sesame summertime tomato salad
farmer’s market tomatoes well worth their weight. are you singing Lana yet?
don’t get caught up in not having all of the ‘right’ ingredients, just worry about the vinegar to veg to oil ratio and use what you’ve got! this only takes 15 minutes minutes to make and works well for a big crowd.
WHAT YOU NEED
1 lb of white wax beans
1 large cucumber - or 2 medium
4 medium-large heirloom tomatoes
1 medium red onion (optional)
Rice vinegar, can be substituted with white vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
Sesame oil - preferably toasted if available, can be substituted with olive oil
Olive oil
Ume plum vinegar (optional)
Sesame seeds - if available
One bunch of fresh herbs of your choosing (cilantro and parsley are good choices)
Salt & pepper to taste
HOW TO
STEP 1
Place one pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil while you prep all veggies. Remove undesired (prickly) ends of wax beans from all beans, rinse beans thoroughly, and toss them into a pot of lightly salted boiling water for 3-5 minutes, or until ‘al dente’ to parboil (that means partially boil). To test that the beans are ready, run one bean from the pot under water and taste. They should still be crunchy, but have more ‘give’ than a raw bean. Once the texture is to your liking, place in a bowl of cold water and ice (an ice bath) and flash cool them. This should take about 1-3 minutes. Once ready, drain beans and put them aside.
STEP 2
Slice cucumber(s) into quarters by first cutting in half lengthwise then cutting each half again lengthwise. Lastly, cut into cubes by cutting each quarter width wise from right to left. Toss in a large bowl and drizzle on a light coating of olive oil. Next, slice tomatoes into sections by first cutting in half then into quarter to eighth slices from top to bottom, working around the tomato core. Toss into your bowl with the cucumbers and gently mix them with a large slotted spoon or spatula. If adding onion, cut in half, then remove the onion ends from each of your halves and slice them into thin strips by working from right to left along the width of the onion half, with the rounded side of your half onion facing upwards (towards you) and the tips of your supporting fingers tucked into the onion away from the knife’s blade. Toss the sliced onion in with the other veggies.
STEP 3
Grab your beans again and slice them in half, cutting them by their width (not length). Toss them into the bowl and mix them with your other veggies. Add salt & pepper to taste, 1 TBSP of sesame oil or until all of the veggies are lightly coated, 1 TBSP of rice vinegar, 1 TBSP of ume plum vinegar (or just double the rice vinegar), and 2-3 tsp of sesame seeds (or until the veggies are lightly coated). Mix thoroughly, taste, and add any additional oil or vinegar(s) as needed. If you have fresh herbs, roughly chop them (I like to tear my basil by hand into pieces) and toss them gently into the salad.
STEP 4
If time allows, marinate the salad overnight to allow each of your flavors to marry together and pop. Your salad should keep for about a week, but if you’ve got end-of-the-season tomatoes it probably won’t last that long!
