egyptian tomato salad

 
This is a really good, tangy salad. The onion can be grated into a fine pulp that coats the tomatoes beautifully.

It's perfect for a summer afternoon with a piece of crusty bread to mop up the juices.

Egyptian Tomato Salad

Nigella Lawson's recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:5 medium-sized vine tomatoes (approx. 750g altogether)
1 shallot, peeled
1 clove of garlic, peeled
3–4 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
Handful freshly chopped coriander
Good squeeze of lemon juice
Maldon salt
Splash of olive oil

Method:

1. Chop the shallot and garlic as finely as is humanly possible – or just blitz to a pulp in a processor – and put in a small bowl with the oil, a pinch of salt and a grinding of pepper.

2. Leave to steep while you blanche the tomatoes: that’s to say, put them in a large bowl then pour boiling water over them so that they are hotly submerged. Leave for 5 minutes then tip into a colander and run under cold water.

3. Using a sharp knife, peel off the skins then cut these fuzzy spheres into slices, as thick or as thin as you like.

4. Arrange the tomatoes in a dish and pour over the dressing, using your fingers to mix well. I find it easier to use one bowl for steeping purposes and another one, later, for serving. You can let the tomatoes sit like this for a good couple of hours while the flavours will deepen wonderfully.

5. When you’re ready to eat, either leave the dressed tomatoes in the bowl or decant to a new one but turn them to coat, squeeze over some lemon juice, sprinkle with Maldon salt and a tablespoon or so of freshly chopped coriander and splash with olive oil.

6. Serve at room temperature.

Note: even if you're too lazy to peel the tomatoes (these photos clearly implicate me), the salad is still very good.