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An absolute classic, timelessly tasty and always popular with friends. At its most basic, tomatoes and basil, but here I’ve added in a little crumbled feta.
Mixed Tomato and Basil Salad
Feeds 2 as part of a meal
100g red plum cherry tomatoes
100g yellow cherry tomatoes
Handful of fresh basil
Feta cheese
Dash of balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters and pop into your serving dish.
Tear over the fresh basil.
Add a dash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
Crumble over the feta and season with salt and pepper.
Eat!
We ate our salads with cheese – a Danish blue cheese called Castello (available from -the dreaded- supermarket) and a sheep’s cheese called Brebirousse Argental (one of my absolute favourites and available from Barbakan Deli in Manchester).
To finish it off we had a plate of slightly toasted Polish black bread, that we rubbed with garlic and smeared with olive oil.
Yum yum yum.
Coming tomorrow: Chocolate Cake
Marinated Green Beans
Feeds 2 as part of a meal
Good handful of French green beans (enough for two people)
1 small shallot
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
Glug of white wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Small bunch of flat leaf parsley
Salt and pepper
Pop a pan of salted water on to boil.
Wash and cut the tops of the green beans. Once the water is boiling, drop the beans in and cook for about 5 minutes. Drain them and set aside.
To make the marinade, finely slice the shallot and pop it in a bowl. Add the Dijon mustard and a glug of white wine vinegar and give it a good mix.
Add the warm beans to the marinade and mix well.
Chop up the parsley and add it to the bowl along with a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Give it another good mix and season with salt and pepper.
This salad is best served after the beans have had a chance to marinate in the shallot, mustard and vinegar mixture, so make this ahead of time – 15-20 minutes is great.
Up next: Mixed Tomato and Basil Salad
So when the sun briefly appeared last week, our stomachs grumbled for the delights of fresh summer salads and dinner on the patio. I whipped up three easy salads – I call them salads, but in fact they could also be side dishes, or part of another meal – some toast and cheese.
My three ‘salads’: Piemontese Peppers, Marinated Green Beans, and a Mixed Tomato and Basil Salad.
Piemontese Peppers
*These are my version of Tamasin Day-Lewis’ Piemontese Peppers, minus the anchovies as we didn’t have them, and done under the grill…I couldn’t wait 40 minutes for them to cook in the oven!*
Feeds 2 as part of a meal
1 red pepper
couple of small tomatoes (cherry ones are great)
1 clove of garlic
some feta cheese
extra virgin olive oil
sprig of thyme
salt and pepper
Preheat your grill on a medium setting.
Cut your pepper in half and carefully remove the stalk and seeds. Halve them again and place on your grill pan.
Dice up the tomatoes and pop a few chunks into each quarter of pepper.
Next, thinly slice the clove of garlic and add a couple of slithers to the peppers.
Sprinkle over some thyme leaves, followed by a good drizzling of olive oil and season with salk and pepper.
Bung under the grill and cook until soft and starting to char at the edges (don’t forget about them like I did or you’ll have to remove some of the more singed bits!).
Remove to a plate and crumble over some feta cheese.
Serve warm or at room temperature – also a great dish you can prepare ahead of time and pop in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.
Up next: Marinated Green Beans
Have been super busy this weekend – primarily recovering from my terrible flu (just a bit of a cough remaining) and soaking up some sun. I’ve got some lovely food and recipes to share with you from the last week, including a delicious selection of summer salads and a scrumptious and super easy chocolate cake recipe.
I leave you with a picture of the super duper carrot I pulled from my veg bed – what a whopper! And very tasty.
Eat the Earth 
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