Spicy summer salad recipe

THIS is summer on a plate for me, a zingy twist on a tomato and mozzarella salad. It makes a great side dish for a barbecue. But I could also quite happily munch through a plate of this on its own, washed down by a big glass of a meaty red wine.

The fresh chilli in the dressing gives the chunky salad an unexpected kick and the croutons add extra crunch.

It’s packed with flavour but takes less than 15 minutes to prepare.

The recipe is taken from Mediterranean Food, by Christine France, from the Tesco Cookery Collection

Ingredients

Serves four

One French bread baton, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
3 beef tomatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 small red onion, finely sliced
150g feta cheese, crumbled
Handful of basil leaves, roughly chopped.

For the dressing

3 tbsp olive oil
One red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2tbsp red pesto
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and black pepper.

Preheat your grill. Coat the chopped up bread in olive oil and spread evenly out on a baking tray.

Grill until golden, turning occasionally, and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, make the dressing by heating the oil in a frying pan and fry the chilli for a minute until softened. Be careful not to burn the chilli.

Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly, then stir in the pesto and balsamic vinegar. Season.

Mix the toasted bread with the chopped tomatoes, sliced onion and feta. Scatter the basil over the salad and spoon over the dressing and toss gently.

I would recommend eating this dish quickly – leave it too long and the croutons can go a bit soggy.

Add a bit more chilli if you really want to give the salad a kick, and you could also add some grilled chorizo sausages chopped up if you can’t do without some meat or want to make this a meal in itself.