This month for the Cottage Cooking Club I made Tomatoes with Thai Dressing – I love Thai flavors, and I also love tomatoes – and fortunately had plenty from the garden.
Like many of the “raw assembly” recipes, this was simple to put together – designed to highlight the flavor of the tomatoes, while adding something a bit more interesting. The dressing is made first – with a bit of hot(ish) red chile, garlic, balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, sesame oil and honey. The suggested herb was mint – but I forgot mine, so I went with one of my favorite herb combinations in Thai food – fresh basil and cilantro.
To this, I added my halved cherry tomatoes along with a little salt and pepper.
Alone, this is a gorgeous dish. The Thai tomatoes shared the table with a fresh/charred corn salad, a tian of summer vegetables and a cheese platter designed to compliment the nectarine cinnamon-basil nectar that I’d made the weekend before (we had cambazola and manchego – yum!).
Since all of the meals were made from farm/garden fresh vegetables and herbs picked that day – it was difficult to find a favorite – but I will certainly say that when I was offering “go-packages”, the tomatoes topped the list.
They were refreshing and the complex dressing complimented the sweetness of the tomatoes. If I were making this again, I would certainly want to add the mint to the mix. I would also probably either substitute the sesame oil with some fish sauce – or at least reduce it and add some. That would make this dish a bit more Thai to me – and I think would work well with the other flavors.
There were other recipes that I had planned to make this month, and others that I had on my short list as well. I hope to get back to those when things slow down a but. But until then – you and I can visit the Cottage Cooking Club, and find out how well the other dish choices went over with our members this month. Fortunately, members often make different recipes during the month – so you can see a preview of any recipes you missed.
dulceshome 
Dear Candy, what a lovely spread of delicious vegetable dishes you prepared – love the color theme as well. I always find it quite difficult to get the right props around here for a colorful a look to my table as your does have. Happy to read that you enjoyed the Thai tomatoes with the mix of fresh basil and cilantro (even without the mint) – I did add some grated fresh ginger and local runny honey – not too shabby either.
Have a wonderful Sunday & thank you for participating in The Cottage Cooking Club!
Andrea
Thank you as always for your kind comments, Andrea! Even when I don’t get to all of the recipes for our group, you inspire me to have more veggie-centric meals!
Great looking trio of vegetable sides you got there! I enjoyed the Thai tomatoes dish too, great with bbq wings!
Sounds delicious!! Definitely a great combo – mmmm… makes me want some!
Candy, seeing your photo of the tomatoes on FB really evoked summer and summer food for me! And looking at that spread–whooo! I’m hungry and I bet your guests really enjoyed all of that food! I changed up the dressing on the tomatoes a bit (forgot to mention it in my post) as I’d run out of balsamic vinegar. I thought it was strange to have it in a “thai” dressing anyway and was happy to sub all rice vinegar instead. I can see adding some fish sauce would be great and really up the umami quotient! Stay cool–it’s been HOT!
I like your ideas. I think I’d really enjoy that combo – but again, hard to beat fresh-picked tomatoes!!
I think you’re in WA? I was up there for work for a couple of days each for the last two weeks. It’s fall now!! This week was chilly (at least for someone from AZ!)
Hope you enjoy your long weekend!
Hi Candy, did not realize we lived in the same part of the country, will let you know when I am back. Summer tomatoes are the best, every time I buy a pint we usually devour it the same day. Love the way your table looks with all your colorful veggie drives, this was a great month.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you! Yep, they are the best. But time marches on – that corn I made was the last from our local farm for the year – but fun since it’s seasonal. Thanks!!!
After reading everyone’s posts I have decided that one cannot take a bad pictures of tomatoes. Yours are gorgeous. And, isn’t it fun to eat food the same day that you pick it? Be still my heart. Your bounty looks beautiful. Still don’t know how you accomplish all the things you do. Nice job. Although it has been a magnificient summer, I am looking forward to the Fall. You, too?
I am sooo looking forward to fall. I do like summer, it’s fun. But if I had to choose, fall is my favorite season. Hopefully it will slow down too (it probably wont, but a girl can hope!). I might even get to stay home and cook one of these weeks!
You’ll have to let me (us) know when you get back to CO. I’m really hoping I can get up there and finally meet you in person!! XO
What a fabulous spread with all of those gorgeous vegetable dishes (and the nectarine, cinnamon, basil nectar sounds delicious). I’m glad you enjoyed the Thai salad. I thought the dressing a little odd- using fish sauce is a great idea – but I think anything would taste good with your fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. See you next month.
Thanks!! I am usually the one in my family that can be counted on to make a lot of vegetable dishes, so it’s fun. When I gave my friends a choice – the overwhelming answer was “vegetarian” – can’t beat it, especially in the summer.
I do love making home-made preserves – especially ones that are a little different (though you can never beat home-made strawberry!). It has been a hit!
Lovely looking spread! The nectar you speak of, sounds interestingly delicious!
I actually wrote a blog post about it! 🙂
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I sort of ignored the Thai part of the recipe title and found I enjoyed them a lot, whatever their provenance. 🙂 Your dinner table looks so inviting!
Thanks Teresa!! Yes, I was happy to have another fresh tomato recipe for the month! It would be difficult to mess them up anyway.
Have a great weekend!! XO
I’ve been looking for inspiration for using our abundance of garden cherry tomatoes; I think I will try this dish (I have the book, but need to remember to use it more!).
Hey Karen!
I also love the tomato bruschetta and just made (again) the roasted cherry tomatoes. They only take 30 minutes and are delicious. They will be on crostini later today. I have another recipe too with feta, chickpeas and herbs I make. So yummy!
Good luck with all of your tomato dishes!!
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