By Lizzie Moss
This week I spotted the first of many green tomatoes poking through the branches in my veggie garden.
Sadly, the seedlings I had hand raised over several weeks all suffered severe sunburn, so instead I was forced to the hardware store to buy their much healthier looking seedlings.
Walking around the South Kingsville streets there are a few fellow veggie gardeners who probably see me ogling their front yards to see how their veggies are progressing. It’s how I know plenty of people have basil and tomato handy for this lovely fresh salad.
When I say salad, it still involves bread, so if you hate salad it may help to think of this as a deconstructed sandwich. It’s great on its own for lunch, particularly if you have bread that’s getting a bit stale (in fact, that’s the best kind for this salad!)
Makes one large bowl
Ingredients (serves 4)
- Half a loaf of ciabatta or sourdough
- 6-8 medium sized tomatoes, different varieties and colours work well
- 1 shallot
- 1 large handful of basil
- 1 tbs of red wine vinegar
- 1 tbs honey
- Plenty of olive oil
- Half a lemon
Method
- Roughly chop your tomatoes into large chunks and place in a colander or sieve over a bowl. Salt the tomatoes and let sit for at least 10 minutes. Reserve the tomato juices for the dressing.
- Slice or rip your bread into large crouton-sized chunks, coat in olive oil and salt and bake in the oven until golden brown.
- Thinly slice your shallot.
- Combine the tomatoes, croutons and shallot in a bowl, then add the basil.
- Make a simple vinaigrette, by combining around 60ml olive oil, the red wine vinegar, tomato juices, a squeeze of honey and a squeeze of lemon juice.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
