Tarragon and tomatoes go together wonderfully well. For a delightful summery salad, try this combination of juicy tomatoes, crunchy garlic croutons, and anise-flavoured tarragon
Serves 4
Ingredients
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, sliced
• 40g rustic bread, such as sourdough, crusts trimmed, cut into small cubes
• 500g assorted heritage tomatoes, halved
• 1⁄2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sherry vinegar 15g tarragon leaves
Method
1 First, make the garlic croutons. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a small frying pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and fry for a few seconds to flavour the oil.
2 Add the bread cubes and stir often, until both the garlic and bread cubes are golden. Set aside until cool.
3 Halve the tomatoes, chopping any large ones into chunks.
4 Place the tomatoes in a serving bowl. Sprinkle with the salt, spoon over the sherry vinegar, mix and set aside.
5 Reserve 1 tsp tarragon leaves for the garnish. Blitz the remaining tarragon leaves with the remaining olive oil into a paste. Add this tarragon paste to the tomatoes, mixing well.
6 Sprinkle over the garlic croutons and the fried garlic. Chop the reserved tarragon, sprinkle over as a garnish and serve.
The Kew Gardens Salad Book by Jenny Linford. Photography by Hugh Johnson (Kew Publishing, £22, order via shop.kew.org)
