Tomato Salad

Here is a recipe for one of the tastiest tomato salads around and easy to make. I recommend honey tomatoes as they are sweet, juicy and totally yummy. If you can’t find them, cherry tomatoes also work well with this salad. The ideal tomato for this salad is sweet and very ripe!

What you need:

• One handful of red honey tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
• One handful of golden honey tomatoes or golden cherry tomatoes
• Two cloves of garlic – grated
• Handful of sweet basil leaves (Italian not Thai)
• A very generous pouring of good quality extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt (Available at Cold Storage or at Supermarkets)
• Black pepper

This salad can be prepared in under 10 minutes, from worktop to table. It can also be made a few hours ahead, if you do this and place the salad in the fridge make sure to serve it at room temperature – not cold.
The quality of the extra virgin olive oil is very important, and the olive oils does lend a lot to the salad in terms of taste. There are some great Italian and Spanish olive oils available, try to chose an olive oil that is rich in colour and looks thick in the bottle – do not go for a pale and watery version for this salad. The olive oil I use has a greenish tone, a rich and slightly peppery taste and smells delicious.

Method

• Wash the tomatoes and chop in half the larger ones, no need to chop all of them up! Wash and roughly chop the basil – do not include the stems, mainly for aesthetic purposes. Place into bowl with the tomatoes, peel and grate the two clove of garlic and add.
• Next pour over a generous amount of the olive oil, this is not an exact science and is best judged by eye. Make sure the tomatoes are coated, so the whole bowl of tomato salad is glistening with the oil. Glistening, but not drowning in it!
• Finally sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and the sea salt. Have a little taste and add more as required.

This is a salad that works really well as a side dish or as a stand-alone meal. For a side dish you could pair it with grilled chicken or fish. Enjoy!