BigMike's Tomato Salad

[bigmike&nan]

This Summer the wife joined Weight Watchers. She told me she wanted to start eating a lot of vegetables. Aside from the roasted in foil vegetable pouches this dish has and still is a dinner time staple in our house. I got the idea for it from photos MrCoin brought back from Lebanon, visiting one of "our friends". The salad reminds me of a lot of platters he was served there. The dressing just morphed over time. It's killer on it's own, or great with burgers, fish or chicken. The Mae Ploy Sweet Chile sauce should definitely be in your cupboard !!!
[
Mis en place

1 large tomato
1/2 vidalia onion
1 ear fresh sweet corn
1 cucumber rough peeled
5-6 fresh mint sprigs

Dressing:

2 Tbls Honey
2 Tbls Mae Ploy
1 Tsp Seasoning Salt
1/2 Tsp dry tarragon
3 Tbls Rice Wine Vinegar
2 Tbls Sesame Oil
3 Tbls Peanut Oil
1 Tsp. Soy Sauce

Preparation:
Core and cut tomato in half, then thinly slice with serrated knife. Lay the two rows of slices side by side attractively in the center of your plate.
Now cut in half lengthwise and thin slice each half of cucumber. Attractively fan each half of slices on each side of the tomatoes.
Next cut corn off cob and sprinkle over tomatoes and cucumbers.
Next thinly slice the vidalia onion and sprinkle over plate. Chop the fresh mint and do the same.
Apply about 1 tsp seasoning salt over platter. Then drizzle with about 1/2 cup of the prepared dressing. Refrigerate for about an hour before service.


Dressing Preparation:
Drizzle honey, Mae Ploy, dry tarragon and seasoning salt in a mixing bowl. Combine well with a whisk. Next add rice wine vinegar and mix well with whisk. Then drizzle in sesame oil while whisking, then peanut oil. Taste and adjust with rice wine vinegar to your taste. This dressing is scary good over fish, chicken or sticky rice.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

this is gorgeous! thanks for sharing, I will be trying it for sure

 

[redhen]

Yum.. that looks good!

 

[littlegorb]

i have all that in my garden, (except the sauce). i am so going to make this tomorrow! maybe add some queso fresco or mozzarella to it.

 

[chickenbottom]

if you take out the onions it looks and sounds great lol

 

[bigmike&nan]

chickenbottom,

The recipe calls for VIDALIA onions which are sweet, and not really hot (as we think of raw onions). If you don't have vidalia onions you can thin slice yellow onions and soak them in a bowl of ice water and then drain, that will blanch out some of the "hot".

 

[chickenbottom]

bigmike&nan :

chickenbottom,

The recipe calls for VIDALIA onions which are sweet, and not really hot (as we think of raw onions). If you don't have vidalia onions you can thin slice yellow onions and soak them in a bowl of ice water and then drain, that will blanch out some of the "hot".

i was just saying that cause i dont like any kind of onion cooked raw or sliced thin or ground up or powdered even.
ive got a dinner next month for my boyfriends family so i think im going to make this.​

 

[littlegorb]

mmm yummy, i think what counts is the sauce. you can play with the other ingredients, ie: bell peppers instead of onions, basil instead of mint, maybe add garbanzo or black beans. i did not have the mae ploy i had garlic chili sauce and it was great! thanks!

 

[bigmike&nan]

Quote:
I think the sauce is one of the key plusses of this dish - that and the mint together with the vegetables - many times I would thin slice red bell peppers and put on top. SO GOOD...
Sorry I posted this recipe a little late in the season. In the Summer we were getting huge bags of bruised tomatoes from a roadside stand - after taking the guy a homemade peach coffee cake he was giving them to me. We feasted every night.

Italians serve a variation of this by layer fresh mozzarella with the tomatoes and using red onions instead of vidallia. A balsemic viniagrette, some shave reggianno and fresh basil top it off into something magnificent. On a hot summer night this can be
dinner... Why not ?

Chickenbottom: I totally understand you not liking onions, an aunt of mine is allergic to any form of onion, scallion, shallot and so on.
I get invited to cook there occasionally (the uncle is like the Michael Corleone of my family) and I pull out all the stops when I make meals for them.
If you want you can do a lot if you are careful.
I am quite fortunate my wife and I will eat just about anything so it's open season in the kitchen for me.

 

[littlegorb]

yes this can be a meal with a loaf of crusty bread, some fresh mozzarella, (i did queso fresco). even a hardboiled egg on top. voila!