Our Beautiful Salad Supper

 I found some really beautiful tomatoes, a nice red onion, and a lush, healthy basil plant while I was out shopping yesterday. 

They were too pretty to resist so I brought them home with the intention of making them into a salad for supper.

I coarsely cubed the tomatoes, added some thinly sliced red onion, then picked some of the leaves off of the basil plant.  I set the small leaves aside for garnish and then shredded the larger ones, by hand, into the salad bowl.  I added some freshly ground pepper and a good sprinkling of salt.

A simple vinaigrette seemed the best dressing for this salad.  I measured out a Tablespoon of red wine vinegar, 3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and 1/4 teaspoon for dry mustard. 

 

I combined them all in a mason jar, put the lid on and gave them a good shake.  The mustard helped to emulsify the oil so that the finished dressing looked like this:

I added the dressing to the salad bowl and used my hands to gently mix the ingredients together.  When the salad was dressed, I tasted it and adjusted the seasoning.

The tomatoes were quite juicy so there was a lot of liquid in the salad bowl.  I used my hands to gently lift the salad from the bowl, draining off the excess liquid, and transferred the salad to a serving plate.  I added some cheese toasts and that was our meal.

We shared the salad and the toasts, right from the serving plate.  It was a lovely dinner; beautiful looking, inexpensive, quick to prepare, and really delicious.  We both enjoyed it.
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This post is linked to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop hosted by The 21st Century Housewife, Premeditated Leftovers, Zesty South Indian Kitchen, Penniless Parenting, Savoring Today, and Elsa Cooks.