Tomato Feta Mint Salad

Tomato Feta & Mint Salad is a gorgeous yet simple salad to begin our lovely pre-spring here in sunny Florida combining juicy and delicious red grape tomatoes and lovely yellow cocktail tomatoes with crisp sliced cucumbers, red salad onions, Feta, and mint.

It’s a gorgeous day here in Sunny Haines City, Florida and I am harvesting some delicious tomatoes today and thinking  I have a little spring breakout planned for the blog. It’s time loves, this Florida girl has waited long enough for everyone to thaw out up North.

This Tomato Feta & Mint Salad was so simple to dream up today, all I had to do is look at my gorgeous little yellow cocktail tomatoes,  juicy red grape tomatoes and mint in my garden to know a fantastic salad idea when I see one.

It’s been a very odd day, I have thought of the last 3 and half years I spent here at our humble abode located among the citrus farms feeling kind of sad knowing soon I will be leaving it all behind to go back to South Florida. It’s a bitter-sweet day knowing changes are coming in a very short time…

When I first moved here I really could not grasp our location, this city girl was very lost…The nearest Publix was a bit of a drive, not 5 minutes away from our home in Boca Raton. I hated the clothing stores because I was a little fashionista stuck shopping at stores that catered to the locals, not fashion lovers. My first year was such a wake-up call.

I learned to dance under the stars instead of the dance floor…. to get a little dirty in my garden…to let go of all the unnecessary shopping for high-end clothing, shoes, and fancy purses. I learned to love my blue jeans, boots and yes t-shirts.

Now it’s almost time to go home to South Florida and I’m a little sad to leave. Change, however, is a necessity in life and we all learn to adapt…Kind of like the prelude to Spring today with this recipe…Let’s celebrate the little harvest at my humble little abode while we still can…

 Tomato Feta & Mint Salad 

• 3 cups of grape tomatoes, halved
• 12 yellow cocktail tomatoes, halved
• 1 medium cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 1 small red salad onion, thinly sliced
• 4 ounces crumbled feta
• 1/3 cup of small mint leaves, or chopped
• kosher salt, to taste
• freshly ground pepper, to taste

Lemon-Mint Vinaigrette

• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup  fresh mint leaves
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

PREPARATION

Add fresh lemon juice,  Dijon mustard, sugar, minced garlic, virgin olive oil, fresh mint, salt and ground pepper, blend till smooth.

Note: Warm tomatoes have a more enhanced flavor then refrigerated tomatoes, be sure to let tomatoes come to room temperature before making the salad.

Before getting started on vegetables, be sure to rinse them clean. I like using a bottle mister with a solution of 20% white vinegar and 80% purified water. It does not change the taste and works wonders for any bacteria that may be on plants. Rinse vegetables thoroughly afterward.

Using a knife suitable for tomatoes, slice the clean red grape and cocktail tomatoes in half.

Using a paring knife or vegetable peeler peel the clean medium cucumber, slice, and slice again in halves.

Thinly slice 1 small red salad onion into rounds, if the onion is a little larger slice in half then thinly slice the onion.

Place tomatoes, cucumbers, thinly sliced onions, feta cheese, and mint leaves in a large enough glass salad bowl to hold all ingredients listed. Season with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Serve undressed with dressing on the side for your guests.