Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Mixed Tomato Salad with Buffalo Mozzarella and Anchovies

The Russians are here!

black russian tomatoes© by Haalo

Black Russian tomatoes that is and I for one, welcome their arrival.

It's a tomato that I've had miserable luck growing. I think in all my attempts I've only ever managed to harvest one lone tomato. So when I noticed one of the stallholders at Prahran market had them, they quickly ended up in my shopping basket.

black russian tomatoes© by Haalo

They were soon joined by these adorable red and yellow cherry tomatoes.

red and yellow cherry tomatoes© by Haalo

With a few more ingredients I was able to mimic a tomato salad I've been enjoying lately at Church Street Enoteca.

Agostino Recca Anchovies© by Haalo

Luckily I was able to find some of my favourite anchovies - these are by Agostino Recca

Agostino Recca Anchovies© by Haalo

and while they aren't overpowering, they do have much more flavour then the Entreislas Anchovies I used in the eggplant stacks.


Mixed Tomato Salad with Buffalo Mozzarella and Anchovies© by Haalo


Mixed Tomato Salad with Buffalo Mozzarella and Anchovies

Black Russian Tomatoes
Red and Yellow Cherry Tomatoes
1 buffalo mozzarella - I used Shaw River, ripped into bite sized pieces
Anchovy fillets, sliced finely
Aged Balsamic Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
sea salt
snipped chives
basil leaves, ripped


Sliced the Black Russian tomatoes into wedges and cut the cherry tomatoes in half.

Place the tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle over with the sliced anchovy fillets and snipped chives - toss gently to combine.

In a small bowl, whisk together the balsamic, oil and a pinch of sea salt until amalgamated. Drizzle this over the tomatoes and toss to combine. Finish with a sprinkling of ripped Basil leaves.

To serve, transfer a quarter of the salad into your serving bowl and scatter pieces of mozzarella over the salad, top with another quarter of the salad and some more mozzarella pieces. Repeat until all ingredients have been used.

Drizzle over with the collected juices and finish with a little more ripped basil.

6 comments

  1. Oh, we never had much luck growing these guys, either. But those teensy yellow cherries -- we had a six foot bush of those, and we were drying them in desperation. Wow, are they prolific.

    We did get about six Russian blacks from one plant, and counted ourselves lucky...

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  2. Black tomatoes have such deep, complex flavor. I envy you, getting ripe tomatoes this time of year.

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  3. Hi Haalo,
    Happy New Year! These tomatoes look gorgeous - lovely photos.

    Church Street Enoteca was on my "list" but unfortunately they were closed during my trip. Prahran Market was great, I was so tempted to buy so many things but had to restrain myself.

    nora

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  4. Hi Tad - they are certainly the extremes, those cherry tomatoes seem to just grown by themselves.

    Hi Nate & Annie - It's good to see them so early in the season.

    Thanks Nora - CSE closed on the monday before christmas so maybe put them on your list for your next trip down here - hope you had a good time at the other restaurants. It's good that the weather held out for New Years Eve.

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  5. I tried growing these but didn't have much luck. That salad looks delicious.

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  6. Thanks TFH - I wonder why they are so difficult to grow

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