Super simple salads: Insalata tricolore

Inspired by the Italian flag, this salad is always a winner – although Zander misses out (in my opinion) as he is not fond of avocado, so his is a little less colourful. Guess he wins on the tomatoes and mozzarella though! I usually use large vine tomatoes for this, sliced in rounds as these give a symmetry with the slices of mozzarella. My choice on mozzarella is buffalo, given it is one of the stars of the show, as this is tastier and not much more expensive than normal mozzarella.

Just three ingredients, a handful of basil and salad quality olive oil and vinegar and it’s good to go. You can get clever with the presentation as well if you are serving to guests – stacks of the ingredients, skewers etc. A go-to light lunch for us and a great starter as well.

A little olive bread always helps mop up the juices! The olive oil is from Riva del Garda in Italy -- fab!

Serves: 3-4 as a light meal or starter

Time to prepare/cook: Approximately 10-15 minutes

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Ingredients

• 150-200g of large vine tomatoes (roughly one per person)

• 2 x 150g balls of buffalo mozzarella

• 1 ripe avocado

• A handful of fresh basil leaves

• Good olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper and sea salt to serve

Tomatoes from the garden, a summer treat

Method

• Wash and chop the tomatoes – make round slices to mirror the mozzarella slices

• Drain and slice the buffalo mozzarella

• Peel and thinly slice the avocado

• Arrange the tomatoes, mozzarella and avocado on either a serving plate or individual small plates, as preferred

• Wash and roughly tear a few basil leaves to add colour on top

• Serve with oil and balsamic vinegar, plus salt and pepper mills, on the table so people can season to taste