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More flavorful tomato salads

15 years ago

I learned this from an article in Cook's Country. In order for dressings to enhance and not drown out the tomatoes, first rid the tomatoes of some of their excess moisture. How? Cut tomato into wedges, spread on paper towels, and sprinkle with salt. After 15 minutes, the tomatoes will purge themselves of excess liquid and be ready for more bold dressings that won't end up on the bottom of the salad bowl. Here's a quick recipe: toss 1 1/2 pounds of tomatoes with one can of drained cannelini beans, 2 TAB olive oil, 1 TAB balsamic vinegar, 1 mashed garlic clove and 2 tsp. fresh rosemary. You can add pine nuts and some torn basil too. Black pepper of course.

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Comments (4)

aclum
15 years ago
Hi aulani,

Sounds like a good recipe. Will have to try it sometime. I just threw together a tomato salad from the garden using Dona Hybrid, Sprite, Black Cherry, and Sweet Quartz tomatoes (which didn't have alot of juice) along with a diced Roumanian Rainbow Sweet Pepper and Basil from the garden. Added store bought cubed Monterey Jack cheese (would have used feta if I'd had it), a bit of diced sweet red onion and some pitted kalamata olives. Dressed it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I've got a thread on "Whole Hog" about cuts for processing, and as I was about to add some ground sea salt to my salad, it occurred to me that instead of salt, homemade pork cracklings or bacon chunks would be a great addition to the salad.

Hope I'm not hijacking your thread. I think it's a great idea you posted about using juicer tomatoes in salads.

Anne
morz8 - Washington Coast
15 years ago
Aulani, I've never done the salt/paper towel thing with tomato but may try it. I have done it with zucchini that I'm adding to an au gratin or casserole...works there too.

Love tomato salads :)
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momotaro, that was very fascinating. And we think we have crazy TV shows! Thanks for posting. Don't know why they seemed to be making the correlation that the bees were increasing sweetness. Bumblebees are used all the time in greenhouses that are growing tomatoes to increase pollination in an enclosed environment that has limited airflow. So that is nothing unusual. I have read of withholding water to increase tomato solubles while growing processing tomatoes --called I believe a type of 'dry culture' but I can't find the link. We know that too much water prior to harvesting make a tomato bland and tasteless. This Japanese grower has just carried it to the nth degree. Looked up nigari--magnesium chloride plus trace minerals. Derived from processing sea salt. It wasn't a small operation--I presume they have done comparison studies. Growing with and without sort of thing. momotaro, those tomatoes looked like your namesake. Momotaros, according to Tomato Growers Supply Co. is the most popular tomato in Japan. His method just 'shrunk' their size. It is my favorite tomato just grown 'normally'-as it is very sweet. Wouldn't hurt to cut back on the watering abit prior to harvesting but I really wouldn't want to grow them to that smaller size.
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joybugaloo
15 years ago
Aulani, thanks for this recipe. Inspired by your post, I decided to throw just such a salad together tonight on the spur of the moment. I doubled the garlic, used a handful of basil instead of rosemary, and also added about a quarter cup of shredded parmesan. And then I served it on top of a grilled, spice-rubbed ribeye. DELISH!

Thanks again--Gina

Here is a link that might be useful: Lindsey's Luscious (my food blog)
aulani
Original Author
15 years ago
Wow, Gina, sounds absolutely wonderful! I especially like the idea doubling the garlic. Can't have enough of that.

I've done similar, but used mozzarella instead of parmesan in a salad called caprece. Love it.

Good idea to use the salt idea on zucchini too. I think anytime you can remove excess water from a vegetable, you intensify the flavor of the vegetable itself. Look at what it does for eggplant.

Anne, I loved hearing about your recipe too. So many kinds of tomatoes make a lovely looking salad. I can't wait for my purple Cherokees to begin producing. Lots of green ones on there now.

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