Green tomato on sourdough

Tamara West

Clooney restaurant's executive chef Des Harris shows us how to apply some of his culinary magic into food to serve with drinks. To see more recipes and expert tips for entertaining, read his article Set to impress.

Ingredients

200 ml	Verjuice, use riesling verjuice
4 medium	Green tomatoes (Main)
½	Baguettes, sourdough (Main)
200 g	Yoghurt, use Buffalo yoghurt, or thick Greek yoghurt
50 g	Mascarpone
1 drizzle	Oil, good quality

Directions

1. In a saucepan gently reduce the verjus by half and set aside to cool to room temperature. With a small sharp knife remove the eye from the tomatoes and, using your fingers, pull back the flesh to expose the heart of the tomato. Use the knife to snip out the segments. Remove any skin and marinate in the verjus reduction for about half an hour.
2. Slightly freeze the sourdough baguette then slice thinly, brush with olive oil and season with flaky sea salt. Bake at 160C until crisp and allow to cool before using.
3. Mix the yoghurt with the mascarpone and season with flaky sea salt.
4. Take the tomato from the marinade and sit on a paper towel to soak up the excess moisture. Dollop or pipe some of the yoghurt/mascarpone mix on each bread wafer and follow with a piece of tomato, a dash of oil and some flaky sea salt.

Pantry notes

• Riesling verjuice (or verjus) is available fromsabato.co.nzand at some specialty food stores.
• Clevedon Valleybuffalo yoghurt is available at some specialty food stores.
• Green tomatoes are not so readily available in the shops but look out forCurious Croppers' Spanish green tomatoes or pick them green from your own tomato plants. Des says it is okay to use red if you prefer.
• Kataifi is shredded filo pastry available at speciality food stores. Seetimos.co.nz
• Clarified butter is available at speciality food stores or seehereto make your own.