All- so sorry about the delay over here! Thanks to a lovely ticket I received this weekend, I had to get my car inspected this morning. Oh the anger. Anyway, moving on! I’m very excited to announce we have a winner for last week’s giveaway. Lisa of Karma Per Diem- congrats! Please email your address to so I can get this fabulous prize to you. Thanks again to all who participated, I loved reading all of your delicious sandwich combinations.
Now- on to salad. A few weeks back I wrote a detailed post about how to make my salad dressing. For this salad, forget that. The magic of this salad is that the ingredients, when mixed together, actually make the dressing themselves. Yes you still use olive oil and vinegar, but everything is mixed into one bowl- no making a separate dressing. For someone who makes salad dressing almost every night of the week, this is a welcome change!
Here’s the breakdown: heirloom tomatoes, an English cucumber, some olives and salty feta, get tossed with a bit of olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Then you let the salad sit. As it sits, the vinegar releases the juices in the tomatoes. As the juice mixes with the feta, it creates this incredible almost creamy-like feta vinaigrette. It’s downright addictive.
The thing is, you need really good heirloom tomatoes to make this salad happen. Tomato season will soon come to a close, so I urge you, grab what’s left at your local farmer’s market and make this one this week. Another word of advice, never store your tomatoes in the fridge. Yes, never! The cold makes them lose their flavor, so keep them in a bowl on your counter top. And that goes for any type of tomato- not just heirloom. Got it? Cool.
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Feta Vinaigrette
Serves 4
2 large or 3 medium heirloom tomatoes, cut into large chunks
1/2 and English cucumber, diced
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup chopped olives
5 T olive oil
3 T red wine vinegar
s+p
Place the tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives in a large bowl. Place the feta cheese on top. Pour the olive oil and vinegar over the salad, and sprinkle on a large pinch of salt and several grinds black pepper. Toss the salad gently, so as not to bread up the tomatoes. Let sit at room temp for one hour. After one hour, taste for seasoning (you may need a little more salt or vinegar). Serve immediately. Salad can be stored in the fridge for up to two days, but it’s really best eaten the day of.
That looks so good! I think I’m going to have to try it, but I’m not a fan of cucumbers. What could be used in substitution, say, zucchinis?
My mom makes a delicious tomato mozzarella salad similar to this – with tomatoes {I can’t remember if there’s a particular preference, but I don’t think she uses heirloom}, mozzarella, olive oil, and a bit of oregano and basil.
P.S. Congrats, Lisa!
Yep, you could definitely put in zucchini instead of cucumber. Or you could just do tomatoes! I do that occasionally too, especially when I have a ton of tomatoes to use up.
This is one of my summer staples too. I like the idea of green olives, though.
Glad you can relate! Yeah I normally use Kalamata, but only had picholine on hand today. Still tasted wonderful though.
Looks delicious, Clara! I hope to try this recipe soon.
Thanks, Karen! You’ll have to let me know how it goes.
Simple, yet beautiful salad! At first, I thought it was a watermelon salad
Ha, you’re right, Jackie! I didn’t even realize that.
This looks devine! I love the combination of veggies with feta. Great pictures too!
Thank you!