Heirloom tomato, stone fruit, & pickled pepper salad with raw Jersey cheese and saltbush.
I love the beach, and Summer, and tomatoes, and of course cheese.. I made this on a hot Sunday afternoon after spying some salt bush on the hill after a beach swim. I regularly have pickles on the go, the liquor makes for a good, sharp acid kick and along with the chilli, made this salad a good one.
- 2-3 Heirloom tomatoes
- 2 Ripe but firm nectarines
- Handful of saltbush - leaves picked
- Pickled peppers - see below
- Pickled pepper juice
- 1tbsp Pickled onions or shallots, cut into thin rings
- 1 tsp/tbsp Fermented chilli juice - homemade or bought, kimchi juice would also be delicious
- 100-125g Goldstreet Jersey cheese
- EVOO
- Salt
Heat the pickle liquid with the salt, sugar and chilli to a simmer then turn off. Core and cut the capsicums into strips or wedges and pour the hot liquor over the peppers and allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate. Better after a week or two.
To make the salad
In a small pot of frying oil, carefully fry the saltbush until crisp and drain on paper towel.
Core the tomatoes and slice into wedges, chunks or slices. Lay them out and lightly salt each piece. De-seed and cut the nectarine into wedges and slice the pickled peppers into strips - not too thin as you want the bite and crunch.
On the base of a shallow bowl or lipped plate, spoon some of the pickle liquor and a splash of olive oil around like Pro Hart. Arrange the tomatoes, over the pool and intersect with the nectarines, peppers and onion rings. In a small bowl, mix more of the liquor with the chilli juice, salt and olive oil to taste - make it spicy, fatty and your taste buds tingle. Dress the salad with it, crumble the Jersey cheese over the top, scatter the fried saltbush and finish with more olive oil and sea salt.
Serve with a fork and spoon to mop up those juices, and a crusty baguette.