Gazing Into the Salad Bowl

I have had a shocking case of writing block for weeks. I keep giving myself the same advice I give other blocked bloggers. "It all starts with the camera! Take some photos and use them to inspire your words and shape your post."

Yeah right. How annoying does that sound when you're in the pits of feeling you've got nothing new to say about anything any more -- when you're feeling uninspired. 

But meditate on that sorry thought for a moment -- I'm uninspired -- and it uncovers a couple of human foibles called arrogance and blindness. I mean, really. I only have to open my eyes and get over myself for one moment -- just look in the salad bowl for crying out loud! -- and Be Inspired by what's right in front of my eyes, if only I would give it some attention and appreciation. So let's just gaze into the salad bowl for a moment and be amazed, enthralled and inspired.

Before we get into the salads, let's admire the ingredients. Tomatoes have been the stars of the salad bowl recently. They're just like people really. Some are a bit gnarly, some polished and neat, some sweet, others a bit on the harsh, sour side. Some are a bit dodgy-looking but the best ever inside. These were all planted from Kings Seeds's heritage seeds.

The Oaxacan Jewels -- the orange gnarly ones -- are my favourites. They're colourful, very sweet tasting, quirky and plentiful.


Really Good Tomato Salad

Gazing first into the blue glass bowl, we have Really Good Tomato salad = a selection of ripe tomatoes + slithers of red onion + a green onion + a shake of olive oil + a few drips of balsamic vinegar + a sprinkle of salt. Great flavours dancing on the tongue. Here's a story about the original Really Good Tomato salad.

Salsa Fresca

Finely diced tomatoes, chillies, red onion, green onion, chilli oil, and generous squeezes of lime juice make an amazing salsa for scooping up with crunchy corn chips.

Salsamole

Staying with the Mexican theme, if you're pressed for time, avocadoes and tomatoes with a good dash of salt and a load of lime juice make a mighty fine substitute for salsa and guacamole.

Dripping with Pearls

Moghrabieh or Lebanese couscous will give you the pearls in this recipe. I boiled them in salted water for about 20 minutes until they were tender but still with some bite. Tossed them with tomatoes, green onions, cooked sweetcorn and carrots. Slick with olive oil, dribble over some red wine vinegar, and season with sumac.

Almost Greek Salad

Is it still Greek Salad without feta and olives? Probably not, but cucumber, tomato, red onion, green onion and mint with olive oil and tarragon vinegar is as Mediterranean as it gets. Try it with grilled lamb chops to Greek it up.

Simply Tomatoes

There is a point when the tomatoes are so perfectly sweet and tart, meaty and juicy that the only preparation they need is chopping into bite sized pieces. When the harvest is coming thick and fast, we eat them with pretty much every meal.

There is something so adorable about Roma tomatoes.Their shapely bodies, and perky hair-dos always make me happy.

So I guess I wasn't really uninspired at all. I probably just needed a bit of time off writing. Now I've started again, my brain wheels are spinning and I'm thinking about writing about the peppers stuffed with spicy lamb that we just ate for dinner.