Panzanella

Ingredients

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

1/2 red onion

600g ripe tomatoes

200g stale bread

4tbs white wine vinegar

1tbs capers

1 small clove of garlic

6tbs extra virgin olive oil

Fresh basil

Black pepper

Salt

Method

1. Take your stale bread (any will do a rustic country loaf is ideal) and roughly tear into pieces. Set your bread pieces to one side, ideally somewhere warm, where it can dry out even more.

2. Wash and chop your red and yellow peppers into small pieces. Add a little olive oil to a pan and cook the chopped peppers until they are soft. Set to one side.

3. Chop your tomatoes into chunks (roughly the same size as your chunks of bread) and place in a colander over a bowl so that they can drain. Cover lightly with salt and black pepper.

4. Add the bread chunks to a salad bowl and moisten with vinegar. Rinse the capers before squeezing out any excess liquid and add them to the salad bowl with the tomatoes. Next, finely chop your red onion and add it to the salad bowl.

5. Gently squeeze out the tomatoes into the bowl with the tomato juice. Place the chunks of tomato in the bowl with the bread, capers and onion.

6. To chop your clove of garlic, peel away the skin, crush with the flat side of a knife and then chop the garlic horizontally and then vertically until it is in small pieces. Add the chopped garlic to the bowl with the tomato juice, along with the olive oil and mix. Season to taste with salt and pepper before pouring over the salad and tossing thoroughly. Sprinkle with torn basil leaves and leave to rest for 15-30 minutes before serving.