Tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad

This dish is ode to One Red Penny in Summer Hill when I tried their ox heart tomato, golden beetroot, toasted black barley and fresh Italian cheese made of mozzarella and cream (burrata) salad. The toasted barley just added that extra pop drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar.

Ingredients

1 red truss tomato
1 buffalo mozzarella
1 tbs pearl barley
1 leaf of kale
leaves of parsley
100g red quinoa
1 cup of water

1 tbs of olive oil
1 tbs of aged balsamic vinegar

Method

1. Cut the tomato into 6 round slices and set aside.

2. Blanch kale for 2 minutes until it turns a bright green in colour, drain, cut into 3cm thick pieces and set aside.

3. Rinse 100g of red quinoa and add 1 cup of water to quinoa in saucepan. Cover with lid and bring to boil. Once boiling, bring head down to simmer for 12-15 mins.

4. Place frypan on medium heat and dry roast the pearl barley for 5 minutes.

5. To serve, place tomatoes around the plate, add blanched quinoa, parley leaves, before topping with buffalo mozzarella. Sprinkle toasted barley on top before drizzling the olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar.