Greek tomatoes often have green shoulders but the dense, juicy flesh is mainly a wonderful deep red, in contrast to the green seeds and juice so grassy that it looks like olive oil. Bite into one and the juices dribble down your chin.

Most of these knobbly big tomatoes are destined for Greek salad, but they cook well - particularly when stuffed with rice and served on the point of collapse with their lids askance like pixie hats.

At Harry's beachside taverna at Thanos, on Lemnos, they get through mounds of tomatoes for Harry's signature lobster dish, astakomakaronada.

It usually follows wafer-thin, crisp and golden courgette or aubergine fritters, piled high on their platter. There is a gasp when a mountain of delicious tomato-flecked spaghetti arrives, hiding the lobster.

I was so impressed that I persuaded Harry to show me how to do the dish, which was an equal success at home, even when made with British tomatoes and Canadian lobster.

It is essential to use very ripe, dense- textured tomatoes - beef or plum are the best varieties - and don't be alarmed by the vast quantity required, as they cook right down.

The sauce would also work with mussels (added right at the end), monkfish or chicken but is delicious with the spaghetti on its own. You need a catering-size pan or a heavy-duty, deep-sided, clean roasting tin that won't buckle over direct heat.

There is a pleasing symmetry to cooking the dish. While the sauce simmers, the lobster is part-cooked in boiling water, which is then used for the pasta, giving it a sea taste.

Both are then finished in the tomato sauce. The creamy wheat in the al dente pasta is pointed up by the slight tang of chilli in the tomato sauce containing nuggets of sweet, juicy lobster.

Share it using finger bowls and paper towels, not your best napkins.

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