Farm fresh grape and cherry tomato salad topped with fresh herbs and a thick, creamy, 5-ingredient dressing.
Every Tuesday, I put on my Keens and scamper into the fields at Dreyer farms to pick flowers and tomatoes. It’s quite possibly one of my favorite things of the summer. I spend 40 plus hours in front of a computer like most working adults, so grabbing my clippers and weaving my way up and down the rows of flowers and tomatoes is like therapy. In another life, I probably would have been a farmer/hippie, peddling homemade soup at a farmer’s market (barefoot of course). But since my reality is cloud computing, I’ll gladly take my weekly strolls in the fields.
Needless to say, I end up looking for new ways to use the tomatoes (like sausage subs, ratatouille, salsa…). Little Nutmeg loves to reach up onto the counter and grab a “potato” from the bowl and pop it in her mouth. The rest go into salads, sauces, and lunches. I spotted this tomato salad in the August issue of Bon Appetit and it’s beautiful and simple. I modified it (big surprise), but not by much. I was more or less fascinated by the use of evaporated milk, an ingredient that’s not high on my list. The requirement here, folks, is to use the best tomatoes you can find… or in my case, pick.
I served this with homemade fried chicken and corn on the cob. And even though it was a weeknight, it was a pretty terrific dinner. There were some tomatoes left, so I dumped them on some greens for lunch. Mmmmmm….
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 5-oz. can evaporated milk
- 2 small garlic cloves
- ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp. sea salt
- 2 cups mixed grape and cherry tomatoes
- 1 sprig fresh oregano or herb of your choice (dill and basil would be delicious,too)
- Put the mayonnaise, milk, salt and pepper in a pint mason jar. Grate the garlic into it with a microplane. Put the top on and shake until well combined.
- Halve the tomatoes and put them in a serving dish. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and let sit for a few minutes.
- When ready to serve, drizzle some of the dressing over the tomatoes and then sprinkle with the oregano leaves.
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