New evolution tomato salad

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-04 16:49

For this salad, the key is to use lovely ripe tomatoes. Pick bright red ones that smell delicious and come away from the stalks easily. Choose different sizes and colours if they're available, and just chop them up, leaving any smaller ones whole.

Get yourself about 700g of ripe cherry, vine and regular tomatoes. Cut the larger tomatoes into wedges, halve the cherry tomatoes and leave the smaller ones whole. Put them into a bowl with 6tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and 2tbsp of red wine vinegar.

Toss well to coat all the tomatoes with the dressing. Pick the leaves off a few sprigs of fresh basil and scatter them over the salad. Season really well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Put a large handful of black olives on a clean surface, and press down on them with the palm of your hand to remove the stones. Discard the stones and add the olives to the salad. Mix up well in a bowl before serving on plates.

Drain a 400g tin of cannellini beans in a colander and add to the tomato salad. Mix up well to coat everything in the dressing. Drain a small tin or jar of tuna, break the fish into small flakes or chunks and scatter over the salad.