Tomato Salad Recipe with Warm Herb Oil Dressing
This is the tomato salad dish you need. Boring side salads move aside for the main event. We wouldn’t go as far as saying this is a show stopper but it does make you stop for a second, think, and be like damnnnn I’ve never had tomatoes like this before.
Drama aside, it is a lovely take on tomatoes and spruces up an ingredient you’d be so quick to dismiss. Considering this is 90% tomatoes more than anything else, you’ll be surprised at the flavour that is packed in this dish.
The warm dressing compliments the tomatoes wonderfully. Gently heating the herbs to enhance the flavour within and then topping onto the tomatoes infuses the flavour without losing the fresh pop. Again, this is something that is so simple to make, but you’ll be surprised at how tasty it is.
This is a great summer salad, perfect for BBQs, or even as a small plate dish. The great thing about this recipe, it fits in with loads of cuisines. Aside from the obvious Italian, it works great with middle eastern dishes too. Head over to our tips to see how we like to switch up this recipe – great if you have leftovers of this salad.
Tips
Why not try chopping all the ingredients up – inclusive of the tomatoes – to make a sauce of sorts, similar to our quick tomato sauce. Heat and break down to combine in pasta, or keep diced tomatoes fresh and turn this into the best bruschetta you’ve ever had! Yes, we back ourselves a lot.
We want to highlight that we peel the lemon and not zest it. Feel free to zest if you don’t want to put the effort into peeling, but following this allows you to keep control of the lemon flavour within the dish.
So in this recipe we’ve used fresh heritage tomatoes. A mix between red, orange and yellow tomatoes, ranging in sizes. It may sound silly to some, but the flavours you’ll get from using these types of tomatoes in just yum. Honest. You can taste the difference. That doesn’t mean you can’t use simple on the vine tomatoes though, the recipe works just as well.
| Prep Time | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 500 g mixed heritage tomatoes *
- 115 ml olive oil
- 2 shallots sliced
- 1 bunch basil leaves
- 1/4 bunch sage
- 1 lemon peel and juice
- sea salt
Ingredients
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- Prep your ingredients. Slice up your shallots, wash and chop your herbs.
- Pour your olive oil into a saucepan and allow to gently heat. When the oil is warm add in your shallots. We don’t want the oil to get hot that it fries the shallots, we just want to gently heat to bring out the flavours.
- Add your herbs and turn heat on low. We’re going to let the oil infuse with the other ingredients while we prep our tomatoes.
- Slice up all your tomatoes and distribute prettily onto a plate or bowl (alternatively chuck them in).
- Peel your lemon and save the rind for later - we have a handy tool (no not a peeler), but you can use a knife to cut a bit of the rind and then slice into thin strips. We don't need a lot. Then cut lemon in half and squeeze all of the juice on the tomatoes. Season with salt.
- Check back on your herb oil dressing. Once the shallots are soft enough, the oil dressing is ready whenever you feel happy with it. We like to gently cook the oil and herbs for about 15 minutes minimum.
- Take off the heat and stir in your lemon peel. Gently pour the sauce across your tomatoes and DIG TF IN. Enjoy <3
*This works just as well with simple cherry, salad and vine tomatoes, but if you can get your hands on some mixed colourful tomatoes, you’ll get more flavour range.
