Recipe of the week: marinated tomatoes with pickled cucumber and frozen goats' cheese

When the tomatoes are juicy and ripe, simply marinating them is a lovely way to enjoy the fragrant fruit. By freezing the goats' cheese you will be able to finely grate it over the dish to add a rich, salty seasoning.

Serves 2
20g butter
50g pumpkin seeds
10 plum or large cherry tomatoes, halved
Drizzle of herb and pollen oil
200ml standard pickling liquor
2 very young cucumbers, peeled
100g Cherwell or other fresh goats' cheese, frozen
2 basil sprigs
4 bronze fennel fronds
Sweet cicely flowers
Marigold flowers
Sea salt

Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the pumpkin seeds and toast them until they begin to crackle. Season with salt and drain them through a sieve.

Preheat the oven to very low. Season the tomatoes with salt, dress with herb oil and place in the oven for 30 minutes.

Bring the pickling liquor to the boil and pour over the cucumbers before leaving to cool.

Char the outside of the cucumbers with a blowtorch or on a gas hob and slice them into rounds.

Divide the tomatoes and cucumbers between two bowls and drizzle with herb oil. Add the toasted pumpkin seeds and grate over the goats' cheese.

Scatter the herbs and flowers over the top and serve.

For the herb and pollen oil
5 fennel flower heads
5 fennel tops
5 thyme sprigs
10 lemon verbena leaves
10 apple marigold sprigs
5 dill tops
5 dill flower heads
3 rosemary sprigs
500ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil

Put all the herbs in a pan with the oil and gently heat to 80ºC. Turn off the heat and leave to infuse for a couple of hours, strain through a fine sieve and store in the fridge.

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