Recipe: Tomato Salad

On a recent visit to Linvilla Orchards in Delaware county, I perused the farm market and was caught by an unusual tomato salad in the refrigerated section. It's not salsa, but a similar, Italian-style "salad" that you eat with a fork. It was so freaking delicious that I had to try and crack the code, and I must say, I came damn close.

It's the perfect recipe for the end of tomato season, when you've got a bowl of fresh picked garden tomatoes just laying around; not to mention the fact that it's too hot to cook them down for hours into a marinara.

Fresh Tomato Salad (a la Linvilla Orchards):
12 small-medium garden-fresh tomatoes
1 medium sweet onion
1 cup fresh basil (chiffonade)
12 cloves garlic
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. black pepper
3/4 Tbsp. dried oregano
3/4 Tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp. salt

Slice the tomatoes into fork-friendly slivers.

And begin your ingredient pile in a large mixing bowl.

Half the onion lengthwise and slice into like-sized slivers.

Toss on.

Chiffonade your fresh basil by gently rolling the picked leaves and slicing into thin slivers.

Toss on.

Mince your garlic. I didn't use a press here because I didn't want to pulverize the meat of it, mincing kept the sharp bite and didn't let the garlic flavor overpower the finished mixture.

Now add the remaining ingredients: spices, oil & vinegar.

Gently toss the ingredients to combine, be careful not to crush anything, you want the tomatoes to stay in tact, but be sure to mix very thoroughly.

Cover and refrigerate over night. Serve cool with bread or a fork and enjoy!

-Posted by gabulous