The tomatoe is the heart and soul of so many dishes that it deserves to be taken seriously. Rachel Lamb takes a look at some vegitarian dishes.

Summer Tomatoe Stew with Gremolata

NEW potatoes, green beans, onions and spinach, in a lightly cooked partial stew of ripe tomatoes, perked up with a seasoning of gremolata: an aromatic mixture of chopped parsley, lemon zest and garlic. Serve it in a bowl to spoon like soup. Serves 4.

40g butter 2 bunches spring/salad onions, finely sliced. 450g new potatoes, scraped 1.5cm strip lemon zest 150ml vegetable stock 200g fine green beans, halved 750g ripe plum tomatoes, cored, peeled, quartered lengthways, then halved 2 tsp sugar 200g young spinach leaves seasoning

FOR THE GREMOLATA

Zest (no pith) from one large lemon, chopped 2 plump garlic cloves, peeled and chopped 20g flatleaf parsley, chopped

1 Melt the butter in a spa-cious, heavy-bottomed pan and stir in the onion. Cook gently for several minutes until it begins to soften. Add the new potatoes, the lemon zest, the stock and season generously. Bring to the boil, establish a steady simmer, and cover the pan. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

2Drop the beans into a large pan of boiling salted water. Cook for 1 minute, drain, then hold the colander under cold water for a few seconds to arrest the cooking.

3 When the potatoes are ready, remove the lid and add the tomatoes and sugar. Cook uncovered and for sever-al minutes until the tomatoes turn juicy and soften. Stir in the spinach and leave for a couple of minutes. When it begins to flop, stir in the beans. Taste and adjust seasoning.

4 For the gremolata, chop together the lemon zest, garlic and parsley. Stir half of it into the stew. Transfer the stew to a serving bowl. Scatter the remaining gremolata over the top and serve.

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