Quick Israeli Salad

The first tomato ripened Tuesday — Brandywine, the first one fully red on the vine on the south fence. I picked it carefully, sliced it on the wooden board, salted the slices, ate at the counter with bread and mayonnaise. The annual non-negotiable moment of the gardener's year. I have now observed it fifty-one consecutive times. The novelty has not worn off.

The blog post on the first tomato was three paragraphs of restraint. The first tomato says itself. The writer's job is to put it down on the page and get out of the way.

Made a panzanella Sunday with the early tomatoes and day-old bread — torn bread, tomatoes salted and rested, sweet onion thin, basil from the kitchen window, olive oil and red wine vinegar. Sat for half an hour to let the bread soak the juice. Ate on the porch with a glass of wine and watched the late-afternoon light move across the lawn and thought there is no better life than this one.

Lucy texted Friday from Philadelphia — she is in the middle of a clinical rotation at a hospital in West Philadelphia, has assisted at six deliveries this week, is exhausted in the way the work makes you. The text was three sentences. I texted back: rest. Eat. Continue. She replied with a heart. The brief exchange was complete.

The panzanella was Sunday’s meal — bread and time and patience — but some mornings after the first tomato arrives, you want something faster and just as honest: nothing softened, nothing complicated, just the tomato cut up and given a little company. This Quick Israeli Salad is what I make when the garden is insisting and the afternoon is too good to spend much of it in the kitchen. It has the same spirit as that porch meal, only sharper — the kind of thing Lucy grew up eating off the cutting board before it even made it to a bowl.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

3 medium ripe tomatoes, diced small (about 2 cups)
2 Persian cucumbers (or 1 English cucumber), diced small
1/2 small red or sweet onion, finely diced
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped (optional)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Dice the vegetables. Cut tomatoes, cucumbers, and onion into small, uniform pieces — roughly 1/4-inch dice. Uniform size ensures every bite has a little of everything.
Combine. Add tomatoes, cucumbers, and onion to a medium bowl. Add the chopped parsley and mint if using.
Dress. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and toss gently to coat.
Taste and adjust. Let sit for 5 minutes, then taste. Add more lemon, salt, or olive oil as needed. The tomatoes will release some juice — that’s the dressing doing its work.
Serve. Serve immediately at room temperature, or refrigerate for up to 1 hour. Best eaten the day it’s made.

Nutrition (per serving)

Quick Israeli Salad — The Tomatoes That Started It All