Hot weather meals call for lots of cool salads. Here’s an easy and attractive one featuring summer’s tomatoes.
Sometimes all I want for lunch is about six kinds of salad. I can get my protein from one like our luscious quinoa salad, fill up on a satisfying potato/fava bean salad, go on the sweet side with our bulgur and fruit salad and even go wild with edible weeds and seasonal veggies.
But summertimes’s prime salad ingredient is red, juicy tomatoes. To bring out the best of their sweet-tart flavor, I like to add a Middle-Eastern touch to them with herbs and spices.
Syrian Tomato Salad with Spiced Lemon Dressing
Recipe adapted from “Aromas of Aleppo,” by Dweck and Cohen
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
4-6 tomatoes
½ small red onion
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper flakes
A handful of parsley or cilantro leaves, chopped
HOW
Chop tomatoes into rough chunks.
Slice onion thinly. Gently mix into the tomato pieces.
Mix lemon juice, oil and spices and pour into the tomatoes and onions, gently stirring.
Scatter the chopped green leaves over the salad, and serve.
Both recipes may be halved or doubled.
More summery tomato recipes on Green Prophet:
- Fresh tomato/coriander salad
- Six-hour skillet tomatoes
- Tomato confit
- Seasoned, slow-roasted tomatoes
Author: Miriam Kresh
Miriam Kresh is an American ex-pat living in Israel. Her love of Middle Eastern food evolved from close friendships with enthusiastic Moroccan, Tunisian and Turkish home cooks. She owns too many cookbooks and is always planning the next meal. Miriam can be reached at miriam (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
