Tomato Salad

Recipe: Tomato Salad Recipe »

Tomato Salad Recipe

This tomato salad recipe is one of the best tomato salads I've ever eaten. Made with ripe summer tomatoes, fresh peach and ricotta, it is perfectly balanced and tastes just like it came from a restaurant - because it did! I was lucky enough to get this tomato salad recipe from a renowned restaurant and I am sharing this delicious side dish with you today. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader.

This tomato salad comes from Humbug restaurant in Newcastle. It's a very popular restaurant with a huge following and matches interesting varietels of wine with some incredibly tasty food. We recently ate there during the preview of Newcastle Food month. Even though we had been eating all day long as I was part of a media group tasting, the tomato salad was a standout. Although we were totally full we devoured it. For Newcastle Food Month they're holding a street food fiesta on April 14 @ 3:00 pm - 9:00 pm.

Tomato Salad Recipe

I didn't think that they would part with the recipe but chef Mike Portley shared it readily which was very nice (along with another recipe that I will try of their signature ssam). He did preface it by saying "the defining factor of how good this salad is, ultimately comes down to the flavour and texture of the tomatoes you can source" but I will say that you don't have to go on any hunting expeditions except for the shiso leaves (which we happen to grow in our garden). I've tried this with supermarket medley tomatoes and it works although in the restaurant they have all sorts of lovely heirloom tomatoes. If you have those then even better for you. Everything else can be picked up easily.

Tips For Making Tomato Salad

1 - Save this recipe for summer when tomatoes are at their best. Use great quality, ripe tomatoes. We have a couple of weeks left!

2 - Use whole heirloom or a medley mix of cherry tomatoes

Tomato Salad Recipe

3 - Shiso gives this salad a gorgeous flavour but can be difficult to find. Although different, basil also works if you can't get shiso.

4 - White balsamic is also called white condiment and can be found at the supermarket. The original recipe uses aged white balsamic vinegar so if you have that, use it here.

5 - The original recipe uses ricotta but I like to puree it to make it even smoother in texture. I usually process a small tub of ricotta and keep it in the fridge so that I can make this recipe every night over a few nights. It pairs well with meat, pizza or pasta.

Tomato Salad Recipe

So a little health update from me sort of related to this recipe. After a few months of seeing my cardiologist I had undergone some blood tests and a cardioangiogram. I actually didn't realise that Asian people really differ from other races in terms of their health. He explained that Asian people are prone to fatty liver because any fat is stored viscerally (around the organs) while in Caucasian people it is stored subcutaneously (under the skin). And while Asian people might look skinny or slim they could be hiding issues so that is why he got me to do the cardioangiogram. This is where they inject you with a dye and you get under the MRI machine and they see if there are any blockages in your arteries.

I went to see him to get my results. When I knocked on the door and came in he was sitting behind his desk looking at his computer with his head in his hands. "Have you been doing anything different?" he asked me.

"Ummm I'm eating lots of avocadoes and fish oils," I stammered because why the serious face?

"Because these results are very, very good," he said swinging around his monitor so that I could see them. All of the results from the blood test were exactly where they needed to be. Then he pointed at a figure that said 0. The MRI showed that I had zero blockages in the arteries around my heart. Honestly nobody was more surprised than me.

"Do you want the bad news?" he asked and I nodded. My liver was showing signs of the start of fatty liver. I don't drink much at all but what I do is I love carbs and that is where I get into issues. I love pasta, bread, noodles and rice - pizza is one of my favourite foods! And I also have to cut down on things like potatoes, sweet potato, corn and pumpkin. He said salads and lean meats are good so this salad was the first thing that I made and I served them with chicken tenderloins. So Dear Reader, I'll still be loving carbs but just from a distance.

So tell me Dear Reader, are you on a special diet? Do you have foods that you are supposed to avoid?

Tomato Salad Recipe

Tomato Salad Recipe

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Adapted from Chef Mike Portley

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 0 minutes

Serves: 4 as an entree

  • 400g/14ozs ripe heirloom tomatoes or cherry tomato medley
  • 1/2 ripe yellow peach (around 90g/3ozs)
  • 150g/5ozs smooth ricotta
  • 1 golden eschallot, finely diced
  • 1 garlic cloves, peeled, sliced ultra thinly
  • 3-4 medium shiso leaves
  • 10 mint leaves
  • 75ml/2.7flozs white balsamic vinegar or white condiment
  • 75ml/2.7flozs Extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt flakes and black pepper

Step 1 - Place the ricotta in a food processor and whizz until smooth and silky. Spread out on the base of a serving plate.

Tomato Salad Recipe

Step 2 - Slice peach into thin 1mm/0.04inch half moons. Spread out on a tray. Cut tomatoes in 1/2cm/0.2inch slices or if using cherry tomatoes, halve. Add on top of the peach slices. Season well with salt and pepper. Scatter garlic pieces on top and finely diced eschallot. Tear shiso and mint and add them to the mix. Dress liberally with white balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Toss with your hands to dress and then spoon on top of the ricotta.

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