We went to Sicily on our honeymoon recently and were consistently amazed at how delicious the food was when it was prepared with so few ingredients and cooked with such simplicity. When I trained, at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, the main focus of the teaching was about simple cooking with the best ingredients available, but it takes courage in sticking to this principle. There is so much choice that it is often difficult to know what to cook.

Whenever I am feeling undecided I find that going back to this basic rule is a help as well as something of a relief. A trip to my local food market at the weekend shows me what is in season and tasting the best, and neatly eradicates any need to make difficult decisions about what to buy. Cooking with vegetables in season costs little and requires simple preparation and the results taste great.

Tomatoes are right at the end of the season now and bursting with flavour, having been soaking up long hours of summer sunshine for the past few months.

I love to spend any free time cooking with them so that when the nights are gloomier I have some bottled sunshine in my cupboards. I have found that making ketchup at home is great fun. It is easy and it also attracts the attention of kids who might otherwise be uninterested in kitchen pursuits. They love ketchup with almost anything and the idea of making it at home also seems to start them thinking about where their food comes from.

Jarring or freezing simply boiled tomato sauces is another good trick, providing the beginnings of easy pasta suppers and soups for later in the year. You can get adventurous and make sauces flavoured with basil, oregano or thyme; with anchovies, capers or olives; or coriander seeds, smoked paprika or dried chillies.

Enjoy the last of the tomato glut by making pasta with a sweet, fresh tomato sauce, lightly warmed in extra virgin olive oil and flavoured with garlic and basil. Or try this easy, punchy bruschetta (buying the best-quality bread, olives, olive oil and tomatoes you can find), which is delicious and, considering how little work it takes to pull together, seems to me to be the perfect fast food.

Sicilian tomato bruschetta

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 large slices of sourdough bread

3 cloves fresh garlic, 2 roughly chopped

800g very ripe tomatoes

Extra virgin olive oil

100g soft, black olives (they are much more delicious if you buy them with stones in)

2tbsp salted capers, soaked and rinsed

A small bunch of fresh oregano, marjoram or thyme

150-200g Berkswell or other hard sheep’s cheese

Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

A pinch of brown sugar

A few drops of balsamic vinegar

Method

1. Place the tomatoes in a bowl and pour boiling water from a full kettle over them, then steep for about 20 seconds; drain them and make a small slit in each tomato, peel off the skin over a bowl, catching any juice. When they are all peeled, squeeze the peelings over the same bowl.

2. Quarter each tomato, cut out the seeds and chop the tomatoes into small cubes.

3. Destone the olives and roughly chop, with the capers. Warm 100ml of the olive oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic, cooking for about 5 minutes on the lowest possible heat. Add the olives, capers and herbs and continue to cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes and season with plenty of black pepper, salt (be careful, because the capers will be salty) and the sugar. Let the tomatoes sweat gently in the warm oil for about 10 minutes , then season with the balsamic vinegar. Taste and check if the tomatoes need more salt or pepper.

4. Toast the sourdough over a griddle pan or under a grill until blackened in parts and then rub with the remaining garlic clove. Drizzle generously with more of the olive oil, put on individual plates or one big platter and top with the tomatoes.

5. Shave over the cheese and serve, with a glass of Italian wine.

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