Rustic Italian Tomato Salad (with onions and basil)

This recipe for Italian tomato salad is bursting with the flavors of juicy heirloom tomatoes, red onions, and basil. It’s a rustic kinda summer salad that’s tossed in a simple olive oil dressing. Fresh and vibrant, this 10-minute, no-cook salad is the perfect accompaniment for your mains.

Another summer salad you will love is butter lettuce salad with avocado, strawberries and mandarin oranges, and Balsamic vinaigrette.

This rustic Italian salad shouts ‘summer fresh’ from the rooftops! The days are getting longer and warmer, and isn’t it time to whip out those salad recipes made with fresh seasonal veggies and fruit? Not that you need an excuse for eating salads, of course, but they taste so much better on hot, lazy days.

On my recent trip to the supermarket, I found these red heirloom tomatoes and live potted basil. Of course, I grabbed both. The tomatoes were sweet and juicy and the basil leaves were green and plump and alive… a far cry from the pale wilted leaves you usually find in those tiny plastic cases at other times of the year. And people, I don’t need to say this, but if you’re making a salad, you need the absolute freshest, best quality ingredients you can find.

To dress the salad, I decided to go with a homemade Italian dressing with extra virgin olive oil and a few other ingredients. Because after all, to really make your salad sing, you need a great dressing, not the blah bottled stuff off the supermarket shelf.

And while we are on the subject of salads and homemade dressings, you must try my peach and watermelon salad too. It is tossed in a really great mint-basil dressing that transforms a bowl of plain chopped fruit into a crave worthy salad!

Ingredients

Note: exact amounts are mentioned in the recipe card further down.

• Heirloom tomatoes – beefsteak or on-the-vine tomatoes will also work as long as they are fresh. The tomatoes should feel heavy and firm with smooth, unwrinkled skins.
• Red onions – not a must, but they add so much crunch and flavor to a tomato salad. You don’t need a lot, but I almost never skip them.
• Fresh basil – if you’re making this salad out of season, you can use dried basil in a pinch. However, nothing comes close to fresh!

Dressing Ingredients

Five ingredients only in the correct amounts makes a dressing that will do justice to your salad.

• Extra virgin olive oil – a robust full-bodied extra virgin olive oil gives the best flavor, so don’t be tempted to use light olive oil or the one that comes in combination with other oils like canola. This is a make or break factor, so don’t skimp!
• Red wine vinegar – adds a lovely fruity tangy flavor
• Minced garlic – what’s an Italian salad without some garlic?
• Lemon juice – for an extra kick
• Sea salt – salt makes everything taste better, so if your salad is a bit pale in taste, it could be because it needs more salt.

Instructions

• Wash the tomatoes and basil.
• Slice the tomatoes into slightly thick slices or cut them into wedges.
• Peel and slice the onions thinly.
• Peel and mince the garlic. A garlic press comes in handy here.
• Make the dressing and keep it ready. Simply put all the ingredients in a small glass bottle with a lid and shake well.
• Assemble the salad. Arrange the onions and tomatoes on a platter and sprinkle the basil leaves on it. Drizzle the dressing generously over the salad, or alternatively, toss the salad in the dressing. The salad is ready to serve:)

Top tips

• Use fresh, in season veggies and herbs.
• Go with red onions only in this recipe. An Italian salad asks for red onions all the way.
• Do keep to the proportions mentioned in the dressing ingredients for a balanced flavorful dressing, especially the oil and vinegar. Generally, the rule is to be generous with the olive oil and stingy with the vinegar. That is why the olive oil is double that of the vinegar used in this recipe. You don’t want the vinegar to overpower the taste of the oil.
• This salad can be kept in the fridge for later; in fact, you can have it the next day too. The tomatoes and onions will not be as crisp looking as before, but they will release their own juices into the salad, and it will definitely taste good. What you get after a few hours in the fridge or overnight is a marinated Italian tomato salad!