This simple, vibrant salad makes a great light lunch with some good bread – but you can also serve it as part of a spread alongside cheeses, cold meats and/or salads based on pulses, rice or couscous. I always go for a mild or medium chilli here.
Serves 4
500g ripe tomatoes (ideally a mixture of types, shapes and colours)
1–2 mild red chillies
2–3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
A few drops of cider vinegar
A bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves only
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Slice the tomatoes across into fairly thin rounds and arrange them more or less in a single layer on a large platter, overlapping the slices only a little. Cut the chillies in half lengthways, scrape out the seeds, then slice finely. Scatter the chilli slices evenly over the tomatoes.
Trickle the whole lot with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with the merest few drops of cider vinegar, then season with salt and pepper. Finally, scatter the parsley leaves over the top.
Serve straight away or, for optimum flavour, leave to stand for 20–30 minutes before serving.
SWAPS To give this salad an Asian feel, replace the parsley with coriander leaves. For the dressing, instead of the olive oil and cider vinegar, mix 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar with 1 tablespoon sunflower oil, 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, 2 teaspoons soy sauce and a pinch of sugar.