Amsterdam Foodie

August has been a Pyrrhic victory of a month. I’ve achieved a lot on the small battles front, but I have the feeling that the greater war has yet to be won. Or – more accurately – the small achievements are compensation for the lost war. But something I’ve noticed in all of this is my propensity to use food as a crutch. Cooking it and writing about it. And that’s just fine by me…

So, this month, we’re using cheery, bright red, vitamin-filled tomatoes. Positive food.

Tomato tarte tatin

Last night, I made a tomato tarte tatin, based loosely on Simon Rimmer’s version. Only I didn’t really pay attention to the quantities (except for the anchovies, which I should’ve doubled) and I threw in a couple of red onions and a few sprigs of thyme for good measure.

Tilapia with tomato, chorizo and butter bean stew

Earlier in the week, I made a sort of stew-cum-sauce out of tomatoes, chorizo, chilli, butter beans, red wine, olives and oregano. And then I topped it with a fillet of tilapia (is it even called tilapia in English?). Incidentally, ‘a different fish with tomato sauce and a little spice’ was the request from my friend Heather for August’s seasonal recipe. Consider it done!

With hindsight, the dish was more wintry than the 26 degrees outside really called for, and the sauce would probably work better with something more robust. But I reckon I’ll be making it again for the coming of autumn… comfort food indeed.