I am a fair-weather tomato fan, and I mean that in the best way. I think that the sad, cottony, flavourless orbs on offer in winter are simply not worth the trouble. I have learned to make do with grape tomatoes for the kids’ snacking, and I am fine with tinned Romas for sauces. But I will never buy a tomato from a grocery store in the winter and put it on a sandwich or a salad or anyplace else. But this Greek Tomato Salad is a game-changer for me.
Flip the calendar to summer, and I can’t get enough. All shapes, sizes and colours get thrown into salads, pasta, rice, and eggs. Tomato sandwiches on toast with salt, pepper and mayo? Perfection.
This Greek Tomato Salad is also perfection for me. We ate this every day last summer on a beach in Mykonos. True, cardboard probably tastes good on Mykonos beach, but this salad is the real deal, and it is just as good back here. It can be made passably with winter grape tomatoes, but it is divine with the tomatoes overflowing the farmers’ markets right now.
This week, the yellow Sunburst tomatoes from Sport Hill Farm were the undisputed winner of my 7-year-old girl’s rigorous taste testing. Trust her. She tried them all.
This isn’t so much a recipe as a combination of flavours and textures that works really well together. I regularly adapt this Greek Tomato Salad to suit the rest of the meal or whatever I have in the kitchen.
One note on the feta: consider getting the block and crumbling by hand over the salad and then tossing with your hands. It is messy, but it is gentler on the tomatoes, distributes the components more evenly and gets a little love into the dish. Also, the pre-crumbled feta doesn’t taste as good and has unnecessary ingredients to keep the crumbles dry and separated. I am all for convenience and am happy to pay for it, but pre-crumbling my cheese isn’t exactly putting more hours in my day.
Easy and Yummy Greek Tomato Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pint tomatoes quartered
- 3 ounces feta cheese or half of a package, crumbled and diced
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 dash sea salt
- 1 dash black pepper freshly ground
Instructions
- Toss together and leave to marinate and combine flavours for 20 to 30 minutes. Toss again and serve.