Monday, June 28, 2010

Summer Salad



I am taking a break from Spain updates (though check back later to read about delicious Andalucia!) in order to celebrate the wonderful bounty of Summer produce. There's nothing I don't love about Summer: it has berries and grilling and vacations and warm, dusky evenings (if not in San Francsico, at least somewhere)... Some like to say that California has no seasons, but if that's true, then why can't it be like this all year long?

Steve and I have begun going to the Ferry Building farmer's market semi-regularly on Saturdays to buy produce, enjoy free samples, and indulge in a late-morning glass of wine. And that is where these beautiful, beautiful heirloom tomatoes came from.


I know that tomato salads have the simplest recipe in the world: Slice tomatoes. Slice mozzarella. Put on plate. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic. Salt to taste. But for this one, I tried to implement a few tips from Jamie Oliver's repetoir, beginning with mildly dehydrating the tomatoes. That is, after the tomatoes are sliced or chopped, put them into a colander and salt generously. This adds the nice salty finish that you'll eventually want on the salad anyway, and it draws out the extra water, resulting in a more concentrated and intense tomato flavor.


I also diced and added in one mild chile pepper (the red ones I wanted were out of season; thus, I went with green), most of which was tossed with some olive oil and chopped basil and into the tomatoes. Some of the diced pepper was kept aside to garnish the mozzarella rounds.


Dish up and drizzle with balsamic... The prettiest summer salad you've ever seen!



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