Squash flower tomato salad (basically fancy cheese and tomato)

In 20 minutes you will have a delicate (read not super filling) summer starter for 4 people

I went to Maltby Street Market and these were two of the things I bought:

On the left are squash flowers and on the right is fresh, soft cow curd cheese (also available at some Waitrose and Ocado).

I have been obsessed with the idea of cooking squash blossoms – they are just so beautiful. I really fell in love with the colour – the deep yellow, almost orange that is quite unusual for fresh produce.

However, all squash blossom recipes seem to involve frying. I am not a huge fan of fried things (except for potatoes of course), particularly when they are also battered. So, I was super pleased to see my friend Erin post this recipe on Facebook a few weeks ago: http://nyti.ms/MYob8Q

I decided to take inspiration and do my own thing, pairing the blossoms with another summer produce that always draws my eyes with its bold colours:

When I was in San Francisco we called these heirloom tomatoes. Now I am in London, they are called heritage tomatoes. Striking me as quite a subtle difference in name, upon a bit of light Googling I found that thesaurus.com uses the words as synonyms, and either name in reference to tomatoes just means old variety. Maybe it’s just one of those differences to be different about, like a tomato, tomahto thing (Sorry!).

After a bit of experimentation, this is the salad I did the best …

For the flowers:

• 100g soft cow curd cheese
• 4 squash flowers
• ¼ tsp lemon zest
• 1 pinch smoked paprika
• salt and pepper to taste

For the salad:

• 1 punnet heritage tomatoes – chopped and seeds removed (Note: Removing the seeds from the tomatoes is key, otherwise it is just all too watery.)
• 1 large (like beefsteak) tomato sliced very thinly
• 1 lemon juiced
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp finely chopped basil
• 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
• ¼ tsp smoked paprika
• salt and pepper to taste

Wash the squash flowers, which can be quite dirty, and then let dry thoroughly.

In the meantime, combine the rest of the ingredients for the flowers and mix well.

Then, combine and mix well all salad ingredients, except for the beefsteak tomato slices. 

Place 2 slices of tomato on each plate. Divide the tomato salad evenly between each plate.

Once the blossoms are dry, remove the stems from the outside and the stamens from the inside of the flowers. With a small spoon or knife fill each blossom with cheese and twist the ends closed.

Put one flower on top of the salad on each plate and then spoon over a teaspoon of the dressing left in the bowl from the tomato salad.

While the whole cheese and tomato flavour combination of this dish is very traditional, the end result is simply visually stunning: