Tomato, Fig & Blue Cheese Salad
Our house sits upon a hill of solid ledge. If you go down into our basement (not something I recommend), you will see the rock come up out from the earth which then becomes a beautiful focal point out in our yard. The downside, however, is that with the rock just below the surface – and in some places actually exposed in our lawn – we do not have enough soil for a vegetable garden.
Our sole effort at growing some of our own food is one small raised bed, which provides enough soil for the plant to grow. We only grow tomatoes and basil, and at this time of year it means we are eating tomatoes and basil with every single meal. I also freeze and can items for the winter, such as pesto, slow-roasted tomatoes, and tomato jam.
We usually buy seedlings and this year was no exceptions. We bought a flat of six Lemon Boy tomatoes; another flat of six Cherokee Purple; and a third flat of six San Marzano. In the middle of our row of San Marzano tomatoes, something else cropped up, a different variety of tomato seems to have snuck in!
I have no idea what these small red tomatoes are, bigger than cherry tomatoes and too small for slicing. With figs in season, I decided to make a quick salad of tomatoes, figs, and blue cheese. Indeed this is one of those recipes that is hardly a recipe at all, but rather offers a few suggestions for a wonderful flavor combination.
Tomato, Fig & Blue Cheese Salad
Serves however many you make it for!
Ripe tomatoes
Ripe figs
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
Blue cheese (I like to use High Lawn Blue from a local dairy)
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Core the tomatoes and cut into bite-sized pieces. The mystery tomatoes we have this year only needed to be cut into quarters; if you have cherry tomatoes, probably cut them in half, if larger tomatoes, into manageable chunks.
Trim the stems from the figs and quarter from top to bottom. Arrange the tomato and fig pieces on a serving plate. Slice and crumble the blue cheese and scatter over the top of the tomato and fig mixture.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over all. Drizzle with olive oil, then with vinegar, and serve.