Nurturing my inner... Greco-Roman

I know it's officially fall, but don't tell the tomatoes that.  The Farmers' Market still had some real beauties.  In a rainbow of colors.  I had been thinking, it's no mistake that the Italian flag is red, white and green.  I'm certain it was designed as a nod to the colors in a traditional Caprese salad.  But, unfortunately I didn't have mozzarella and was stuck working at home on a Sunday for the day.  So no trips to the grocery store.  Instead of hoisting the white flag of surrender, I decided to get creative and throw in a Greek slant.  (It's okay, Greece is nearby.)

Tomato, Feta & Basil Salad

Handful of heirloom tomatoes of different colors and sizes
Some cubed feta
Fresh basil ribbons
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Cracked pepper

Red, orange, yellow and even purple!

I had plenty of that bunch of basil still in the fridge, so I was trying to come up with every possible dish to make with it.  You'll see a lot of the same elements in my cooking during a week because as a single girl, it takes me some time to use things up.  Unless I'm having a dinner party where my hungry friends eat me out of condo and home.  I can't always get smaller amounts at the store and I don't always use it all up in one dish, so I try to think of several things I can make differently, but with some of the same ingredients.

Have to use it within a day or two.
Before the leaves turn brown.

I took a handful of the nicer leaves, washed and dried them.

Since I was eating them uncooked, I went
for the least blemished ones.

I like to chiffonade the basil for the salad.  Aka, in less French terms, cut them into ribbons.  I'll show you how it's done.

1.) Stack up the leaves in a pile.

Nice and evenly.

2.) Pretend you're a Cuban cigar roller for one embargo-lifted moment.

Tightly rolled up leaves.

3.) Slice down the roll 1/8" to 1/4" apart, depending on how thin you like your ribbons.

Ah, now I see where this is going.

You're wondering how I did this when I was home alone.  As I have only two hands and if one was on the basil and one was on the camera, who's got the knife!  Ah, the wonder of stop motion photography.  No, I'm not giving away my camera secrets.

Lovely green ribbons.

I like to use different size tomatoes, slicing bigger ones up and leaving some of the smaller ones whole.  I used to have an art professor who would say, "Big things, little things."  Let's just say he was a hippie in the 60s, so I'm not totally positive he wasn't hallucinating, but even so, I think the message was that variety makes things visually interesting.  He was right!  (As for my grade on that one sculpture I did, I beg to differ.)

A cutting board worthy of an A in art class!

This wasn't the only thing on the menu that day, so I felt that using a smaller dish was good.  In America, our portions have gotten OOC!  (Out Of Control!)  A petite salad was parfait pour moi!

A simple dish for a simple dish.

Of course, making this a Caprese would have been just as easy, but seeing as I had a lovely block of feta handy, the switch worked out well.

I like to slice it up with a sharp knife and leave
it in smaller blocks. Round and square shapes.

This part is key.  And throws me into the true confessions booth:  My name is Karen, and I... am an olive oil snob.  (Hi Karen!)

I blame my family.  Yet, I guess admitting I have a choice as an adult is the first step to healing.  My preconceived notion has been this: If olive oil is not imported from the homeland, I don't want it.  (Ironically, I've not yet been to the homeland from whence my genetics came.)  Yet one day I remembered I was out of olive oil while I was stocking up on things at Wegmans late at night and thought, well, what the heck.  Why not try their brand.  And now, I love it!

Deep green and rich in flavor.

Drizzle on salad.

Okay, so that's more of a glug, but just you try
to do this and take a photo at the same time.

Add some salt and freshly cracked pepper and you're all done.

So fresh, tart and acidicly balanced.

I had a little left over tomato and basil, so I put it in a container and kept it ready for the next day.  I like to use glass dishes over plastic, but that's another chat for another day.




All set for tomorrow.



Lacking one ingredient didn't stop me from substituting and coming up with a just as fabulous, slightly different combination.  Improvise!