Heirloom Tomato Salad

I've been terribly slack in posting recipes recently, so sorry about that!  While I love everything summer, I have found myself so busy with cooking, canning and trying to find ways to use all the amazing food I've had recently.  But this tomato salad adapted from 101Cookbooks was wonderful and I wanted to be sure to post it while tomatoes are still in season. 

One of these days I'll get back to posting health facts!  But for today, all I have to say is that tomatoes are full of lycopene and are very good for you so eat a lot!  And actually, cooked tomatoes have more lycopene than raw ones, so you're getting your fill with this recipe!

• 2 pounds (a mix of small heirlooms & cherry tomatoes), halved
• 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
•  tablespoon brown sugar or maple syrup
• couple pinches of fine grain sea salt
• 1/3 cup toasted almond slices
• 2 tablespoons capers, fried in a bit of oil
• 6 oz good mozzarella, torn into chunks
• a handful of torn lettuce leaves
• generous drizzle of lemon olive oil or chive oil (I used regular olive oil and it was just fine)

 ----

Nothing is better than homegrown heirloom tomatoes.  Yum!

Tossed in oil, maple syrup and salt and ready for baking.

1.  To start, you're going to roast about 1/2 of the tomatoes, preferably a mix of cherry and heirlooms. Preheat the oven to 350°F, and adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven. Toss the tomatoes you will be roasting gently (but well) in a bowl along with the grapeseed oil, sugar, and salt. 

Roasted tomatoes

2.  Arrange them in a single layer, cut side up, on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake, without stirring, until the tomatoes shrink a bit and start to caramelize around the edges, 45 to 60 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3.  When ready to serve, gently toss the roasted and raw tomatoes with a bit of chive or lemon oil, most of the almonds, the capers, the mozzarella, and the lettuce. Taste and season with a bit more salt if needed. Serve topped with the remaining almonds, and any herb flowers you might have.

Delicious!

*To make chive oil, use a food processor to puree 1/4 cup chopped chives with 1/2 cup good olive oil. Stir in another 1/4 cup finely chopped chives by hand. Season with sea salt to taste.  I omitted this step and it was still super tasty!