Bruschetta

Starter: serves one. Total time: 5 minutes

In its basic form, the Italian version, bruschetta is a soggy affair of over-ripe tomato and lots of very green olive oil (both in colour and flavour), absorbed by toasted white bread. A French campagne loaf is probably the most widely available crumb that suits. Or anything basically, but, please, no ciabatta.

1 thick slice coarse-textured white bread
a peeled garlic clove
extra virgin olive oil
1 over-ripe tomato
sea salt

Toast the bread, and depending on the time of day and how summery you feel, give it a few half-hearted swipes with a garlic clove - be very pathetic about this, a hint of garlic is fine. Place the toast on a plate and coat with a slug of oil. Your tomato should be ripe to the point of bursting. If it hasn't already done so, use a knife to make an incision and break it open using your fingers, working over the toast.

Squeeze out the seeds, these are one of best bits of the tomato that fashion would have us discard, then mash the flesh onto the surface and throw away the skin and core. Crumble over a few flakes of sea salt and splash over a little more oil.