Summer days drawing to an end

Ilaria here. I know, it’s been awhile …

This is pretty much a Caprese salad sitting on top of a bunch of our homegrown lettuce. The point of it is, it’s simple, and celebrates these last days of summer…

Our once ardent green tomato “jungle” now resembles a multi coloured Pollock cop-out full of yellows, browns and hay. Yes, our plants are spent and the fruit is on the decline. But we welcome the autumnal tomato pickings – they do not disappoint.

I collected a mini handful of tomatoes, picked a variety of lettuce leaves from our over-stuffed planter (as it turns out, 18 lettuce seedlings in a 30cm x 30cm planter is actually quite excessive), and gathered a generous bunch of homegrown basil, putting it all together in a colourful mess in a bowl with mozzarella, sprinkling in flaky sea salt, and drizzling everything with extra virgin olive oil.

On searingly hot late-summer days nothing beats the aromatic taste of nostalgia: sun-warmed tomatoes plucked from the vine, a waft of basil, a spot of breeze … simplicity at its best.