Italian Tomato Salad

This salad is truly the taste of summer. It’s only possible to create when you can find the most incredible heirloom tomatoes at the local farmers markets from July until late September- sometimes well into the fall on a good year. I ate these salads all summer, often from tomatoes picked fresh from the garden! It is the perfect compliment to any sandwich, meat or fish and delightfully refreshing on a hot day.

Take four pounds of heirloom tomatoes slice them in half and cut out the hard white core, and slice into bite sized crescents. Add one banana pepper thinly sliced, and one small spring onion very thinly sliced (or half a very small red onion) you’ll want it to yield about 1/4 cup. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano, a good pinch of Calabrian chili and three teaspoons of salt- I use about 3/4 teaspoon of salt per pound of tomatoes to start, when you taste for seasoning at the end, do not be afraid to add more salt if you feel it’s lacking flavor, tomatoes are immensely greedy for salt- and lots of black pepper to taste. Start with about 1/4 cup of very good olive oil and add a fistful of basil either chiffonade or shredded by hand. Stir very gently but copiously to incorporate all flavors evenly. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately. Be sure to have some good crusty bread on hand for the juice left from the tomatoes, it is the best part of the salad and should not be wasted!

You can successfully store the leftovers in the refrigerator in the warmest spot in your refrigerator for a night but no more than that. 

Note* It is important to mention that this dish should only be prepared if the tomatoes are bought fresh from a local provider or farm somewhere nearby. Greenhouse grown tomatoes from the grocery store are a poor and disappointing substitute. While they have their uses, this salad is not one of them.