About a month ago, I did something that was both exciting and a little scary. I gave my very first solo cooking demonstration. Normally, when I make food in front of people, I have Scott standing right there, prepared to jump in with a quick quip or ask a question that will keep me talking. To add to the difficulty of the day, I didn't know what I would be making until I got there. The event was sponsored by The Food Trust for Buy Fresh, Buy Local Week and so what they did was drop off a box of fresh produce and when I showed up, I had to figure out what to do with it.

The picture you see above was a bed of greens, topped by a marinated salad of green beans, halved grape tomatoes, onions, basil and goat cheese. Big thanks to Angie, for adding her gorgeous picture of that delicious salad to the Slashfood Flickr pool.

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.