For this month's Forever Nigella challenge, hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen, I made the Egyptian Tomato Salad from the book Nigella Bites. It's fair to say that I've never thought of making a Nigella salad - I look through my Nigella books for stodge - creamy desserts, rich crumbly cakes and comfort food dinners. But I've obviously been making a big mistake - this tomato salad was full of flavour, easy to make and used ingredients I always have in the fridge and cupboards.
The recipe is on Nigella.com and on page 185 of the Nigella Bites book.
If you're thinking about making this and if the blanching and peeling of tomatoes puts you off, don't let it. It takes five minutes and makes for a succulent, soft tomato. And then all you have to do is leave the ruby coloured slabs to absorb the flavours in the dressing. Nigella suggests two hours, but I left mine for about 30 minutes and the flavour was excellent - so you can do it if you're in more of a hurry too, although the flavours will be more intense if you leave it for the whole two hours.
Nigella uses chervil in her salad, I substituted that for some basil, just because I have a basil plant on my kitchen windowsill. The salad is also infused with garlic, lemon juice and olive oil - I loved it. It's a definite salad to take to barbecues, to greedily spoon out and eat with grilled meats and fish. It's tangy, sweet - and Nigella's warning is perfectly valid - "there is one inflexible rule governing this salad: it must be served at room temperature. Leave it in the fridge until the last minute and all will be lost."
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