Summer Turkish Tomato Celebration – Tangy Tomato Salad Recipe

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We might be wilting a little in this intense summer heat but with the intense summer heat comes the ultimate, summer-seasonal-food reward – the enormous, Turkish tomato. We’ve discussed our love of this seasonal tomato in the past and yesterday, the stalls of Çalış market were once again piled high with the beauties.

Some stall holders were displaying them cut through the middle to tempt buyers with their juicy redness. We fall for it every time and just had to buy some. You don’t get many of these to the kilo – four tomatoes weighed 2 kilos. But what to do with them…

Well, as we said, we’re wilting! Although a few rumbles of thunder and spots of rain gave us all a little breather yesterday evening, humidity has engulfed Fethiye and with the humidity comes the desire to eat light foods…a perfect tomato salad made from just one of our tomatoes.

A Recipe For Summer Tomato Salad

This salad has made a cameo appearance on this blog before because we served it with the Kars gravyer cheese someone very kindly posted to us. It’s in the photos but we never posted the recipe.

It’s not a Turkish recipe but we are using the seasonal foods of Turkey and the salad is just the perfect way to celebrate these sweet, juicy tomatoes. We’re eating simple and light at the moment and that’s exactly what this salad is.

• Roughly chop your summer tomato and add to a bowl with a good pinch of salt
• Add a sprinkling of oregano
• Chop or crush a clove of garlic and a fresh green chilli (chillies are also in season right now) and add those to the bowl
• Now add around 3 tablespoons of vinegar and a good glug of olive oil
• Mix it all up and add fresh, torn basil leaves or fresh mint leaves (we’re going all out for mint at the moment as our neighbour’s garden is overrun with it – both basil and mint are in season)

And that’s it. Perfectly simple and so tasty. It’s especially good served with potato and onion frittata – cold of course.

This was yesterday’s lunch. Tomato salad served with the leftovers of last night’s evening meal. But do you know what the best thing about this salad is…?

You buy yourself a fresh, Turkish, crusty loaf from the bakery. You munch your way through all the tomatoes and when they’re all gone, take a chunk of the bread. Don’t slice it. Tear it.

And then you mop up all the remaining juices with the bread and eat it. Two meals in one! Be careful to share it nicely, otherwise it can lead to disagreements over who has mopped up more than their fair share. You’ve been warned.

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