Eating Tomatoes with Fruit

[Katie Meadow]

My new local bistro is serving a salad composed of sliced red ripe tomatoes, sliced peaches and a yummy little lump of goat cheese custard. I didn't know if the peach-tomato thing would work but it did. It was delicious, and was dressed with restraint--a little salt and olive oil, and probably something else, but I couldn't figure out what. Maybe balsamic vinegar would work to knit them together; I like a few drops of balsamic on my peaches sometimes.

And of course, for some of us, tomato and pineapple is tried and true. There's pineapple pizza made with a tomato sauce, and there are some Asian soups that cash in that sweet/sour acid combination. I've been making a great Charles Phan variation on Shaking Beef in which flank steak and fresh pineapple are stir-fried and served on a bed of watercress and, of course, tomatoes.

So recently I tried putting together sliced tomato and watermelon. I tried it with just a little salt, and then with a light drizzle of olive oil. Pretty good, both ways, but I liked it best without the oil. Of course I admit that I belong to the camp that salts watermelon anyway.

Anyone else have ideas for combining tomato and fruit?

[merstar]

They're good with oranges.

[rooftop1000]

tomatoes are fruit

but peaches, pears, grapes and mandarins go well in salads so might be good with tomatoes

tracey

[msacuisine]

I live in the Southwest were salsa is made in just about every imaginable variety. I have had salsa with peaches in it. Also, mango goes really well in salsa, so I would suspect it would be a good candidate for your fruit-on-fruit experimentations.

[Abra]

French food magazines this summer are full of tomato-watermelon gazpacho, and similar dishes. I have to admit that it sounds repulsive to me so I haven't yet tried it.

[annecros]

The watermelon gazpacho sounded kind of gross to me as well - but it is knock your socks off fantastic!

Hubby likes cantaloupe and tomatoes with a little mild cheese and lots of cracked pepper.

[emilyr]

Saveur had it's cover article on watermelon this month. I made a variation the watermelon-tomato salad they had featured. It was pretty tasty. I was a bit concerned that the pickier family members weren't going to like it, but they must have because the whole bowl was gone. With the abundance of both watermelons and tomatoes at farmers' markets around here this year, I think this will be making frequent appearances.

[tupac17616]

French food magazines this summer are full of tomato-watermelon gazpacho, and similar dishes.  I have to admit that it sounds repulsive to me so I haven't yet tried it.

←

Fear not, Abra, it's really good! Get a nice olive oil, maybe some sherry vinegar. Mmm.

[Abra]

Ok, I guess I'll give it a try, however reluctant I may be.

[Katie Meadow]

Saveur had it's cover article on watermelon this month. I made a variation the watermelon-tomato salad they had featured. It was pretty tasty. I was a bit concerned that the pickier family members weren't going to like it, but they must have because the whole bowl was gone. With the abundance of both watermelons and tomatoes at farmers' markets around here this year, I think this will be making frequent appearances.

←

Emily, how was the Saveur/your salad dressed?

[emilyr]

Saveur had it's cover article on watermelon this month. I made a variation the watermelon-tomato salad they had featured. It was pretty tasty. I was a bit concerned that the pickier family members weren't going to like it, but they must have because the whole bowl was gone. With the abundance of both watermelons and tomatoes at farmers' markets around here this year, I think this will be making frequent appearances.

←

Emily, how was the Saveur/your salad dressed?

←

Here's the Saveur recipe. I just did oil, cider vinegar, cayenne, S and P, and I added dried ginger. I didn't see the recipe til after I went to the store, so this weekend, I'm going to try it the "right" way, but we liked it my way too; I think the mint and basil will be a refreshing addition.

I used golden grape tomatoes and a sugar baby (I think) watermelon.

[racheld]

I had a similar salad just this past weekend and it was delicious.

It was comprised of honeydew melon, red grape tomatoes, yellow heirloom, red onion, mint and dressed with a simple olive oil, sea salt and balsamic vinegar.

The honeydew was a little on the firm ,almost crunchy side, very similar to a cucumber in flavor and added a sweetness to the salad. No cayenne was present, but I imagine that that would have added nicely to the dish.

[Katie Meadow]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I tried the tomato watermelon salad tonight in the most minimalist incarnation I could imagine. We were having a very simply dinner of rattlesnake beans and rice with roasted poblano chiles, so I hit on the idea of making the salad Mexican style by using lime juice instead of vinegar. I had mint and no basil, so I went with mint, and barely a drizzle of olive oil. It was really good. I kept thinking I wasn't sure about it, but then a large platter of it disappeared in the first 60 seconds. The watermelon was a particularly good, sweet one.

If we had been eating the salad with blander food I might have shaken a little ground red chile or cayenne on. Next I am going to try it with basil. Thai basil might work well too, alongside an Asian dish. I think this salad benefits from contrasting colors: red tomatoes with yellow watermelon or orange tomatoes with red watermelon. Yummy.

[Sif]

When I can get fresh abricots, I love to put them in a tomato salad with a EVOO/vinegar dressing with some agave nectar and salt. And rucola.