One of my food “behaviors” that hasn’t changed since switching to a Paleo diet is my love and obsession for cookbooks. There’s something about flipping through the pages of beautiful pictures, seeing new perspectives and of course the good ‘ol fashioned smell of a new book that drives me wild. I still buy so many cookbooks and they aren’t necessarily Paleo. I get much of my inspiration from non-paleo cookbooks these days. And quite honestly, I tend to find that higher-end cookbooks focus on fresh and simple ingredients, hence having a lot of recipes that are already Paleo.
My inspiration for this Heirloom Tomato Salad came from one of Tyler Florence’s cookbooks. There’s so many reasons he’s one of my favorite chefs. First off he’s local, from here in the Bay. Points for that. He’s also the owner of one of mine and Brad’s favorite restaurants, Wayfare Tavern. AND he recently posted a picture on Instragram of him at the Jay-Z & Beyonce concert. Swoon! Oh yeah, and he has great food!
The original recipe in the book was called a Tomato Chow Chow. The hell if I know what a Chow Chow is, but the ingredients sounded awesome. However, being the impatient spaz that I am I didn’t read the recipe through when I first spotted it. Once I was ready to make it, I realized it was a warm salad. Doh! It was 100* out that day and I certainly wasn’t going to make a warm tomato salad using the beautiful heirlooms I had picked up at the farmer’s market that morning. So using the same ingredients, I created a quick vinaigrette dressing and added a few of my own touches to create a cold version of his Chowchoualoopawhatever..
Now that the end of summer is quickly approaching, farmer’s markets, gardens and stores are going to be overflowing with fresh, SEASONAL tomatoes. This is the perfect dish to make that still lets the flavor of them shine through but giving them a little kick.
How do you plan to enjoy your tomatoes this summer?
Heirloom Tomato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. fresh heirloom tomatoes
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 Tbps. chopped basil
- 1 tsp. capers
- 1/4 C. olive oil
- 1/8 C. white balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbsp. honey / or orange juice to make whole30 compliant
- 1/2 tsp. celery seeds
- 1/2 tsp. turmeric
- 1 Tbsp. whole grain mustard
- 1 tsp. salt
Instructions
- Cut heirloom tomatoes into one inch-ish chunks
- Thinly slice red onion
- For dressing, combine olive oil, white balsamic, honey / orange juice, celery seeds. turmeric, mustard and salt together. Whisk until combined
- Add tomatoes, onions, basil and capers to bowl or plate and gently toss to combine
- Drizzle dressing over top of tomatoes
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