Tomato salad
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Instructions
Tips
As cutting tomatoes can be a bit of a challenge due to their smooth skin being slippery and them releasing quite a lot of liquid once they are cut open, you might be wondering how to cut tomatoes for salad the right way. The answer is with a serrated knife. If you use one of these when slicing tomatoes for a salad, it becomes much easier and less dangerous as the knife is less likely to slip.
Tips
While this type of knife is usually used to cut things like bread, the tooth-like edge of a serrated knife makes it easy to cut or 'saw' through a tomato without having to squish it as you apply pressure to penetrate the skin.
Questions about tomato salad
With our easy tomato salad recipe, you can make a colourful and flavour-packed side salad with homemade balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing in no time. To learn more about the delicious salad cheese, olive, red onion, and tomato salad, read our answers to some of the most frequently asked questions below.
Ingredients
Tomato salad:
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Big tomatoes, sliced
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4 |
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Red onion, in thin slices
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1 |
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White cheese cubes
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200 g |
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Black olives with stones
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50 g |
Dressing:
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Olive oil
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1 tbsp |
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Dark balsamic vinegar
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1 tbsp |
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Sugar
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1 tsp |
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Coarse salt
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½ tsp |
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Freshly churned pepper
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Garnish:
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Fresh basil leaves
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Tomato salad with onion, olives, and salad cheese
Made with delicious fresh tomatoes, red onion, black olives, and salad cheese, this salad is packed with colour as well as flavour. It is a true classic perfect as a side dish to, for example, grilled meat or a starter arranged on plates.
The tomatoes have a balanced taste that is sweet, tart, and tangy at the same time, while the black olives add a decadent richness as well as a bit of saltiness. The bite of the raw red onions cuts through these flavours and binds the whole recipe together to create a cohesive eating experience that hits every mark.
Salad cheese for a salty touch
The addition of white salad cheese elevates this Greek-inspired olive oil and balsamic tomato salad. The saltiness that the soft and mild cheese introduces mirrors that of the black olives and helps make the sweet and tangy flavour of the fresh tomatoes pop. In addition, it adds a delicious texture complementing the soft juicy tomatoes, chewy olives, and crunchy red onions. Try making your tomato salad with cheese to enjoy this delicious combination of flavours.
Make a flavourful balsamic and olive oil dressing
The delicious balsamic vinegar olive oil dressing, as well as the lack of cucumbers and green peppers, is what sets this Greek-inspired tomato and cheese salad apart from the classic Greek salad.
The vinaigrette made from olive oil and balsamic vinegar is a staple in Greek cuisine and with good cause. It is a bold dressing for tomato salad made with equal parts olive oil and balsamic vinegar, yielding a rich and complex flavour with an understated tartness as well as woody, smoky, and sweet undertones.
If you have been wondering what to serve with tomato salad when you are using it as a side dish, we have some ideas. We suggest serving the fresh and flavourful salad with different dishes like an Italian lasagne or a French quiche Lorraine or pairing it with meat like a tender oven-fried chicken flavoured with lemon and garlic or lamb chops with parsley and garlic.
Experiment with the recipe
Because the best tomato salad is as simple as it is good, you will want to mix up the look and feel of it without changing the overall flavour profile too much.
You could try using a mix of different tomatoes in terms of shape, size, and colour. A mix of red and yellow tomatoes, for instance, looks stunning with the bright green basil leaves, and the yellow tomatoes bring a bit more sweetness to the salad. The more oblong plum tomatoes, also sometimes called Roma tomatoes, will also add more sweet notes, and make your salad chewier as they have a meatier consistency.
You may also like to change up the simple vinaigrette slightly by adding a bit of Dijon mustard for a little tang and some honey for sweetness and balance. These additions make the tomato salad dressing slightly more complex and pronounced without altering the classic flavour profile too much.
