Recipe: Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad

First of all, let me make one thing perfectly clear.  This salad was not, I repeat not, a sad attempt to use up tomatoes that I overpurchased.  Nor was it an attempt to use up excess goat cheese from earlier recipes.  Oh, and any resemblance to an insalata caprese is purely coincidental.  Are we clear on this?  Good.  Ahem.  Now that that little defensive interlude is over, I will admit that I did mistakenly purchase more tomatoes than I needed.  I'm not entirely sure how that happened.  At any rate, with the salmonella scare and all that, tomatoes are a little on the pricey side lately.  At least that's the case at my supermarket, I don't know about others.  I did not want to see that money going to Charles the Woodchuck, however cute he may be.  And the goat cheese won't keep indefinitely.  I figured that a nice tomato salad would be a light, summery dish that would offset the kind of heavy main dish I was serving that night. 

 

I really wanted to keep this simple, to let the flavors stand on their own.  I added the basil to use up a little excess I had left over from the weekend's culinary escapades, but basil is such a natural pairing with tomato that I don't feel the need to try and weasel out an elaborate explanation.  The shallot was kind of an impulse; I always buy a couple more than I need in case one goes bad, so I had it on hand and it was prettier than the yellow onions I had in stock.  My mom would have used a red onion; you can feel free to use half of one without overpowering the rest of the ingredients.  I chiffonaded the basil because I find it easier than chopping it as I would other herbs, and because it looks pretty.  You can tear it if you prefer.  The goat cheese is just a plain old boring log-o-goat cheese, nothing fancy, no herbal additions et cetera.  Feta would be appropriate here.  Mozzarella would also work, and I can remember my mom making it with provolone a time or two.  As for the dressing, simplicity is really the key here.  Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper really bring out the flavor of the tomatoes.  I'd be a little leery of adding more to the dressing for fear of overpowering the other ingredients. 

 

Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad (serves 4; approx. $1.04/serving)

3 vine-ripened tomatoes, halved and sliced

1 shallot, thinly sliced

10 leaves (approx.) basil, chiffonade

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

Generous pinches of Kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper, or to taste

Equipment:

• No special equipment is necessary, but a good knife will help with the basil. 

1. Combine the first 3 ingredients in the serving bowl.
2. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the mixture. 
3. In a bowl or cup - your measuring cup will work just fine - mix the oil and vinegar together. 
4. Pour the oil and vinegar over the salad and toss to coat. 
5. Serve.

Technorati Tags: Tomatoes,basil,goat cheese,recipe,original recipes,salad,vegetarian food

Comments

[dhanggit]

i have been craving for goat cheese since yesterday...your salad made my day!

[Zita]

Look so fresh and yummy :)

[Kevin]

That looks good. I like a nice and simple tomato salad.

[katy]

tomatoes and goat cheese are perfect together. cook's illustrated this month recommends spinning tomatoes in a salad spinner to get rid of excess liquid -- i'd rather just throw in some bread chunks to soak it all up and call it panzanella. :-) yum!

[Lori Lynn]

Sound good! How can you go wrong with goat cheese and tomatoes? I like basil cut in chiffonade style too.

[cookinpanda]

This is simple, and I'm certain delicious.