To make a superior tomato salad that is full of flavor, buy locally grown tomatoes that are of different shapes, sizes, and colors. This will make the salad visually interesting as well as delicious!
The following tomato salad is a perfect side dish. Alternately, serve as an dinner entree or light lunch with a few mozzarella balls or freshly toasted bread.
Fresh Tomato Salad Recipe
This recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver's Mothership Tomato Salad in Jamie at Home.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2.2 pounds 1 kilo Ripe tomatoes of different shapes, sizes, and colors
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Dried oregano a pinch
- 1/8 cup Red wine or Balsamic vinegar
- 3/8 cup Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic peeled and grated
- 1 fresh red chili pepper deseeded and chopped
Instructions
- Cut tomatoes into various sizes; slice some in half and others into quarters.
- Place a colander on top of a bowl. Add tomatoes to colander and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Toss the tomatoes gently and sprinkle another pinch of sea salt over them. Toss again.
- Leave tomatoes to sit for 15 minutes. (This will draw out extra moisture and concentrate the tomato's flavor.)
- Once the 15 minutes has passed, pour out any juice that has accumulated.
- Place the tomatoes into a large bowl and sprinkle oregano over them.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the red wine or balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Add the garlic and chili pepper, stir to distribute.
- Drizzle the dressing over the tomatoes to your taste (you may have some leftover). Toss to combine.
- Sprinkle a few sprigs of fresh oregano or basil over the top if desired.
- Serve and enjoy!
How do you like to serve tomatoes in the summer?
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Sally {with eager hands}
August 16, 2011 at 5:06 AMhow critical is the pepper? Have you used a related dried substitute? I’d love to make it, but don’t have fresh hot pepper! (pinned this at Pinterest!!)
Cheryn
August 16, 2011 at 5:35 AMWow this sounds so great!! I can’t wait to try it!
Kate @ Modern Alternative Mama
August 16, 2011 at 6:25 AMI like to add fresh cucumbers and toss with a slightly different homemade dressing. Yummy!
Stacy
August 17, 2011 at 9:45 AM@Kate @ Modern Alternative Mama, That’s a great idea! I bet cucumbers would be excellent in this!
[email protected]
August 16, 2011 at 1:00 PMI love tomatoes! This sounds like a great summer salad! I would also like to know if dried red pepper can be substituted? Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Stacy
August 17, 2011 at 9:46 AM@[email protected], I have substituted dried peppers. It worked fine. Unfortunately I did not measure! Just start slow since it can get spicy very quickly 😉
Kelly
August 16, 2011 at 6:03 PMMmm, sounds delish! Think I’ll make it tomorrow night with goat cheese pizza!
Jessica Winter
August 16, 2011 at 9:08 PMI just had the most delicious roasted cherry tomatoes tossed with basil, ricotta and penne. The sweetest tomatoes I’ve ever eaten, they tasted like candy and they were just from Trader Joes. To roast a pint of cherry tomatoes, toss them with a tablespoon olive oil, 2 minced cloves of garlic, salt and pepper and roast at 325 for 20 minutes. Delish! – Jess at OlyMomma
Stacy
August 17, 2011 at 9:47 AM@Jessica Winter, OK now, that sounds awesome! I LOVE roasted tomatoes. Thank you for sharing that. I will definitely be trying this combination!
Jennifer
August 21, 2011 at 9:03 PMThis sounds great! We have so many tomatoes in our garden right now, I’ll have to try this soon. I love your blog and have followed it for quite a while. I also have your e-book and glean much from it. I just added you to my blogroll on my new blog, officially launching the first of September. Keep up the good work!
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home
August 22, 2011 at 10:30 PM@Jennifer, Thanks, Jennifer! Enjoy those tomatoes! I’m eagerly awaiting my first one to ripen in the cooler Pacific Northwest. 🙂
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home
September 14, 2011 at 5:56 PMYum. I made this tonight, adding a few cucumbers into the mix with my garden tomatoes. Used some fresh basil, and did a mix of red wine and apple cider vinegar, because I thought I had balsamic but it turned out I didn’t. 🙂
I added in some freshly grated parmesan, too. Then we used it like a bruschetta on top of toasted pita triangles (but baguette would have been better- again, working with what I had!). It was awesome. Thanks, Stacy! I’ve had the Jamie at Home book for well over a year and can’t believe I haven’t tried this one yet.