Pineapple, tomato & rocket toasts

I first had pineapple in a salad in Mexico.  It was the most delicious combination and not so weird when you think that tomatoes are fruit just like pineapple.  The most important thing is to balance the sweetness and acidity of the pineapples and tomatoes with the dressing and with some kind of dairy product.  The last time I made this it was with crumbled feta in the salad, but I wanted to make something more substantial.  I sliced up some of the addictive, glorious, sensational raisin and walnut bread from the Queen's Park farmers' market (www.lfm.org.uk) and toasted it.  Then I beat up some ricotta cheese with some River Cafe extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.  A dressed salad of the pineapple and tomatoes piled on to the ricotta toasts, and scattered from the crop of rocket from our garden was both a magical and memorable starter, thrown together in less than 20 minutes and full of the joys of early summer.

Recipe

400g ricotta

about 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (the best you can afford)

Half a pineapple

5 tomatoes

A large handful of rocket

A generous handful of fresh, chopped basil, mint and tarragon leaves

A loaf of sourdough/raisin and walnut toast

For the dressing

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp dijon mustard

a good pinch brown sugar

extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Drain the ricotta through a sieve to get rid of any excess water.  Then beat in the extra virgin olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.  Meanwhile peel the pineapple, cut it in half and then cut the half you are using into long quarters.  Cut out the core of each quarter and slice these lengths into thin, wafer like slices.  Slice the tomatoes to similar lengths.  Mix up all the dressing ingredients up well and season the salad with salt and pepper.  Toss in the dressing with the washed rocket leaves and scatter with the herbs.

In the meantime toast slices of the bread and drizzle with more extra virgin olive oil.  (You can rub the toasts with garlic if you want a fresh, summery, garlic hit, but I didn't bother).  Scoop generous tablespoons of the ricotta on each of the toasts, enough to be generous.  Top the ricotta toasts with handfuls of the salad, arranged higgledy-piggeldy on top. 

This is a very simple starter but it will really wow your friends.

tommi xxx