Salad of semi-dried tomatoes, three flavors, tomato syrup

[fabienpe]

Salad of semi-dried tomatoes, three flavours, tomato syrup

Serves 6 as Appetizer.

• 14 ripe tomatoes
  
• mozzarela
  
• 3 garlic cloves
  
• 2 shallots
  
• olive oil
  
• 6 small basil leaves
  
• basil
  
• 25 cl balsamic vinegar
  

Semi-dried tomato petals

- Peel the tomates (dive them few seconds in boiling water and refresh them immediately). Cut them in 4 quarters. Separate the seeds and the inside from the meaty outside. You should have four 'petal' of tomato per tomato. Keep the waster, seeds and inside meat in a ball.

- Place the 56 petals (you'll only need 54) on an oiled baking tray. Dry gently for 2 to 3 hours around 100°C.

- With one garlic clove, prepare 6 garlic chips that you can cook gently in oil in the oven at the same time as the tomatoes. The chips should be crispy.

Tomato sirup

- Put the left over of the tomatoes (water, seeds, etc.) in a blender. Strain. Add a bit of sugar. Reduce down the liquid in a pot over low heat until slightly sirupy.

Balsamic glaze

- Reduce down the balsamic vinegar over low heat (it should not boil) until sirupy.

Assembling 1/2

When the tomatoes have dried and cooled down.

- Finely chop the rest of the garlic.

- Prepare 6 small shallots rings. Chop the rest of the shallots.

- Julienne de basil a thin as you can.

- Cut the mozzarella in in small 18 rectagles (about 3 mm thick) and slightly smaller than a tomato petal.

- Line up six tomato petals. Cover with julienne of basil. Cover with another tomato petal. Keep in air tight box in a fridge. Do the same with chopped garlic and chopped shallots. Allow to cool down for at least an hour.

- Keep the other petals (you should have 20) in the fridge.

Assembling 2/2

Before serving.

- Line up 18 petal. Top with a rectangle of mozarella each. Top with the other flavoured petals.

- Paint the plates with tomato sirup, balsamic vinegar glaze and olive oil.

- Dispose one flavoured tomato petal pile of each flavour on each plate. So each plate has one with basil, one with shallots and one with garlic. Fleur de sel.Decorate each pile with a smal basil leave, a shallot ring and garlic chip accordingly.

Keywords: Appetizer, Vegetarian, Easy

( RG610 )