- Serves 3 to 4 - Ready in 1 hour 15 minutes -
*uses up 2 punnets of tomatoes *
Gather together…
4 tbsp oil (olive oil or rapeseed oil).
500g (approx. 2 punnets) ripe tomatoes (any shapes / sizes).
1 tsp sugar (white caster or white granulated).
Pinch of salt.
2 tsp red wine vinegar OR white wine vinegar.
2 tbsp thyme leaves (fresh or frozen).
3 peppers (red, yellow and orange ideally) - cut up into large, square-ish chunks, approximately 3cm x 3cm.
1/2 tsp curry powder.
1/4 tsp chilli flakes.
2 onions (each cut into approx. 8 pieces) - red or white onions, it doesn't matter which.
150g (3 thick slices) of crusty bread e.g. sourdough or unsliced bloomer, cut into 1cm x 1cm x 0.5cm chunks).
4 medium eggs.
Pinch of ground pepper.
Large handful of grated cheddar cheese.
225 g (1 pack) of halloumi, cut into chunky strips OR 1 ball of mozarella, torn up roughly.
Get cooking…
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (160 C fan) or Gas 4.
2. Grease a large baking tray with 4 tbsp of oil. I use this HUGE roasting 42cm x 31cm x 8cm tray with deep sides - it ensures everything cook evenly as there is plenty of space.
3. In a large bowl, mix the 500g of tomatoes with the 1 tsp of white sugar, the pinch of salt, the 2 tsp of wine vinegar and the 2 tbsp of thyme leaves. Stir and set aside for a couple of minutes to let the flavours mingle.
4. Put the 3 chopped peppers (in chunks approx. 3cm x 3cm) into the oily baking tray, add the 1/2 tsp of curry powder and the 1/4 tsp of chilli flakes. Stir.
5. Add to the tray the large chunks of onions and the chunks from 3 slices of crusty bread (cut into chunky bitesize pieces). Stir well.
6. Now add the flavoured tomatoes (and the juice from the bowl) to the tray too and STIR REALLY WELL (keep the bowl you used as you can beat the eggs in it, later in the recipe, to save on washing up).
7. Bake the tray in the oven for 30 minutes.
8. Meanwhile (towards the end of the cooking time), beat the 4 eggs with the large handful of grated cheese and the pinch of ground pepper in a bowl (preferably the bowl you used earlier, to save on washing up).
9. Once the oven time is up, remove the tray from the oven momentarily and squash any tomatoes, which are still intact, with a potato masher to release the juices - do this slowly and carefully so hot juice doesn't squirt out at you!
10. Pour the cheesy-egg mix into the tray and stir well.
11. Lay the strips of halloumi cheese / chunks of mozarella on top of the contents of the tray.
12. Bake in the oven for a further 15 minutes.
13. Finally switch the oven to grill and brown the top of the cheese on HIGH for 3 - 5 minutes (watch it so carefully, you don't burn the traybake).
14. Serve with green salad leaves and enjoy!
This recipe was adapted from a BBC Good Food recipe entitled 'Lazy Summer Tomato and Sourdough Traybake' - I simplified the ingredients (peppers instead of aubergine, any crusty bread instead of sourdough and I removed the ricotta) and increased the cooking time slightly.