My Ultimate Tomato Salad

In my humble opinion, the tomato is the perfect food. Don’t @ me, I stand by that statement and I have loved tomatoes since I was old enough to eat solid foods. They are full of nutrients and are delicious in any form, sundried, raw right off the vine, sliced on a sandwich, stewed, roasted, sauced, in soup form, in salsa, as ketchup…I mean the list is endless. I may just be the biggest tomato fan in the entire world…no exaggeration.

My dad used to grow tomatoes in his garden when we were kids and when I was old enough and out of the house, the first thing I wanted to grow every summer was tomatoes. I am refining my growing practices with them and we are just starting to benefit from the fruits of our labor this summer, pun intended! The first thing I always do is make this tomato salad and it is honestly the easiest thing to throw together and is perfect to use as a side dish or serve with toasted bread as an appetizer on a hot summer night. The inspiration came from my favorite British chef, Jamie Oliver whose show Jamie at Home has only enhanced my love of gardening and growing my own food! I think I’ve seen every episode of both seasons at least 20 times!

I understand (not really) that there are tomato haters out there and this recipe is probably not for you but if you love tomatoes as I do, this is the perfect way to honor this summertime garden staple. There is nothing like the taste of a tomato that you have grown yourself. If you are thinking of growing your own food, I highly recommend trying tomatoes. You can grow them in any size garden you have. We grow them in raised beds, in the ground, and I always have one in a pot. This recipe enhances the taste of a homegrown tomato beautifully and I may be biased but I could eat this salad by the bucket full! I hope you enjoy it and let me know in the comments or over on Instagram if you try it!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups tomatoes, cut into bite size pieces
• Salt
• 1 TBSP chopped fresh basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 clove garlic, grated
• 1 small chilli pepper, grated (optional, have more, have none…you do you)
• 3 TBSP olive oil, more if needed…or wanted because who doesn’t love olive oil and tomatoes?!
• 1 TBSP white wine vinegar, more if needed
• more salt to taste

I should preface this that most of the time I don’t measure, you are welcome to add or take away whatever you want. I added two of these small chillis because we have a whole plant full of them and we like a little spice. I used two types of basil because that is what we are growing. One is a regular Genovese basil which is usually what you can pick up from the store and the other kind is called pesto basil…it is delicious! I think these measurements will give you a pretty great product!

1. Once the tomatoes are chopped, add them to a bowl and sprinkle a few good pinches of salt and stir. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes. The salt will draw out some of the moisture and I drain that extra moisture before adding all of the other ingredients.
2. Add in all of the ingredients and stir to combine. You can serve right away or let it marinate covered in the refrigerator for a while. That is literally it!