West Yorkshire makes one very cynical regarding the weather.
Living in the perpetual dampness that is the Calder Valley has made me expect
rain at least once a day, regardless of what time of year it is. When spring
starts to shine its first few feeble rays of sunshine, we are invariably left
out. Weather reports are watched with hardened hearts and we can’t even watch
Gardener’s World anymore because it’s so depressing. Time to start moving
seedlings into deeper soil? You must be joking. Anything planted outside now
would turn to mulch after a few weeks of being battered by our storms. On a
rare day last week, however, we were blessed with a bit of sunshine; the high
winds kept us on our toes but Mum-y and I still managed a foray into the
garden, spending two hours attacking the overgrown mass of brambles and plants
in need of a prune. When we were finished, the sun was still shining so I
rustled up a spring lunch feast consisting of dips, flatbreads, cheeses and this
tomato salad. If like us, you’re still in root veg mode when what you crave is
a vibrant, zingy salad, then this will be enough to remind you that summer will
happen… someday.
Ingredients:
2 ripe beef tomatoes
1 small handful pine nuts
1 handful (or more) basil
1 cupped handful parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Good olive oil
Balsamic vinegar.
Method:
1)
Roughly chop the beef tomatoes after removing
any brittle core. Arrange on a dainty plate and grind over a decent amount of
salt and pepper.
2)
Dry toast the pine nuts over a medium heat until
evenly coloured.
3)
Smash up or roughly chop the basil along with a
glug of olive oil before adding in the pine nuts. Reduce to a pleasing
rubble- but not a paste.
4)
Stir in the parmesan and another glug of oil
before scattering the mix over the tomatoes.
5)
Drizzle over some balsamic vinegar –enough for a
sharp hit- before grating over a final huzzah of parmesan.
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