British tomato, mozzarella and lovage pesto salad with gazpacho

INGREDIENTS

Tomato salad

6 large vine tomatoes

2 avocados, ripe

1 buffalo mozzarella

1 handful of micro salad leaves

Nasturtium leaves, to garnish

Edible flowers, to garnish

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Marinated cherry tomatoes

200g of cherry tomatoes, or cocktail tomatoes, halved

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1 dash of rapeseed oil

Lovage pesto

1 bunch of fresh lovage

1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley

2 tbsp of pistachio nuts, shelled

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 pinch of salt

Rapeseed oil

Spiced gazpacho

2 red peppers

4 tomatoes, chopped

1 stick of celery, strings removed and chopped

1/2 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and chopped

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

200ml of tomato juice

50ml of rapeseed oil

50ml of white wine vinegar

1 dash of Worcestershire sauce

1 dash of lemon juice

1 tbsp of caster sugar

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Serves 4

Prep time: 50 minutes

Cook time: 20

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7 

2. Marinate the cherry tomatoes in the sugar, salt, white wine vinegar and oil, mixing everything together well and leaving for at least 1 hour

3. While this marinates, start the gazpacho by roasting the peppers in the preheated oven until the skin is completely charred all over, this should take about 20 minutes

4. Transfer the peppers to a bowl and cover with cling film. After 10 minutes you should be able to easily peel off the skins

5. Remove the seeds and roughly chop the skinned peppers then add to a blender. Add all the other gazpacho ingredients and blend together to form a smooth soup

6. Add a little more seasoning to taste then strain the soup through a fine sieve to ensure it is completely smooth. Keep in the fridge until serving

7. Blend together a big handful of lovage and parsley leaves, the pistachio nuts and garlic for the pesto. Season with salt and continue to blend slowly while drizzling in the oil until it comes together as a thick purée. Reserve in the fridge until serving

8. When ready to assemble the salads, cut the vine tomatoes into large slices and arrange on serving plates. Sprinkle over a little salt and pepper then arrange slices of the avocado over the top

9. Sprinkle over the marinated cherry tomatoes then scatter over torn pieces of mozzarella. Serve a shot glass of the gazpacho on the side and decorate the dishes with some of the pesto and a garnish of leaves and edible flowers

Recipe courtesy of www.greatbritishchefs.com