The Mothership Tomato Salad
- 2 1/4 pounds mixed ripe tomatoes, different shapes and colors
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- A good pinch dried oregano
- Red wine or balsamic vinegar
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and grated
- 1 fresh red chile, seeded and chopped
- This is an incredible tomato salad but there are two things to remember if you want to wow your guests with something so simple.
- The first is that you should try to get a mixture of different, tasty, local (if possible) tomatoes in all different shapes, sizes and colors.
- Second, the flavor is brought out by salting the tomatoes, so don't skip this bit.
- Some people get worried about putting this much salt on their food, but the bulk of it will drip off, leaving you with really beautiful, intensely flavored tomatoes.
- If you can get hold of some dried flowering oregano then do, as it has the most heavenly flavor.
- Feel free to use the dried stuff that you get in a little container, but it can taste a bit like sawdust when compared to the fruity, fragrant flavor you get from the flowering variety.
- Oregano is also great to grow in the garden.
- Depending on the size of your tomatoes, slice some in half, some into quarters and others into uneven chunks.
- Straightaway this will give you the beginnings of a tomato salad that's really brave and exciting to look at and eat.
- Put the tomatoes into a colander and season with a good pinch of sea salt.
- Give them a toss, season again and give a couple more tosses.
- The salt won't be drawn into the tomatoes; instead it will draw any excess moisture out, concentrating all the lovely flavors.
- Leave the tomatoes in the colander on top of a bowl to stand for around 15 minutes, then discard any juice that has come out of them.
- Transfer the tomatoes to a large bowl and sprinkle over the oregano.
- Make a dressing using 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil, the garlic and the chile.
- Drizzle the tomatoes with enough dressing to coat everything nicely.
- This is a fantastic tomato salad, which is totally delicious to eat on its own.
- It's also great served with some balls of mozzarella or some nice, grilled ciabatta bread.
- "Our agreement with the producers of "Jamie at Home" only permit us to make 2 recipes per episode available online.
- Food Network regrets the inconvenience to our viewers and foodnetwork.com users"
mixed ripe tomatoes, salt, oregano, red wine, extravirgin olive oil, clove garlic, fresh red chile
Taken from www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/the-mothership-tomato-salad-recipe.html (may not work)