a special mozzarella and tomato salad

the buffalo mozzarella and vine tomato salad that i had at the little gloster has been on my mind a lot. thankfully a version of it has also been on my table a lot over the past week.

at the heart of this dish are three things:

• rich, creamy buffalo mozzarella - or you could use burrata for a double-dose of indulgence.
• delicious tomatoes - not so easy to find with the dreadful weather we’ve had (my tomato bushes have barely got going this year) but i’ve been using isle of wight oak-roasted tomatoes to bump the flavour of the dish as  whole (slow-roasted or sunblush would also do the trick).
• a dressing of lemon zest, chopped fresh mint, chopped red chilli, a little garlic (i’ve used smoked garlic or black garlic to soften the flavour) plus good olive oil

sometimes i’ve added a few dressed salad leaves and other times i’ve left it just as tomatoes and mozzarella. if you can manage it, don’t use all the mozzarella or dressing as these, left overnight to marinate, make a wonderful toast topping.

and if you want another recipe for tomato and mozzarella salad, try this version, which is oomphed up with  parmesan, mint, basil and tomato jam.