Squashed Tomatoes And A Glass Of Solaz

Searching for a festival with a difference this year? Head over to the tiny town of Bunyol in Eastern Spain and take part in La Tomatina on 29th August. La Tomatina (The Tomato War) was born over 60 years ago, when a restaurant food fight got a little carried away. Ever since, locals and visitors alike have flocked to Bunyol to take part in a mass tomato fight.

The annual event sees the delivery of over one hundred tons of ripe tomatoes to be thrown in the streets between the hours of 11am and 1pm.

The week leading up to La Tomatina has evolved into a fiesta of its own, with music, fireworks, food and festivities. On the eve of the tomato fight, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest whilst the morning of the battle is spent preparing a breakfast of pancetta and chorizo, washed down with lots of Spanish wine.

If you don’t feel up to a tomato war but like the sound of Spanish wine, why not cook up a tomato storm instead and enjoy it with a bottle of Osborne Solaz Tempranillo Cabernet Sauvignon; the perfect accompaniment to tomato based dishes. Salmorejo, a delicious, typical thick Spanish soup is well-matched to the intensely fruity Osborne. This wine has excellent blackcurrant fruit, a smooth finish and a touch of spice.

Osborne Solaz Tempranillo Cabernet Sauvignon is available in Asda and Wine Cellar priced at £4.99.

Salmorejo recipe:

Ingredients

Virgin Olive oil
Ripe red tomatoes
Green Pepper (or red for dramatic colour)
Stale bread (crumb not crust)
Good wine vinegar
Cold water
One clove of garlic
Salt and Pepper

Method

1. Soak the bread in cold water
2. In a mortar or processor grind the garlic, the salt and the green or red pepper. Add 4 or five tomatoes (for 4 people), continue grinding, add the damp bread having wrung out the water and grind again until you have a fine paste
3. Add half a glass of olive oil and mix until you have an unctuous paste
4. Splash in a little vinegar and mix in well
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste
6. Serve cold, topped with chopped hard-boiled egg and chopped jamón (or crispy bacon) and a glass of Osborne Solaz