Easy Italian Tomato Salad

I closed on a beautiful home in Harbour Island this week. The buyers — a young couple, first-timers — looked at the keys the way I looked at my real estate license in 2012: like they were holding the future in their hands.

I drove to Tarpon Springs for Sunday dinner. The drive takes forty minutes if the traffic behaves. It never behaves. But I make the drive because the table at Mama's house is non-negotiable, and Sunday dinner is the thread that holds this family together.

Some weeks are ordinary. This was an ordinary week. I sold houses. I cooked dinner. I called Mama. I drove to Tarpon Springs on Sunday. The extraordinary thing about ordinary weeks is that they are the ones you miss most when they are gone.

I made imam bayildi — eggplant stuffed with tomatoes and onions, braised in olive oil until everything collapsed into silk. We ate at the kitchen table, just the two of us, and for a moment the house was not quiet or loud — it was exactly right. Full. Fed. The sound of forks on plates is the sound I love most in this world.

The olive oil in my kitchen is from a Greek import shop in Tampa that sources from Kalamata. It is expensive. It is worth it. I use it on everything — salads, fish, bread, vegetables, the edge of a pot of soup — because olive oil is not a condiment in this family, it is a philosophy. Use it generously. Use it without apology. Use it the way you use love: poured freely, never measured, always more than you think you need.

While the imam bayildi was braising — filling the kitchen with that low, sweet smell of olive oil and caramelized onion — I threw this tomato salad together on the counter in about five minutes. It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t feel like cooking so much as arranging: good tomatoes, good oil, a little sharpness from the onion. That Kalamata olive oil I mentioned? This is exactly where it earns its place. You don’t need many ingredients when the ones you have are honest.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes (plus 15 minutes resting) | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 large ripe tomatoes, sliced or cut into wedges
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, torn (optional)

Instructions

Slice the tomatoes. Cut tomatoes into 1/4-inch rounds or wedges and arrange on a wide, shallow serving plate. Scatter the sliced red onion over the top.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, minced garlic, dried oregano, salt, and pepper until combined.
Dress the salad. Pour the dressing evenly over the tomatoes and onion. Do not toss — let it pool around the tomatoes.
Rest before serving. Let the salad sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes. This is not optional. The tomatoes will release their juices and the dressing will deepen into something far better than it started.
Finish and serve. Scatter torn basil leaves over the top if using. Serve with crusty bread to catch every drop of the juices at the bottom of the plate.

Nutrition (per serving)

Easy Italian Tomato Salad — A Side That Belongs on Every Greek Table