This makes a great summer brunch, but is also lovely served warm in autumn. If you don't eat bacon, simply leave it out or replace it with cooked prawns, chicken or even sautéed wild mushrooms. If you are able to source unsliced smoked bacon, all the better - take off the rind and cut into 5mm slices, then lay four slices on top of each other at a time and cut these into 5mm batons. If you can only find sliced bacon, then just cut the rind off and cut into 5mm pieces.
If you're not a fan of chèvre (goat's cheese), you can replace it with almost any crumbly cheese.
Serves 4
8 ripe medium-size tomatoes, halved
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large handfuls of grapes
300g chèvre
300g smoked bacon batons (see above)
2 large handfuls of mixed salad leaves (such as frisée, oak leaf, rocket, Watercress, chicory or dandelion)
For the dressing
1 large avocado, flesh scooped out
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
100ml crème fraîche
3 tbsp fresh tarragon leaves
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Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3 and line a baking dish with baking parchment. Lay the tomato halves on this, cut side up. Divide the garlic slices among the tomatoes, then drizzle with 1 tbsp of the oil, season lightly and place in the oven for 1 hour.
Toss the grapes with 1 tbsp of the oil, add to the baking dish and cook for a further 30 minutes. By this time, the tomatoes should have shrivelled a little - the grapes likewise. If the tomatoes colour too quickly, take them out or turn down your oven.
Cut the chèvre into 1cm chunks (it may crumble, so they don't need to be perfect cubes) and place one on each tomato. Turn off the oven, but keep them warm. Put the remaining chèvre into a bowl.
Heat a frying pan, add 1 tbsp of the oil and the bacon batons, then cook over a moderate-to-high heat to colour and crisp them, stirring frequently to prevent catching or burning. Once cooked, drain on kitchen paper and keep warm.
For the dressing, mash or purée the avocado and mix with the dressing's olive oil, lemon juice, crème fraîche and half the tarragon. You can do this in a small food processor or blender, or by firmly whisking. Season and put to one side.
To serve, divide the tomato halves between four plates, then sit the salad leaves on the top. Dollop on the avocado mixture, reserving a little for your guests to top up with. Toss the warm grapes with the remaining chèvre and the bacon, place this on the salad, then scatter with the rest of the tarragon.
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Extracted and adapted from Salads: The New Main Course by Peter Gordon (Quadrille £18.99). Copyright Peter Gordon. Order this book from The Sunday Times Books First for only £15.19, plus p&p (0870 165 8585)