Tomato Tartare and Things on Sticks (by G)

It has been seasonably warm lately so I thought it would be a nice idea to have something refreshing for dinner.  I came up with the idea of a tomato tartare and, of course, there is such a thing. Both Ferran Adria and Thomas Keller have a version but I'm very lazy so I made the very lazy persons version.

I skinned and chopped some tomatoes, then added lemon juice, basil, salt and pepper and let it chill - then moulded it up on a plate and topped it with parmesan.  I also sliced up a large bread roll, sprinkled the slices in oil and oven crispied them - while they were still hot I attempted to rub the croutons with garlic - the bread was a bit brittle so that was not altogether successful.  My tartare was a bit weepy when I plated it so I squeezed out the excess moisture before serving Biggs' portion.

A tartare on its own would not be much of a dinner so I augmented it with some skewers of cabanossi, olives, capsicum, celery, ham, cucumber and cheese.  I had meant to top them off with some leftover de-tinned beetroot - alas, I forgot.

I guess, on the whole, this was a pretty healthy and fresh dinner.