Route 79

Mr Newman certainly does sell some excellent salad dressings, but there's nowt quite like your own Balsamic dressing; just Extra Virgin Olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Cheaper, too.

That is the extent of my cookery prowess. I think I need to get Gordon Ramsay in.

Anyway, yes, the salad - looks lovely! Whenever I've been to France, they've tended to use overripe, squishy tomatoes, which ruins the entire dish. So I'd place a bit of emphasis on choosing some good uns.

Hi Vicky: I have to admit - I do have a bottle of really expensive Balsamic Vinegar (from modena of course) in my cupboard - as well as EV olive oil - but it just never occured to me to try whipping up such a simple dressing!

I bought the Newman stuff on impulse actually - it said something on the label about profits going to charity - so I thought that was cool!

Thanks for tip re the tomatoes - like you I can't stand squishy tomatoes - so I made sure I used good'uns - nice firm cherry ones. You know - the ones that the supermarkets always say are "bursting with flavour".