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One of the dishes I look forward to making when summer rolls around is the tomato salad you see above. It's nothing particularly special, just some chopped tomato (I use whatever I have on hand that is ripe, this time it was a bunch of sweet grape tomatoes) tossed with some roughly minced onion (I like red, but you can use whatever you have around) and some shredded basil. It gets dressed with salt, pepper and a glug of olive oil. And that's it.
The thing is that when you let this salad stand around for half an hour or so before serving, it becomes something far greater than just a collection of modest ingredients. The salt draws the liquid out of the tomatoes, which blends with the oil, creating a heavenly dressing. The basil softens and releases fragrant oils, which gently permeates the other ingredients. I can not possibly begin to describe how good it tastes.
Another nice thing about this salad, is that while it is wonderfully simple, it can also be elevated. Sometimes I'll add some cubed cucumber to it for added crunch, along with some small, halved mozzarella balls. It also takes to homemade croutons really nicely. If that's too much work for a simple meal, just grab a hunk of bread to mop of all the juices that will be left at the bottom of the bowl.
The one problem with this dish is that you can only make it during the summer, when tomatoes are ripe. It is bland and unexciting when made with those pale pink orbs that imitate tomatoes during the rest of the year. So do yourself a favor and make it when tomatoes are in season and your basil plant is growing like a weed. And enjoy a perfect summer dish.
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7-08-2008 @3:23PM Julie said... I have been making tomato onion salad every week for years for very special reasons....this story tells it all.
http://noshtalgia.blogspot.com/2008/01/tomatoes-299-lb-onions-99-lb-my-mothers.html
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7-15-2008 @10:32AM Michele said... Do you mean "transcendent"?
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7-08-2008 @6:25PM Barkin said... I do a similar salad using lemon-flavored olive oil. Delicious.
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7-08-2008 @8:48PM SmilynStef said... Sounds fabulous ... I love mine with a little feta ... or sometimes I add a few shrimp ... my favorite summer treat.
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7-08-2008 @8:49PM SmilynStef said... Sounds fabulous ... I love mine with a little feta ... or sometimes I add a few shrimp ... my favorite summer treat.
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7-09-2008 @12:51AM badfrog101 said... One of my Turkish friends made one of these with feta and a little bit of mint. Amazing.
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7-09-2008 @2:12AM Jonathan said... I like adding bits of mozzarella and drizzling a little bit of balsamic vinegar over everything.
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7-09-2008 @5:24PM kasey said... Yum! I just went and bought tomatoes after seeing this post.
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7-09-2008 @11:37AM matt a said... You are so right about letting it sit for a while. I do the same with my chickpea, tomato salad.
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