My Favorite Tomato Salad

My mother is famous (at least in my house) for making giant tomato salads late in the summer. She uses the tomatoes from our garden, which are often taking over our countertop, douses them in oil and red wine vinegar, hefty shakes of dried Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Voila. That is the masterpiece in its finest. She serves it with a loaf of Italian bread, but of course, which provides the perfect mop for all of the delectable juices that are left at the bottom of your bowl. 

Me being me, couldn't not tweak this pretty much perfect recipe. I know, I know- you just shouldn't mess with your mother's recipes. But I did. And I daresay I like it even better (gasp!). I added in some minced garlic (because there can never be enough), and some fresh basil (because how could this make a tomato salad taste worse? That's right. It can't.) Fresh basil not pictured until last.

I gobbled this down alongside some spelt flatbreads that I made. However, I highly recommend getting yourself some crusty bread to soak up all of the wonderful tomato juices. Whatever you do- do not just eat the tomatoes out of the bowl and throw the juice away. If you don't have crusty bread on hand, you can always stir the juice into some rice or quinoa for a nice flavor ka-pow. This recipe still tastes delicious if you let it hang out in the fridge for a day or two. I enjoyed the leftovers the next night, pictured below.

This recipe is one to keep in your back pocket to whip out whenever the tomato salad fancy strikes (or when you can no longer see your counter due to ever-multiplying tomatoes). 

Thanks, Mom- for creating such a simple and mouth-watering recipe!

My Favorite Tomato Salad
Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 2 large tomatoes (~5 inches diameter), or equivalent
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4-1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, julienned 

Directions

1. Chop the tomatoes into bite-size chunks and place into bowl.
2. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Devour.