1 red/bell pepper
1 red onion
2tbsp red wine vinegar
4 thick slices of day-old ciabatta
4 ripe tomatoes, sliced
A large handful of cherry tomatoes
12 roasted tomato halves (see p. 159)
A handful of basil leaves
2 balls mozzarella, torn into chunks
3tbsp capers
50ml/3½tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
This is my favourite salad: summery, vibrant, full of flavour, and a breeze to put together. It’s a fantastic showcase for tomatoes, utilizing meltingly soft ones that have collapsed in the oven, as well as fragrant, fresh, firm-skinned ones. If you find some gorgeous green ones, slice them and add them in too (it’s a more summer-appropriate use for them than heating a pan of oil for the fried green tomatoes in Idgie’s Whistle Stop Café). The proportions below are a guide – if you love capers, add more; if you’re not a fan of roasted pepper, leave it out. Salads are incredibly forgiving.
Serves 4
1. Preheat the oven to 220C fan/475F/gas 9. Rub a large red pepper with a little olive oil, and roast, turning a couple of times, until black all over. It should take 25 minutes or so. If you have a barbeque, or a gas hob, you can do this over the flame, if you’d prefer. Allow it to cool in a plastic bag, then peel off the charred skin, pull out the seeds, and cut into strips.
2. Thinly slice the red onion and soften in the red wine vinegar while you prepare the rest of the salad.
3. Tear the bread into chunks. Toss together with the fresh tomatoes, roasted pepper, roasted tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, the capers and the onion.
4. Make a dressing with the vinegar from the onion, the olive oil, a teaspoon of caper juice, salt and plenty of pepper. Whisk together until emulsified.
5. Dress the salad at least 20 minutes before you want to serve it, so the bread has time to soften a little in the dressing.