Don’t worry, the vegetarians haven’t gotten to me. Neither have the temperance folks for that matter. I served this up with tender, juicy, grass-fed rib-eyes and it made for a perfect meal. If you really want to keep it vegetarian while upping the protein factor, add some drained canned chick peas or white beans.
Time: 15 minutes (plus chilling)
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
4 tomatoes – cored and roughly chopped 1 celery stalk – roughly chopped 1 red bell pepper – seeded and roughly chopped ½ cucumber – roughly chopped (not peeled) ½ red onion – roughly chopped 8 basil leaves – roughly torn 4 cloves garlic – very finely chopped or crushed 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon kosher salt ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper 4 tablespoons parmesan cheese – shavedPreparation:
Put the tomatoes and celery into your food processor and pulse until nearly pureed. Pour this mixture into a bowl.
Put the bell pepper, cucumber, onion and basil leaves into the food processor, pulsing until almost finely chopped. Do not over-process as these ingredients provide the texture and variety of colour. Pour this mixture into the bowl with the tomato puree.
Stir in the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to a day before serving.
Serve garnished with the parmesan.