Tomato, Onion & Avocado Salad

Nothing says summer like a fresh salad like this one. Take a trip to your local farmer's market right now and buy the ingredients for this dish.

Are you home yet?

Okay. Good. Now get ready to read the recipe for your new go-to side dish that will impress your friends over and over this summer. You must be sure to use the freshest tomatoes and avocados you can find. When there are so few ingredients in a salad like this, they have to be perfect. You really want their flavors to stand out. Here is the recipe I adapted from Simply Recipes, an amazing blog written by Elise Bauer. You have to take a moment to thumb through her index of recipes. I am positive you will find something you like, aside from this recipe of course.

Ingredients:
2 pints cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 of a large red onion, sliced
2 avocados, peeled and cut into bite-size chunks
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
Red wine vinegar
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Place the sliced tomatoes on a serving platter. Arrange the slices of red onion and the chunks of avocado over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with parsley, garlic and oregano. Drizzle everything with red wine vinegar and olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.

I can guarantee you that I will be making this salad a few more times this summer. I am thinking about making it for lunch, all by itself, one day. Tonight I chose to make it as a side dish with a frozen pizza. What can I say? I didn't get home from work until 7:15pm - and on a Friday, that just sucks. Shaun was lucky he got this out of me.

It is so hard for me to find avocados at their peak but I did it when I bought the ingredients for this salad. I lucked out with the tomatoes also, although that is not so hard to do. The ones I ate in this salad were bursting with a sweetness that popped in your mouth. When you combine those tomatoes with the creaminess of the avocado and the tang of the red wine vinegar, your mouth just tingles with the flavors. It's like you can't stop eating it.

Let me know if you agree.

Tutti Mangia!