Tomato Salads

[victornet]

I like to cut the tomatoes (in 1/2 if grape or cherry, in similar bite size pieces if not) and salt them in a bowl, letting them sit and lose some water which I drain before dressing. I mix them with lots of arugula, and dress just before serving with :

1 part sherry vinegar, 1 part red wine vineger, 2 parts very good olive oil, pepper, garlic, salt.

I imagine some people would use a greater percentage of oil to vinegar, but 1 to 1 is good for my family.

[Jaymes]

This isn't a salad but it's one of my very favorite summertime recipes using tomatoes.

You make it in a glass bowl with a glass lid, so that the sun shines down into the dish and bakes the recipe. I've never tried it in a different kind of container, but I did make it once in the winter, in a very slow oven, but it was not the same.

Sunshine Puttanesca

2 cups good quality strong EVOO

1 tube anchovy paste

1 bulb garlic, cloves peeled, mashed, minced

1 1/2 C pitted good quality fresh black Mediterrean olives (NOT California canned ones)

3 cups good tomatoes (or more to taste) - use cherry or roma if you can't get really good fresh garden tomatoes

1/4 C capers

2 bunches fresh basil, sliced coarsely

1 box small shell pasta

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Salt & freshly-cracked black pepper to taste

Loaf of Italian bread to accompany

In a glass dish with a glass lid, combine EVOO, anchovy paste and garlic, mashing garlic and stirring until paste is well combined with oil.

Squeeze and smush olives with your fingers to bring out the flavor and add them to oil mixture.

If you're using large tomatoes, core and remove water, then chop tomatoes and add. If you're using cherry tomatoes, just slice into halves and add.

Add capers and basil and toss well to combine.

Now, put lid on and set this out into the bright summer sunshine and allow to "cook" for 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally.

Cook pasta according to package directions and drain well.

Pour your Sunshine Puttanesca Sauce over your pasta and toss well. Correct seasonings. Sprinkle cheese over and serve with pieces of bread to sop up the unbelievably delicious sauce.

Note - bread is not "optional" with this dish. This sauce is strong and heady and you NEED the bread with it.

Edited August 18, 2003 by Jaymes (log)

[coughy]

I grilled chicken breasts tonight and topped them with chopped garden tomatoes, red onion and fresh parsely that I drizzled with EVOO and lemon juice, salt and pepper. There weren't any leftovers.

[marie-louise]

Lots more great ideas for tomato salads in today's Washington Post.

[Citryphus]

Consider adding some fennel. I think it goes really well with tomaotes, cucumbers, etc.

[smithi]

My mom has been making this for years and it's quite different from olive oil based tomato salads.

Add slivered red onions to your tomatoes which have been cut into wedges. Add sour cream, and a bit of white vinegar and salt to taste. Mix. (The juice from the tomatoes will slightly thin out the sour cream)

It's surprisingly delicious, different and extremely simple.

[canadiancook]

Hi all. This is my first post.

This is one my sicilian family makes as a standard everyday type of salad for summertime:

tomatos

cucumber

fennel

onion

small amount of minced garlic

dress with roughly equal parts evoo and red wine vinegar (to your taste)

salt and pepper to taste

The remaining dressing at the bottom of the bowl is great to mop up with some crusty bread or to use as a vinegraitte over accompanying grilled meat and fish dishes.

[wgallois]

An interesting addition to the tomato/cucumber/feta/EVOO salads mentioned above is to also include black onion seeds/nigella.

[Basilgirl]

Marcella's tomato salad - smash garlic, let sit with red wine vinegar and salt. Add tomatoes. She peels. Ugh. I add olive oil and pepper. Fresh mozzarella and basil. S.O. eats the garlic.

[kel]

Add avocadoes.

That's what I was going to say. The other night I made a delicious salad of tomatoes and avocado with a shallot vinaigrette. Simple, quick, and the avocado makes a real difference in flavor. But then, I looooove avocado, so I'll put in/on almost anything!

[Jaymes]

Hi all.  This is my first post. 

Welcome! And your salad looks delicious.

Thanks.

[Wolfert]

Marcella's tomato salad - smash garlic, let sit with red wine vinegar and salt. Add tomatoes. She peels. Ugh.

Try Messermeister's serrated vegetable peeler. It is my "new" fav kitchen tool for fast peeling tomatoes and peppers.

Edited September 3, 2003 by Wolfert (log)

[Chef Fowke]

I agree with all the posts on this site and the recipes sound great...

But the best tomato salad is made with tomatoes you pick from your own backyard when they are full and red and about to fall off the vine. A little fresh basil and some 30 year old balsamic (sea salt and ground pepper).

The tomato is the perfect food and does not need to be fooled with. At its perfection it is the king of culinary.

[bloviatrix]

While I agree with the Chef that the best tomatoes are those just picked from the vine and still warm from the sun, I'd like to remind him that not all of us are so blessed (we had a neighbor who tried to grow tomatoes in front of our apartment building two years ago -- it didn't work).

This weekend I took a variety of cherry tomatoes (about 2 pints worth), chopped garlic and oregano and tossed with EVOO, sea salt and pepper. Popped it in a 400 degree oven for about 35 minutes. It was heavenly. But even better was when it was cold. I took a slice of bread and coated it with some of the juices and tomatoes - like a bruscetta. The flavors came together so well. I was sad to see the bottom of the bowl.

[Rachel Perlow]

The last couple of tomato salads I made were incredibly simple. We got these fabo heirloom tomatoes from a Farmers Market, it seemed a shame to adulterate them, even with basil. So, sliced up tomato into wedges (this was a big knobby specimen), sprinkled with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, stir, a couple glugs of EVOO, stir. Allow to mascerate while the rest of dinner is gotten together.

You can see the quartered mixed grape tomato version of this in Jason's latest picture on the dinner thread.

[Chef Fowke]

While I agree with the Chef that the best tomatoes are those just picked from the vine and still warm from the sun, I'd like to remind him that not all of us are so blessed (we had a neighbor who tried to grow tomatoes in front of our apartment building two years ago -- it didn't work). 

This weekend I took a variety of cherry tomatoes (about 2 pints worth), chopped garlic and oregano and tossed with EVOO, sea salt and pepper.  Popped it in a 400 degree oven for about 35 minutes.  It was heavenly.  But even better was when it was cold.  I took a slice of bread and coated it with some of the juices and tomatoes - like a bruscetta.  The flavors came together so well. I was sad to see the bottom of the bowl.

I apologize...

You are right, not everyone can grow there own tomatoes and the local farmer's markets offer a superior product to what the average person could grow at home.

I guess what I meant to say was any tomato salad is great as long as you use the best tomatoes available! Use the field tomatoes in the summer/fall and switch to the Hot House tomatoes in the winter. We should all avoid those awful winter tomatoes that are shipped thousands of miles green and artificially ripened at the last minute for the consumer (purely for appearance, not flavour).