Roasted tomatoes, green beans, red onion, capers & basil salad by Joe Woodhouse

A salad bursting with summer flavours. The tanginess from the tomatoes and vinegar balance so well with the beans and the crunchy onion and salty capers. Chunks of crusty bread to mop everything up is a definite.

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g green beans, trimmed

6 slow roasted tomatoes

1 red onion, 2 tropea onions when available can also be great here

1 bunch of basil

30g capers

3tbsp red wine vinegar

3tbsp good quality olive oil, plus more to dress

Sea salt & black pepper for seasoning

Method

Heat the oven to 160C. Cut the tomatoes across their equator, and arrange cut side up on a baking tray. Season with salt, pour over 2 tbsp of oil and roast for 1 hour. They still want to be juicy, but the flavours concentrated. I normally do a bigger batch of these as they keep well in the fridge, and can be used in many different ways.

While the tomatoes are cooking, finely slice the onion. Add the onion to a mixing bowl, along with the vinegar and capers. 

Once the tomatoes are done, blanch your beans in salted water until tender. They should be cooked through but not overly floppy, test one when you feel they are getting to the desired stage. I like to refresh them briefly in cold water, so that the cooking stops but they remain at room temperature rather than ice cold.

Add the drained beans to the mixing bowl with the remaining olive oil. Crush the tomatoes either in your hand, if cool enough, or with the back of a wooden spoon and add to the bowl. Add the basil leaves and turn everything over a few times to combine with a couple of grinds of coarse black pepper. Arrange on a serving plate with your hands.