Cherry tomato and lemon salad
Having cherry tomatoes in the backyard is one of those little pleasures in life — they have such potential. At their simplest, they serve as garden candy. They can also be one of 23 ingredients in a recipe I am highly unlikely to prepare.
The recipe offered below is elegantly simple and very refreshing. Check out the short video of the tomatoes that gave themselves for this salad.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 large lemons peeled and cut into sections (see directions below for how to supreme a lemon)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 pound cherry or grape tomatoes (3 cups), halved or, if large, quartered
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
- 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions
- Slice the ends off of the lemons so they stand up flat on your cutting board.
- Slice off the peel following the contours of the lemon. Cut the segments away from the membranes over a bowl so you catch the juice. This part seems a little tedious but it is actually kind of satisfying. Remove the seeds.
- Cut the segments crosswise into 1/4 inch slices (or whatever).
- Toss the tomatoes, lemons, juice, sugar, and olive oil together.
- Mix in the chives. Season to taste.
- Serve and enjoy.
Yes, it is 3/4 of a teaspoon of sugar per person in this recipe, but it greatly reduces the amount of oil needed to balance the acidity of the lemon. It's a lot less than the 13 teaspoons of sugar the average adult gets per day in sugared beverages.
Nutrition information (per serving)
- Calories: 101
- Total fat: 7 g
- Saturated fat: 1 g
- Trans fat: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
- Sodium: 55 mg
- Total carbohydrate: 10 g
- Dietary fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 1 g