Broken Bread Salad

Fiona Hugues

Serves

4 - 5 as a side

Preparation

25 mins

Cook

15 mins

Ingredients

4-6 small shallots, skins on
olive oil
4-5 tablespoons red wine vinegar (preferably homemade – see note)
1 large heirloom tomato
½ clove garlic, crushed
3 large slices sourdough bread, toasted
6-8 black cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ tablespoon seed mustard
¼ cup good extra virgin olive oil
2 each white and yellow-fleshed nectarines, sliced (or peaches, or whatever summer stone fruit is available)
2 balls (around 200g) burrata or the equivalent of stracciatella (or a ball of fresh mozzarella torn and ⅓ cup fresh cream)
1 small handful rocket leaves
1 good handful basil leaves – I used purple, sweet and Greek basil

NOTES ON MAKING VINEGAR

I have an old pottery crock with a very loose-fitting broken lid into which we flop any leftover red wine dregs to turn into vinegar. You can start by making your own vinegar mother with any old bottle of drinkable wine, as long as it has access to oxygen. Wine left exposed to air for a few weeks will naturally begin to turn to acid, depending on the environment. This takes a while and I find it hit and miss, so I like to tell my friends to give it a nudge with a slop of ‘mother’ (mycoderma aceti) from the bottom of a bottle of natural cider vinegar from the supermarket. It looks like dirty sediment and eventually it will grow in your wine dreg vessel to a sinister-looking substance with the appearance of raw liver, all crimson and horrific. This devours the wine’s ethanol and over a couple of months it will produce face- puckering delicious acid to be used in salad dressings and slow-cooked meat marinades for months to come.
Once a year I empty my crock (it’s large), leaving the mother behind to brew the next batch. I like to sweeten the vinegar slightly with some of my honey or dissolved brown sugar before pouring into bottles. The outcome depends on what we’ve been drinking (different wines can yield some jolting flavour so I prefer to use only drinkable wine) but this will improve as it ages in the bottle. I’ve now got a second crock for just white wines and both vinegars, when bottled, will literally last for years when kept in a dark location.

If there’s a dish that is worthy of bringing ingredients and people together it’s this one. If, however, you have a gluten-intolerant guest you may not be able to serve this gluten-laden version. The fermentation process in making sourdough does break down the gluten leaving just a trace, so it’s tolerated more easily, but if there’s a coeliac at your table, you can easily sub out the bread for a good gluten-free sourdough.

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Instructions

1.Heat the oven to 190°C fan bake.
2.Cut the shallots in half lengthwise, lay on a lined baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil and season. Bake for around 15 minutes until softened.
3.Remove from the oven and while hot sprinkle them with 1-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar. As they cool they will absorb the vinegar and transform into sweet little packets of deliciousness.
4.Grate the heirloom tomato into a small bowl. Add the garlic, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar and season well with salt and pepper, stirring to combine.
5.Roughly tear the sourdough toasts into smallish pieces and lay them out in a single layer on a platter.
6.Drizzle with the tomato mixture and toss so all the bread is coated. Set aside to ‘marinate’ and soften.
7.Heat a little olive oil in a pan over a medium-high heat and sear the cherry tomatoes until slightly charred.
8.For the dressing, put the mustards and 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar in a small mixing bowl and whisk until combined.
9.Season and whisk in the extra virgin olive oil to emulsify. Taste, adjust seasoning if necessary and set aside.
10.I usually double the recipe and put all ingredients in a jar and shake it until well combined. The excess is easily kept in the fridge for salads in a hurry.
11.When ready to serve, lay the bread out on a serving platter intermingled with the stone fruit. Tuck in the burrata or stracciatella.
12.If you can’t access either, my cheat’s version is to tear the flesh of a fresh mozzarella ball into a small bowl, mix in some fresh cream to coat and use this instead – the cream makes lovely, delicious business when it mixes into the dressing and fruit juices.
13.Poke the roasted shallots and rocket in among the fruit. Shower over your basil leaves and add the charred cherry tomatoes.
14.When ready to serve, drizzle over the dressing and season, with optional extra olive oil on the side.

Food and recipe styling, photography Fiona Hugues

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