Photography: John Paul Urizar. Styling: Michele Cranston.
We’ve transformed the punchy Bloody Mary cocktail into a bold and spicy tomato salad! It’s perfect for entertaining, picnics and barbecue spreads.
Ingredients
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C (160’C fan forced).
Add bread to an oven tray, drizzle over oil and gently massage oil into bread to evenly coat. Bake for 15 minutes or until crunchy and golden.
Reserve fennel fronds and the smaller celery leaves. Using a mandoline or V-slicer, thinly slice fennel. Slice celery thinly on the diagonal. Arrange fennel, celery, tomatoes and croutons on a large platter.
BLOODY MARY DRESSING: Whisk ingredients in a small bowl until combined; season. Taste and season with a little sea salt flakes and freshly ground pepper. (Makes 1 cup)
Drizzle salad with Bloody Mary Dressing. Serve topped with reserved fennel fronds and celery leaves.
The inner stalks of celery are the sweetest and most tender.
Test Kitchen tip
Tomato salad swaps
To up the flavour and make this salad more substantial, you could add Persian fetta, peeled cooked prawns, crispy fried prosciutto or bacon.
How to store tomatoes
Unripe tomatoes should be stored at room temperature away from direct sunlight, not in the fridge as this will disrupt the texture and natural ripening process. If you buy perfectly ripe tomatoes of any variety and will not use them for a day or two, keep in the refrigerator crisper to prevent spoilage but make sure you take them out of the fridge at least a couple of hours before using.
