Summer Cherry Tomato Salad Recipe

Here’s a great summer salad recipe for all the lovely cherry tomatoes that are soon to appear in fresh markets, or better yet, if you’ve been energetic - in back yard gardens!

This is not really a salad to be made with anything other than ripe seasonal tomatoes –it’s just not the same made with tomatoes grown elsewhere, picked under-ripe and trucked long miles to your supermarket – you need to taste that local sunshine!

The key to this salad is, unfortunately, patience. This tastes much much better if you have the foresight and discipline to wait at least an hour before eating.

Summer Cherry Tomato Salad

• 1 lb of ripe cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
• ¼ cup of fresh basil, chopped into strips
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• Salt and freshly cracked pepper to tastes
• 1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
• 2 Tbls of red wine vinegar
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic and a little salt and fresh pepper into an emulsified vinaigrette.
2. Put the tomatoes, onions and basil in a bowl and pour the dressing over to coat. Transfer to the fridge to marinate for at least an hour or for as many as a few hours.
3. Once ready to eat (chilled and marinated) taste for seasoning and add as much salt and freshly cracked pepper as is needed.
4. Transfer to a serving bowl (if desired) and sprinkle a little more chopped fgresh basil on top for garnish.

A great taste of summer!

Variations

This can be made into a heartier – whole meal – kind of salad by adding cubes of fresh mozzarella or crumbled feta cheese to the salad at serving time.

You can, of course, make this salad with tomatoes other than cherry tomatoes, so long as you cut larger tomatoes into buts sized pieces first.