The truth of the matter is, I had a pretty glamorized idea about how this was all going to go down. I mean, in my head, this recipe is really pretty simple and straightforward. So I really didn’t think that I would need that many cracks at testing this before sharing it with you guys. But unfortunately, my hopes for having this go smoothly pretty much flew out of the window immediately.
The first thing that went wrong, was that I forgot to photograph all of the ingredients. Well, actually, the real first thing is that I really don’t like photographing recipes (as I have mentioned before). For some reason, I just feel a little too impatient for the whole “photograph every single step” thing. Which is why you will notice that I did not photograph every single step.
So when I realized, or I should say, when Ryan so kindly pointed out to me that I forgot to include the cucumber in my ingredients photographs, well, that was really the beginning of the end. Almost immediately after that, I realized that I was marinating the onions with all of the other ingredients, and not just with the vinegar and salt as I was supposed to (but luckily I had bought extra ingredients, so I was able to start over). Then there were some discrepancies about whether to add parsley or to not add parsley. Then I over vinegar-ed the dressing, and then I over-salted the salad. And then I cried. I’m only kidding! I didn’t cry, but I was pretty close to throwing in the towel at that point.
Parisian Tomato Salad for Two 3 Small Heirloom Tomatoes / chopped 1/2 Cucumber / peeled, cored and chopped 1/3 Sweet Onion / very thinly sliced 4-6 Large Fresh Basil Leaves / torn 1/2 tbsp. Fresh Parsley / chopped (optional) 6-8 Black Olives / chopped Freshly Ground Pepper / to season Heaping 1/4 tsp. Kosher Salt 1/2 tbsp. Vinegar 2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil Before doing anything else, very thinly slice your onion, set it in a bowl and add the kosher salt and vinegar. Let this mixture sit while you prepare the rest of your ingredients, about 10 minutes. (The vinegar should help to break down the strong flavor of the onion just a bit.) And here is the really great part of this salad - once your onions have marinated, just add all of your other ingredients into the same bowl, and gently toss together. Taste for seasoning, adjust as needed, and enjoy.
Lo and behold, somehow I managed to power through, and I was able to pull it together to share this recipe with you all. And while I would like to refer to this as “the best Parisian tomato salad that you will ever eat,” after all of my calamities, I am feeling a little more confident calling it “most likely the best Parisian tomato salad that you will ever eat.” But all of my self-pity aside, this salad really is delicious, and that I can promise you. Just please don’t ask me to retake those photos.