RECIPE: Italian salad.

My Friday Night residency at the Waiting Room is all about Street Food from around the world. This week I am taking on an Italian Food Special. Ahead of the main event, each week I am titillating your taste buds with a teaser recipe to try at home.

DJ Gemmison Bowen & friends will joining me and playing a mix of funk, soul and house. Food will be served from 7pm until late and you can book online now. (10% discount for early bird bookings before Tuesday 9pm)

Italian Salad Recipe - Tomato, Basil & Mozzarella

1. Ask your grocer for the most flavoursome large tomatoes. You can play around with all sorts of varieties even small ones as a change.
2. Buy a basil plant. Plant it in a larger pot and look after it. In weather like this you will have a plant that will last a good 3 months.
3. Next up is a balsamic glaze. Tesco do a fig flavour which makes a nice change.
4. Now for a great quality olive oil. Experiment with peppery ones as well as fruity. Tesco were recently awarded 3 stars at the taste awards for their finest sicilian d.o.p monti iblei val tellar, which has a wonderfully grassy flavour.
5. Finally you will need some extra ingredients to make a pesto.
6. First up pine nuts and then some good quality parmesan. Anything aged for 24 months or over should be good.
7. For the pesto it will be a good idea to use a pestle & portar but you can also use a food processor. You just have to be careful not to blitz it. You may also need to make a larger batch so it raises the mixture above the blade.
8. Take a handful of basil leaves. Use most of the plant…leaving 8-10 for decoration.
9. Now either pulse or smash the basil with a little olive oil
10. Lightly toast the pine nuts, crush some and leave some whole. Now grate the parmesan, and slowly add olive oil while mixing together. Keep tasting and add more parmesan if desired. Finish with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
11. Now its time to plate. First cut up tomatoes, for large ones, cut thick slices, for smaller ones cut in half or quarter.
12. Now place a piece of mozzarella on top of or next to each piece of tomato. Next place a basil leaf on top.
13. Scatter little drops of the pesto all over the plate and liberally drizzle both the balsamic glaze and olive oil over everything.
14. For meat lovers, good quality aged or smoked hams would go well with this dish as well as chorizo.

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