Tomato salad was one of my favorite summertime treats growing up, and I still love a good, simple one today.  A tomato salad complements cold or hot flavorful dishes on a hot day.  Serve it with broiled fish, take it on a picnic, or eat it for lunch with a side of scrambled eggs and a glass of raw milk, like I did today.  In honor of the first (greenhouse grown but still amazing) tomatoes of the season, I’m giving you a basic recipe.

Summertime tomato salad

1. • 2-4 very ripe tomatoes of any sweet variety (my source: Billy’s Gardens, Tonasket, WA)
   

2. • 2-3 tablespoons strong olive oil, hazelnut oil or walnut oil (my two sources: nonlocal olive oil and hazelnut oil from Holmquist Orchards, Lynden, WA)
   

3. • 1-2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice (my source: blueberry vinegar from Canter Berry Farms, Auburn, WA)
   

4. • 1-3 teaspoons plain dijon mustard (source: not local.  Maille, from DeLaurenti)
   

5. • black pepper to taste (source: somewhere far, far away)
   

6. • 1 small sweet spring onion (source: Youa Her & Kaying's Garden, Snohomish, WA)
   

7. • a few tablespoons torn fresh basil or other favorite herbs (source: my garden.)
   

Start by preparing your dressing.  Add oil and mustard to a medium-large bowl

and whisk until the mustard starts emulsifying.  It will cluster into larger droplets and grow in size.

Add vinegar and mix more:

Finely chop the small, sweet onion including the green part, and add to the dressing.  Chop ripe tomatoes and add them in.

Grate in some fresh black pepper.

Add fresh basil.  You can use other herbs as well; lemon thyme works nicely.

Mix the whole salad together, and it’s ready to eat!

Extra tip! You will have extra dressing at the bottom simply because tomatoes leach a lot of water in salads.  That’s okay; either sop it up with a little piece of good sourdough bread, or save it in a jar to use on another salad within the next day or two.