Ingredients

For the salad:
3 zucchini per person, sliced ¼in thick (best done on a mandolin)
1 small yellow onion per person, sliced ⅓in thick
1 tbsp (heaped) fresh mint, chiffonade (super-thin ribbons)
8-10 fresh basil leaves per person, torn by hand at the last minute
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

Oven-dried tomatoes:
½ pack red grape or cherry tomatoes per person
½ pack yellow grape or cherry tomatoes per person
Olive oil
Fresh thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the crostini:
½ French baguette, sliced about ½in wide
1-2 whole garlic cloves, peeled
Olive oil
Kosher salt

Method

For the crostini, preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Heat up a grill or grill pan to medium high.

Place the bread slices in a large bowl. Drizzle olive oil over the slices evenly and toss to lightly coat. Season with salt and toss again.

Mark the bread slices on the grill, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Move to a sheetpan and allow to cool. Take a garlic clove and rub it on one side of each bread slice. (Or both sides if you like it stronger.)

Place the sheet pan into the oven, and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown and crisp. Set aside.

For the oven-dried tomatoes, pre-heat the oven to 105C/225F on a regular oven, or 100C/215F on a convection oven with the rack in the center.

Place a rack or a silpat/parchment paper on a large baking sheet. (Time will vary, taking longer with a silpat/parchment.)

Wash and slice the tomatoes in half. Place in a large mixing bowl. Season, add in the thyme, and toss with enough olive oil just to coat.

Distribute the tomatoes on the baking sheet evenly, cut side up. Place in the oven and allow to dry out until the edges shrivel up and the flesh has shrunken, about 2½-3 hours. If any tomatoes start to blacken around the edges, turn the oven down or redistribute the tomatoes on the sheetpan for more even cooking.

For the zucchini salad, heat up the grill (or grill pan in my case) to medium-high.

In a large mixing bowl, season the zucchini ribbons and drizzle enough olive oil to lightly coat (do not over-drizzle, zucchini soaks up oil like a sponge.) Toss. Repeat the same with the onion slices in a separate bowl.

Place the slices on the grill and cook on each side in batches, about 1-2 minutes per side for the zucchini, 3-4 minutes per side for the onions. The zucchini should be cooked evenly through until just tender, do not let them cook until they are translucent and mushy. Place the cooked slices evenly on the sheet pan or plate, overlapping as little as possible to prevent carryover cooking. The onions can be cooked longer if you like.

In the same large mixing bowl, combine the zucchini, onion, tomatoes and herbs. Add a splash of red wine vinegar, just enough to brighten the flavors. Season if needed, toss and serve over the garlic crostini.