Oven Roasted Tomato and Mozzarella Salad with Honey-Lemon Vinaigrette

Start by preparing the tomatoes – cut the cores out and make a very shallow ‘X’ on the bottom of the tomato. Dip them for not more than 60 seconds into salted boiling water, then quickly fish them out and place in ice-cold water to prevent further cooking. Peel them, cut in half, carefully scrape the seeds out and place them cut side down on paper towels for a few minutes to get rid of the excess liquid. Then turn them around, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place on the baking parchment (drizzled with olive oil) cut side down. Sprinkle some extra salt and pepper on the top of tomatoes and scatter fresh chopped thyme (generously) on top.

Cut the garlic cloves in half and place them among the tomatoes. Finally, drizzle some extra olive oil on top (about 4 Tablespoons). Roast the tomatoes in a 140°C oven for 2.5–3 hours. At the last hour, turn the cut side of the tomatoes up. In this recipe I have used small tomatoes, larger ones may need an extra hour to roast.

For the vinaigrette, whisk together mustard, lemon juice, vinegar, honey, cayenne, salt and pepper. When mustard and honey have dissolved, slowly add the olive oil (5 Tablespoons) whisking vigorously all the time till you have a homogenous dressing.

Divide the salad leaves between the plates, scatter the roasted tomatoes across the top and tear up the mozzarella and sprinkle it on top. Finally spoon the vinaigrette over and serve with crusty bread.