Poached tomato petals

Name: Poached tomato petals
Ingredients: ⅛ vanilla bean, split lengthways; ⅛ red chilli, sliced (more or less, to taste - but it’s a brilliant addition); 1 thumb of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced; 5 ripe tomatoes; ¼ tsp fresh thyme leaves; 250 ml verjus (or use 80 ml rice vinegar, 50 ml lemon juice and extra water); 200 g caster sugar

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Fusion

By Peter Gordon

Published 2010

About

The key here is to use ripe tomatoes, but not so ripe that they turn to mash when poached. Underripe tomatoes will taste awful and have a floury texture, so it might be best to avoid making this in winter from hot-house fruit.

Ingredients

200 g caster sugar
⅛ vanilla bean, split lengthways
1 thumb

Garnish
Winter
Gluten-free
Vegan

Method

Bring everything except the tomatoes to the boil in a wide pan with 120 ml water and boil for 4 minutes. While it’s cooking cut each tomato into quarters, then cut out the seeds and the membranes with a knife, reserving them. Add the petals (quarters) to the boiling syrup, gently stirring as you do