Instructions: Have enough tomatoes to overfill the mold you will use. Dip into boiling water and peel them. Chop roughly and sprinkle with good sea salt and black pepper plus a tiny bit of sugar.

Pour some passata, a puree of tomatoes, into a large soup plate and season with lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce, and maybe a touch of hot pepper sauce. Soak the bread slices briefly in this mixture and line your mold with them, leaving no cracks nor crannies.

To the tomatoes add as much minced garlic as you fancy, plus a good measure of olive oil and lots of torn-up basil leaves. Adjust the seasoning and pour the whole lot into the bread-lined mold. Seal the top with more soaked bread. Place a receptacle on top with weights (such as cans of food) and leave overnight in the refrigerator.

Unmold onto a fine dish and surround with goodies - quail eggs, olives, sweet peppers, capers or what you will. A bowl of sour cream might be handed around with it, or good homemade mayonnaise.

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