Ripe tomatoes, cool cucumber, juicy melon, salty olives… everything we love about summer is right here in one colourful bowl (although this salad is sublime any time of year!). And the sourdough croutons make it all gorgeously crunchy

6½ Syns per serving

20 minutes plus 10 minutes standing

Serves 4

Save 6 Syns per serving by swapping the sourdough for 4 x 60g wholemeal rolls, sliced into toastable pieces, and having them as Healthy Extra ‘b’ choices.

Ingredients

  • 200g white sourdough bread, thickly sliced (see tip)
  • 800g large tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, suitable for vegans
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • ½ large cucumber, peeled, halved lengthways, deseeded and thickly sliced
  • 2 roasted red peppers in brine from a jar, drained and cut into thin strips
  • 400g prepared melon, seeded and cut into bite-size chunks
  • 1 small red onion, quartered and very thinly sliced
  • 2 tbsp small capers, drained
  • 30g pitted black olives in brine, drained and sliced
  • Small pack fresh basil, shredded

Method

  1. Lightly toast the bread, then leave to cool and break into bite-size chunks.
  2. Put all the tomatoes in a bowl of boiling water and leave for a minute or so, then drain and transfer to a bowl of icy water for 5-6 minutes. Remove and discard the skins from the tomatoes (they should come off easily by hand). Quarter the tomatoes and, using a teaspoon, scoop the seeds into a sieve set over a bowl. Squeeze all the juice from the seeds through the sieve using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon (this stage is really important to the flavour of the finished salad, so resist the urge to skip it!). Discard the seeds left in the sieve and stir the vinegar, garlic and some seasoning into the tomato liquid (this is your dressing).
  3. Slice the tomato flesh, put it in another bowl with the cucumber and toss both with a little seasoning. Add the peppers, melon, red onion, capers, olives, basil and the toast chunks, then pour over the dressing and toss well. Leave for 5 minutes so that the flavours can really develop before you tuck in. This is also a perfect choice for a picnic or packed lunch – pack the toasted bread and dressing separately and toss both through the salad shortly before you eat.

Credits: slimmingworld official