In summer, tomatoes are so sweet, you can almost taste the sunshine. This salad is simple, delicious, ideal with toasted crusty bread, prepared bruschetta-style. Any mix of tomatoes is good, but it is nice to have the colour of some of the new style cherry tomatoes.
Time: 20 minutes
Serves: Two for brunch, four as a side dish
Ingredients
- 1kg ripe tomatoes, different sizes and colours if possible
- 1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced
- 1 bunch basil, pick and keep aside smaller leaves, thinly slice the rest
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon golden caster sugar (or normal sugar)
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Method
First, prepare your tomatoes. Using a very sharp knife (serrated can be good), cut the tomatoes from top to bottom into 1cm slices. Season the slices lightly with salt and black pepper, then arrange them onto a large serving platter, starting with the larger tomato slices at the bottom and layering up so that the smaller ones are on the top. Scatter the onion slices over the tomatoes, followed by all the basil leaves.
Make a dressing by combining the oil, red wine vinegar and sugar in a small jug and whisking until the sugar dissolves. Season the dressing with salt and pepper, and stir again. Drizzle the dressing all over the tomatoes and onions, then allow the salad to rest for five to 10 minutes before serving.
Recipe taken from Gather by Gill Meller
Gill Meller is a chef, food writer, food stylist and cookery teacher. Head Chef at River Cottage, and part of the team for over 10 years, Gill works closely with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and appears regularly on the Channel 4 series. He produces recipe videos for the River Cottage food-tube channel and teaches both at the River Cottage Cookery School and internationally. A contributor to The Guardian, Waitrose Food, Delicious, and BBC Countryfile Magazine, to name but a few, he is also Country Living’s food columnist for 2016.
You can purchase Gather at cooked.com.
Published by Quadrille Publishing
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