Good morning GUSmatoes! I'm grabbing this open time in order to respond to GDbot's having a mazillion cherry tomatoes. This recipe is also from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi -- both the book and the chef are currently my obsession. When I first received this book, I randomly opened it and there was the most gorgeous two page spread of a tomato salad which utilized different colored heritage tomatoes. That was in April -- and I've been dying to make it for months. I have friends who have a zillion heritage tomatoes.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can actually use any tomatoes that are home grown. It is the flavor, after all. But if you have more colors or varying breeds, it will be even more fun.
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What I truly love about this cookbook -- other than the recipes and gorgeous pictures -- is the short paragraph prior to each recipe. Always educational. I tried to grab a picture from Amazon's "Look Inside" feature but it doesn't work. Soooo, if you are curious as to how gorgeous this salad looks, click on this Amazon "Plenty" link, then, click the "Look Inside" feature. Then scroll down the table of contents and go to page 131, Tomato Party. Then, go to the next two pages which have the pictures. Imagine what that looks like in a two page spread -- the colors are amazing.
Tomato Party
The purpose of this salad is to make use of as many as possible of the infinite types of tomatoes that are available now. Some I cook a little, others more, and some I leave completely raw, to maximize the "tomatoey" effect with diverse flavors and textures. Choose whatever tomato selection you can get; the one below is just a suggestion.
Instead of the Sardinian fregola (available from kalustyans.com) you can use Arab mograbiah (from Middle Eastern grocers) or Israeli couscous. [The fregola and substitutes are larger and rounder than regular couscous -- it provides an added texture. You'll see it in the picture]
Serves 4
Ingredients:
3/4 cup couscous
salt
olive oil
2/3 cup boiling water
1 cup fregola
3 medium vine ripened tomatoes, quartered
3/4 tsp brown sugar
black pepper
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 cup yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp roughly chopped oregano
2 tbsp roughly chopped tarragon
3 tbsp roughly chopped mint
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 small green tomato, cut into thin wedges
3/4 red cehrry tomatoes halved
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Put the couscous in a bowl with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of oil. Pour over the boiling water, stir and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set aside for 12 minutes, then remove the plastic wrap. Separate the grains with a fork and leave to cool.
Place the fregola in a pan of boiling salted water and simmer for 18 minutes, or until al dente. Drain in a colander and rinse under clold running water. Leave to dry completely.
Meanwhile, spread the quartered vine tomatoes over half of a large baking pan and sprinkle the sugar and some alt and pepper. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar and some oil over the top. Place in the oven. After about 20 minutes remove from the oven and increase the temperature to 400 degrees. On the empty side of the baking pan, spread the yellow tomatoes. Season them with salt and pepper and drizzle some oil. Return to the oven and roast for 12 minutes. Remove the tomatoes and allow to cool down.
Mix together the couscous and fregola in a large bowl. Add the herbs, garlic, cooked tomatoes with all their juices, the green tomato and cherry tomatoes. Very gently mix together using your hands. Taste for seasoning. You might need to add salt, pepper and some olive oil.
And, of course, if you don't want to go with something complicated, there's always salsa!! From the same cookbook:
Salsa
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 green onions thinly sliced
5 medium tomatoes, diced -- or comparable amount of cherry tomatoes
1 garlic clove crushed
1 mild fresh red chile, finely diced
1 bunch of cilantro (leaves and stalks) finely chopped plus extra leaves to garnish
3/4 tsp salt
juice of 1/2 lime
2 ripe medium avocados, diced.
First, soak the red onion in the vinegar in a large bowl for a few minutes. Then add all of the other ingredients and stir well.
Easy peasy
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