Baked eggs and tomatoes

Autumn continues apace; mornings are darker and chillier, especially when I am a bit enthusiastically early getting on my bike.

I am enjoying the last of the early autumn veg while I can. Tomatoes and courgettes are what it's all about for me: squashes and pumpkins and chestnuts won't get a look-in for a little while yet.

Tomatoes can be one of my favourite vegetables. I say "can be" because they vary so much. I suppose botanically they are a fruit rather than a vegetable, and the spectrum between sweet lusciousness and pallid tastelessness is wider than, I think, any other vegetable - it is other members of the fruit world, like strawberries and peaches, that have such variability.

So I won't bother buying fresh tomatoes in January - tinned will have do at such times - but there are still decent examples now, especially cherry tomatoes.

This recipe needs large tomatoes, preferably the largest vine tomatoes, but you could use beefsteak tomatoes instead. It feels like a dish for autumn: warming and full-flavoured. You can vary the spices to your liking: I have used Jamaican jerk seasoning when I had nothing else to hand, which worked surprisingly well.

Serves 4 as a light meal or 2 for something more substantial

Ingredients 

4 large ripe tomatoes
1 small onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp vegetable oil
Good pinch each of paprika, cayenne pepper, ground cumin
4 eggs
55g/ 2oz mature cheddar, thinly sliced.
Salt and black pepper

Method

Heat the oil in a frying pan, and add the onion. When the onion is starting to turn gold, add the garlic and spices and cook for a couple of minutes more.

Meanwhile, cut the tops off the tomatoes and hollow out the insides using a sharp knife and/or a teaspoon. Reserve the tops. Rub the spiced onion mixture around the insides. Put into a dish so they fit snugly and don't tip over. Carefully break an egg into each one. If your tomatoes are not enormous, using smaller eggs can help to avoid overflow.

Put the lids back on and put into a medium oven. Bake for around 20 minutes or until the eggs are cooked to your liking (ideally the whites will be more or less set and the yolks still runny.) When the eggs are still a bit undercooked, put the sliced cheese on top and put the reserved lids back on. Bake for another five minutes.

Serve with crusty bread, or perhaps something like pitta.