I don’t want to whine but it’s a tad hot in Israel in the summer and it makes me feel claustrophobic, lethargic and not in the mood to cook. There is one good thing about the heat, my herbs love it and they grow vibrantly all over the front yard and whenever I brush up against them the lazy air fills with saturated scents. I am not into alternative medicine, but I’d like to believe in aromatherapy and the power of herbal tea, with their relaxing or uplifting aromas. Most of all, summer is the best time to prepare tomato salad, so simple, fresh and sensual.
I have many tomato memories and I think the first was when I was about five and saw my grandfather’s big, red, shiny tomatoes freshly picked from his garden. He ate them sliced thickly and sprinkled with salt and sun. Much later, when I was an undergrad I worked in a lab doing tomato quality checks, measuring acidity, sugar content and arranging taste tests in red lit rooms. For my Msc I studied Micro Tom tomatoes, a miniature tomato plant (3-4 inches tall) which is now being used as a plant model system, much like arabidopsis.
Next came a more enjoyable time of growing my own tomatoes in the backyard without midterms and final exams, best of all having my boys help me with the gardening. The first time our tomatoes flowered, my eldest son was about six and he ran breathless to me and yelled,
“You have to come, you have to come! You have to come to see this!”
I thought something bad happened and dropped everything and ran after my son down the steps, across the house and into the garden where he stooped next to a little tomato plant and said,
“Look! it has a flower!”
Tomato Salad
I did not add exact measurements, what is important in this recipe is the freshness of the ingredients.
Tomatoes, such as cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped
Goat feta cheese, crumbled
A few leaves of basil
Fresh za’atar
Onion, minced
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Black pepper
Combine the tomatoes basil and fresh za’atar, drizzle with olive oil. Add a teaspoon or two of vinegar and mix. Add the feta cheese and black pepper.
I also make this with mozzarella, in which case I add a bit of salt. Serve with crusty bread or toasted bread with olive oil.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Beautiful salad. We grew our first tomato plants last year and my boys couldn’t get enough of them, eating them right off the vine. I was pretty excited about it myself.
fantastic pics – my sensory memory is helping me conjure up the freshness that I see. thanks for sharing your garden bounty
This salad amazing, you did beautiful job!
xx
I just bought a tomato plant for my little indoor windowsill garden and am watching excitedly as the yellow blossoms dry and drop off, leaving bulbous green orbs that are ripening into grape tomatoes! What a nice Middle Eastern version of a caprese salad and gorgeous pics!
Wow – I’m a tomato freak and this looks great. Would dried za’atar work in the salad? That’s the only kind we can get here (it’s in a plastic bag).
thanks for your comments.
Abigail, I love za’atar spice mix and use it often in salads. I also toast open pita bread with zaátar and olive oil until crisp and serve it together with fresh salads