pan or similar. Use a small sharp knife to quickly pierce each tomato. Shake the pan to roll the tomatoes through the oil. Place the pan on a top shelf in the oven not waiting for it to come up to temperature. Cook for about 10 minutes so the skins wrinkle and they are partially cooked. Halve the fish lengthways, smear with oil and snuggle together in an ovenproof pan that can hold them snugly – I used a small, shallow Le Crueset. Scatter black olives over the top, add tomatoes and juices and the wine. Season with salt and pepper. Roast at 200C for 10 minutes until the fish is just cooked through – you can tell by easing with a knife – the tomatoes beginning to turn squishy. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve.