Italian Tricolore (and more) Salad

Italian Tricolore Salad is one of my favourite Italian salads

It's just so simple, but so delicious. This isn't so much a recipe, as me satisfying my own curiosity as to how many calories there were in what I was eating. But given that I write recipes for people who want recipes for under 500 calories, it was a great idea, as it's very easily under 500 calories even with extras! So working out the calories for the different ingredients, kind of made it into a recipe, and discovering that it was something delicious and simple which could be consumed for far fewer calories than I thought, made it a must-blog to share... (warm ciabatta not pictured!)

So, my apologies that it's not set out in a purist or traditional fashion, and that there are extras on the side, but I wasn't planning to post this as a tricolore salad, or even necessarily as a recipe - just as something summery and vague on a sunny day, showing my appreciation of the simple things in life. Also... I kind of like to keep the balsamic to the tomatoes, to make them more piquant, rather than staining my mozarella or avocado, and I like the grassy tones of a good extra virgin oil shared between the tomatoes and mozarella, with it's greenish golden tones trickling over the white of the cheese.

But I digress... you want to know how you can fit something like this in for under 500 calories (because if you're not counting, you're like a kid in a sweetshop in the deli, and you don't care!).

Serves one, from 326 calories.
So here you go, I'm not saying you can have everything here, but actually you probably can without the ciabatta, or you can sacrifice a slice or two of the cured meats for the bread. But either way, you can enjoy something very simple and delicious. [Calories in square brackets]

Ingredients
1 large vine tomato (120g) [24]
1/2 an avocado (80g) [158]
50g mozarella [reduced fat: 88, Italian: 118, Italian buffalo: 140]
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar of Modena (or to taste) [9]
1 tsp good extra virgin olive oil [45]
A few torn basil leaves [1]
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper [1]

[Total calories for the Tricolore Salad as above -  326 to 378 depending on mozarella]

Optional extras
Parma ham [34 per slice]
Salami Milano [43 calories per 2 slices]
Mortadella [42 calories per slice]
Plain green olives [25 calories per 15g serving]
1/6 of a 270g loaf of ciabatta (e.g. Sainsbury's bake-at-home TTD) [114]

Method
Slice the tomato, mozeralla and avocado and serve, with or without extras, drizzled with some good balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, and seasoned with sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper. Fresh, warm ciabatta is good, too. Obviously, I've specified quantities for those counting, but if you're not, then just go for it. And use good olives too...

Notes
The calorie contents for the mozarella and cured meats are as per Sainsbury's products, so there may be slight variations depending on which brands you use. I've included only plain olives (in brine), as the different variations of marinated olives, and other ingredients are far too diverse to mention just one in a recipe. I'm just happy at how much less naughty this is than I thought!