Tomato Tartare

Tartare has a long history as a delicacy, traditionally made with finely chopped raw meat or fish, delicately seasoned to enhance its natural flavours. However, this Tomato Tartare offers a fresh, plant-based take on the classic, proving that simple ingredients can deliver just as much depth and satisfaction.

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By carefully preparing - peeling, salting, and seasoning ripe tomatoes, this dish captures the essence of traditional tartare and brings out the tomatoes' natural intensity. The bright acidity, a touch of sweetness, and an irresistible richness, enhanced with capers, pickles, and fragrant herbs, create an explosion of taste in every bite.

Disclaimer: this is nothing for the weak hearted ones out there. If you're sensitive to violence and blood, please skip this section: skip.

They always say women murder structured - planned. Clean and neat - no chaos, no heat of the moment. Like when we decide to let go of a toxic, harmful relationship - we take our time, consider everything, try to make it work and then let go. Clean and neat. Planned and structured. But I am different - I am chaos, heat. The blood, the screams - it gives me the thrills. The unknown outcome of a surprise attack - even better. Makes my heart pump fast - the adrenaline in my body surges. 

Stabbing them in their soft centres - feeling the warmth of their blood on my cold hands.  Makes the hair on the back of my neck rise - in a good way. Stabbing once, stabbing twice. Their screams - my laugh. Oh, what a blast - how satisfactory. Stabbing three times, four times. Five, six, seven. I never want it to stop. The desperation in their eyes feeds my pleasure. And when our eyes meet for one last time I soak in the moment - savour their anxiety, for this is what makes me feel alive.

I wake up - screaming. It was a nightmare - only a nightmare. You are not the monster that haunts you in your dreams. Not a monster - you're not a monster. I whisper the last sentence - hoping that by saying it out loud, it becomes reality. I feel hot - my body's burning. The sheets are soaked - I must have sweat them through. I throw the duvet off me, turn on the lights and scream. 

Red - red everywhere.

This is not sweat - this is… blood. And I'm covered in it. No, no - this can't be true. I stumble out of bed - panic rising in me. It was only a dream - just a dream. I hurry into the living room - worry consuming me. I'm not a monster - not a monster.

I can feel the bile rising in my throat as I reach the living room and see what I’ve done.

A monster - I'm a monster.

With its rich yet refreshing flavour profile, it is perfect for warm summer evenings or as an elegant starter any time of the year. Serve it with crispy fried bread or Jerusalem artichoke chips (click here for the recipe), and enjoy a sophisticated take on a timeless classic. 

Fresh, flavourful, and beautifully simple—this is a dish that proves great taste doesn’t need to be complicated.

Ingredients

Tartare

500 g tomatoes

1 small shallot

3 small pickles

1 sprig of rosemary

1 tbsp basil, freshly chopped

2 tsp capers, finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp sugar

salt

Side

Fried/roasted bread

or

Jerusalem artichoke chips (click here for the recipe)

Method

1. Put a pot of water on the boil and bring it to the boil. Turn the temperature slightly down and let the water simmer gently.

2. Place a bowl of cold water with a handful of ice cubes next to it.

3. Cut the stem out of the tomatoes and make a cross-shaped cut on the bottom.

Note: only cut the skin, do not make deep cuts.

4. Put the tomatoes in the boiling water and boil for 1 to 2 minutes.

The skin will already start to peel off a little.

5. After 1 to 2 min, put them straight into ice-cold water. Let them cool for a moment.

6. Now peel the skin off the tomatoes - this should be very easy now - and then cut them into very small cubes. 

To do this, cut them into slices about 5 mm thick and then into very fine cubes.

Note: Remove the seeds - they contain a lot of water, which we don’t want to have in the final Tartare

7. Put the tomatoes in a sieve, salt them well and stir them through.

8. Then finely chop the shallot, pickles, capers, rosemary and basil.

9. Put the chopped ingredients in a bowl with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, sugar and salt. Mix it well.

10. When everything has been chopped and mixed, put the tomatoes in a strainer and squeeze them firmly. Squeeze out as much water as possible. The less water the better.

11. Add the tomatoes to the shallots, pickles, capers, rosemary and basil and mix well.

12. When everything has been mixed, put the tomato-shallot-herb-mix in a mold and serve it. Add Jerusalem artichoke chips or fried bread as a side. 

Enjoy!