Heirloom Tomatoes & Stracciatella With Summer Herbs

10 mins

	3-4 large heirloom tomatoes (or locally grown acid-free tomatoes), at room temperature
	200g stracciatella (or use mozzarella, buffalo mozzarella, buffalo curd or burrata)
	1-3 tablespoons Forum chardonnay vinegar
	2 tablespoons Lot Eight citrus olive oil
	lemon zest, to serve
	basil, to serve
	fennel seeds, to serve

1.	Cut the tomatoes into slices about ½cm thick.
2.	Spread the stracciatella to cover the whole base of a bowl.
3.	Place the tomato slices over the cheese – the idea here is to get equal amounts of cheese to tomato with every bite.
4.	Gently spoon over a small amount of chardonnay vinegar, around 1-3 tablespoons depending on your palate. This adds a sharp contrast to the fat and umami/sugars of the tomatoes.
5.	Splash on a very generous amount of Lot Eight citrus olive oil.
6.	Season with salt and pepper sprinkled from about 30cm above the plate to ensure an even distribution of seasoning.
7.	Garnish with lemon zest and some fresh basil; ripped large basil leaves work but the buds are also great to get big flavour from small pieces.
8.	Lastly, wild fennel around the country is going to seed, and these fresh, young seeds are packed with bright, delicious flavour. You get huge explosive fennel flavour notes from these tiny seeds.

Recipes & food styling Matt Lambert / Photography Josh Griggs