Tomato Salad

It's summer -- and for me, that always means tomato salad and lots of it! The thought of fresh picked, Jersey tomatoes in July and August always makes my mouth water. Below is a very basic recipe for tomato salad, and then I suggest some variations to dress it up and/or make it more substantial. We usually eat tomato salad as a side-dish, but there's no reason that a big tomato salad, when accompanied with fresh, crusty Italian bread, can't make a full meal!

2 large tomatoes
1/4 red onion, cut into small, thin slices
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 -3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper

Cut the tomato into bit-sized chunks, and then simply toss everything together. Let it sit for about 30 minutes before you serve, so the salt will release some of the tomatoes' juices, and don't refrigerate -- tomatoes are so much better served at room temperature, and chilling them, can tend to make the tomatoes mealy.

If you like, you could add olives or capers to this salad as well.

If you happen to have some day-or-two day old left-over bread, cut it into cubes, and lightly toast it. When cooled, toss it into the salad, and let it absorb the oil and tomato juices -- this is called panzanella and is an old-fashioned Italian way of making sure that old tomatoes and old bread didn't go to waste.

Of course, cubes of fresh mozzarella cheese go beautifully with any tomato salad. And you could add grilled chicken or shrimp to this recipe and make a more substantial meal salad as well.

Mangia!