Angela Hartnett's tomato, mozzarella and basil salad
This is Angela Hartnett's take on the classic Italian salad. The tomatoes are roasted in order to concentrate the flavour. Use a good-quality mozzarella for this recipe.
- 8 plum tomatoes
- 8 cherry tomatoeshalved
- picked from 6 sprigs thyme leaves
- (good quality) olive oil
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 clove garlicsliced
- 2 × 125g balls buffalo mozzarellasliced
- a small bunch basil
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal334
- fat25.3g
- saturates11.3g
- carbs14.6g
- sugars0g
- fibre2.1g
- protein12.9g
- salt0.84g
Method
step 1
To prepare the plum tomatoes, make a little incision with a sharp knife in the top of each one. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling salted water for 10 seconds. Drain and immediately plunge into a bowl of iced water – this will make the skins easier to remove. Peel and cut in half lengthways. Remove all the seeds with a teaspoon.
step 2
Heat the oven to 120c/fan 100c/gas mark ½. Drizzle the base of a shallow roasting tin big enough to hold all of the tomatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil, season and sprinkle in half the sugar. Put the plum and cherry tomatoes in the tin, cut-side up, in one layer. Drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil, season and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Scatter the thyme leaves and garlic slices over and around the tomatoes.
step 3
Bake for 1-2 hours until the tomatoes begin to shrivel up. Halfway through the cooking time, turn the plum tomatoes over and remove the cherry tomatoes.
step 4
Toss the cooked tomatoes with the mozzarella and basil, and check the seasoning. Serve on individual plates with a drizzle of olive oil.