Marinated Tomato Salad with Zaatar and Balsamic

A comforting and vibrant marinated tomato salad with fresh herbs and greens

Backyard gardens make me kind of emotional. Walking outside, just yards from your kitchen, to harvest foods grown under your conditions, your way, and feeding your body with plants that are still rich with the nutrients they were just busy creating right before you picked them… it’s absolute magic.

In my small apartment, I don’t have the luxury of space to enjoy a bursting garden, so I have a few herbs potted on my patio (oregano and thyme) that I’m trying to keep alive. However, my parents have a huge and beautiful garden that they’re constantly improving, turning over, planting new amazing foods. Every time I go to their house, I spend time in the garden. It’s so peaceful, being surrounded by such lush greenery that exists to nourish us. Not feeding us – nourishing us – every cell, through some of the most mineral-, vitamin-, and nutrient-dense foods available.

Nasturtium, Japanese eggplant, cilantro, malabar spinach, tomatoes, scallion, Thai basil, lavender

This past Friday, I had my whole family over for dinner (which I shared in my Instagram stories, if you caught it). Before dinner, I called my mom and asked if she could bring me a sampling of herbs from the garden. And boy, she delivered. What she brought completely blew me away – Japanese eggplant, vine-fresh tomatoes, fennel fronds, delicate cilantro, Thai basil stems with leaves and flowers, lavender, huge nasturtium stems bursting with flowers and leaves, an enormous scallion, and malabar spinach – pictured above. I’m so grateful for this abundance.

Ironically, I had just purchased some ripe tomatoes on Friday before dinner. I whipped up this salad with my store-bought tomatoes while waiting for the plump, garden-fresh ones to turn red.

Marinated tomatoes is a favorite of ours – it’s an easy, impressive, delicious, and refreshing dish that can be made in so many ways. This specific variation includes one of my favorite herb blends – zaatar – a Middle Eastern spice that I fell in love with while I lived in Israel. It has been a kitchen staple since I returned nearly 5 years ago. Zaatar as a spice blend is made up of an herb called zaatar, which is related to oregano, mixed with sesame seeds, sumac, and salt. Some spice shops sell different variations, like a garlic zaatar that I had a real moment with for a while. Here, I’m using your average zaatar blend that you can pick up from most Middle Eastern markets or online.

This salad is a relatively quick and scrumptious treat. Upon tasting for the first time, my boyfriend declared that I do magical things with vegetables – but it’s not difficult to work magic when you’re using high-quality plant-based ingredients.

Tip: Don’t put your tomatoes in the refrigerator. Store them on the counter to avoid changing the consistency.

I created this marinated tomato treat using the herbs and greenery from my Mom and Dad’s garden along with some leftover homemade balsamic dressing from our dinner together.

Can’t wait for these tomatoes to ripen

I’ve found that marinated tomatoes are best served with good bread. I love sourdough – in fact, it’s pretty much the only bread I eat. I find that naturally-leavened bread (e.g., sourdough) is much easier on my gluten-sensitive belly. Bonus: it’s tastier, too. I haven’t been baking very much lately; instead I’ve been picking up Noble Bread from our farmer’s market. My favorite is their seed loaf. I’m bringing my sourdough starter back to life and can’t wait to get back to it. In fact, I just found a nice rattan proofing basket for only .99 cents at Goodwill!

So, I took a slice of bread out of the freezer, toasted it in Kerrygold butter, and piled it high with marinated tomatoes, spinach, herbs, scallions, and parmesan. Swoon.

This salad can be made in so many ways, with so many greens. If you don’t have the exact ones here, don’t worry. You can substitute basil, oregano, or any herb you like, and if you don’t have spinach or nasturtium leaves, you can use arugula instead. That’s the beauty of this salad – it’s so easy, flexible, and open to your imaginative interpretations. Another favorite variation is to dice the tomatoes and mix with red onions when marinating.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! If you make it, let me know – you can snap a picture and post it on Instagram, tagging @nourishingwild and #nourishingwild