This past weekend I popped in to a fruit and vege store I haven’t been into for ages and I felt like a kid in a candy store! Of late I’ve been buying fresh produce from the supermarket as it is so much easier getting it all in one place, but my boys were at cricket and I had a little more time than usual. I can’t say there was all that much difference in price, but a little more variety and I loved all the specialty jars, seasonings, health food and other interesting stuff they had in store.
We’ve had a glorious summer so far, but that has meant more perfume, blossoms and dust in the air, bringing with them their own various ailments: runny noses, itchy eyes, sinus headaches, sore throats, etc. Trying to eat a healthy diet is never a chore in our home as we all enjoy fresh seasonal fruit and veges, but I seem to run out of ideas and end up getting bored with the same old salads and lack of inspiration.
My trip to this particular store planted a few seeds for new ideas and now I can’t seem to get through my purchases quickly enough to try them all out. The array of different tomatoes on offer, yellow, orange and red cherry varieties, sweet campari vine grown, acid free roma, you name it.
On it’s own, the tomato-filled salad bowl looked glorious, but adding some chopped cucumber, avocado and torn basil leaves and a drizzle of olive oil and Italian Balsamic Vinegar along with a tiny dusting of freshly ground black pepper and sea salt, this salad is delicious as a light meal or as an accompaniment to a BBQ or braai.
ingredients:
250 g yellow, orange and red cherry tomatoes
4 – 5 mini campari vine tomatoes
1 – 2 roma tomatoes
¼ cucumber
1 avocado
basil leaves
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
freshly ground salt and black pepper
- Wash all salad ingredients.
- Halve the cherry tomatoes and quarter the larger varieties and place onto a platter.
- Slice the cucumber, peel and chop the avocado and spread out in between the tomatoes.
- Add the torn basil leaves (they bruise easily and turn black if cut so tearing is the best way to deal with basil leaves).
- Drizzle with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar just before serving. Add the seasoning last.
Enjoy!
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