Green tomato salad

Do you see an ingredient and get excited ? Does the sight of it make you want to cook something straight away ? I think the first time I experienced that feeling is when I thought “okay maybe I can actually cook” ! I never ventured into the kitchen during my childhood. Later, as a college student, I would listen to friends talk about dishes which they made and it would sound so incredibly fascinating.

Since I knew nothing about cooking (operative word being ‘nothing’) I would marvel at how they even managed to make something from scratch all by themselves.

Honestly I do not remember the exact point when I began actively cooking but it was some time around the time i got married, maybe a year before that. It helped having a husband who was a foodie, more experimental then than he is now…but our children make up for it.

One led to another and today it really is about appreciating fresh produce and bringing alive the flavours without fussing too much with the preparation and technique. I love simple recipes where the ingredients come alive and create a taste explosion in the mouth. This green tomato salad is one that fits that brief completely.

When the tomato yield is at its final stage, during the summer months, I like to pick the last lot when it is still pale green but fully grown. Then we wait a day or two for the fruit to get a bit of colour, some get a yellow stain a few ripen further to get a peach blush but still retain the firm texture. That’s the perfect time to make this salad. Fresh home grown mint leaves and a sweet/tangy vinaigrette are all it needs.

Do make it your own and toss in some nuts but for me these tomatoes have plenty of crunch by themselves . You can buy green tomatoes at the grocer’s and allow one or two to ripen a bit and give this salad a try.