A simple summer recipe from Nigel Slater that makes a great warm summer evening dinner. It serves 2 generously or 4 if you have a pud afterwards.
You’ll need:
2 balls of buffalo mozarella (don’t skimp here, it just has more flavour and is the main component of the dish)
A large handful of flat leaf parsley and a handful of basil (around 15g of each) finely chopped. Keep around 8 basil leaves for the tomato mixture
Olive oil, sea salt and black pepper
An assortment of finely cut Italien cold meats (I used prosciutto and Milano salami)
50g of fresh breadcrumbs
60g of freshly grated Parmesan
4 tomatoes (or 2 really big ones) deseeded and chopped into dice
Tear the mozarella into bite size pieces and lay on a serving dish. Scatter the finely chopped herbs over the top, drizzle with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and grind some fresh black pepper over the top. Put in the fridge to marinate (you can do this up to 4 hours before you need it)
When you are within half an hour of serving preheat the oven to 200° Fan. Mix together the tomatoes and parmesan, add a few leaves of basil shredded (from the bunch you already have) gently stir in the breadcrumbs and then put the mixture in a single layer in a greaseproof lined roasted tin.
Pop the tin into the oven for around 15 to 20 minutes. You want the top to be crusty and golden.
Remove the mozarella from the fridge and gently place the hot crusty tomato mixture on the top. Serve on top of the finely sliced cold meats that you have arranged on plates.
You could also arrange the meats around the outside of the mozarella tomato which would look pretty and allow people to help themselves.
What’s not to like? Tasty Italian cold meats with a crunchy tomato cheese crust and slightly melting mozarella. A bit like a pizza without the crust.
We served the Vieilles Vignes Cabernet Franc from Chateau de Villeneuve alongside which went well. Cab Francs from the Loire make superb hot weather reds as they can be lightly chilled and retain their classic freshness.
