Tomato salad with nectarines and feta

Sally Clarke

Sally Clarke is one of Britain’s most acclaimed chefs and restaurateurs. Trained in Paris and London, she moved to California in 1979, where she worked in the kitchens and dining rooms of Michael’s and West Beach Café. It was while in California that she met her mentor Alice Waters, chef and proprietor of Chez Panisse, and that her love of disarmingly simple cooking based on the freshest local ingredients was born.

Sally Clarke: 30 Ingredients by Sally Clarke (Frances Lincoln)

INGREDIENTS • 650 g ripe tomatoes, plum, beefsteak or heritage variety • 1 medium red onion • 2 ripe nectarines • 200 g feta or ricotta • 2 tsp Dijon mustard • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar • Salt and pepper • 4 tbsp olive oil • 2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley • Flower blossoms such as nasturtium Serves 4

DIRECTIONS

1. Take three or four different types of tomatoes, chosen for their colours and shapes.

Cut them in slices or wedges and scatter them over a flat serving dish. 2. Slice the nectarine from the stone in wedges and place them in and around the tomatoes. 3. Cut the red onion in half and then in paper thin slices across, making half rings. Sprinkle this on top and add shavings of feta or crumbled ricotta. 4. Place the mustard, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk with a fork until blended. Gradually add the olive oil until it is to your taste. 5. Spoon this dressing over and around the salad and scatter with the chopped parsley. Finish with beautiful blossoms if you have any and eat as soon as possible.