Tomato Salad

I was inspired by a friend's way of sharing her perfect bagel, so here is my version of a perfect tomato salad.

Step 1: Pick an orange tomato. The only other option we have here is a slimy red or super tough green. It turns out the orange tomatoes work well because they are more firm than the riper red ones.

Step 2: Slice the tomato into 6 or 7 circles and lay out on your favorite plate. **(those of you who knew me in college, don't judge. These plates continue to serve me well)**

Step 3: Cut a ball of buffalo mozzarella cheese into quarters and then slices and sprinkle over the tomatoes. I find that the older the cheese, the softer and I like me a good soft cheese.

Step 4: Take some palmito (heart of palm) and slice it the same as the cheese. I only found this in chunks in the US which will make it just that much more convenient. Spread this over the tomatoes.

Step 5: This is a new addition to the salad, I found it in a hole in the wall shop while out souvenir window shopping. These are tiny little pickled peppers. Yummy!

They don't have too much of a bite, but just enough to interest the taste buds.

Spread these around on the tomatoes also.

Step 6: The next ingredient is the inspiration behind the dish. I found this super festive vinegar while shopping one day and decided to try it. It was in a tiny bottle, but at that little whole in the wall that I found the peppers, I found the big bottle of my "Taste of India" vinegar. It makes me funny because one of the ingredients is "dedo da moca" which literally translates to "finger of the young girl." Apparently it is a kind of pepper. Probably that red one in the front of the bottle.

Anyway, throw a liberal amount of vinegar over the top of the salad.

Step 7: I am in Brazil, so nothing is ever eaten without a little olive oil. This is not-so-liberally poured on top.

Step 8: This is the final step, and must always be the final step. I learned that the hard way. Grind some pepper and sea salt over the top of the salad. If this is done at any time before, the freshly ground goodness will run off the veggies and right onto the plate. No good.

I like to eat each tomato slice in quarters, making sure that there is one of every kind of ingredient in each bite (name that movie). Near the end the bites get better as I scoop up the shrapnel on the plate.

Sometimes, just to offset the healthy feel of the dish, I dip some plain potato chips in the oil and vinegar mixture left on the plate. But that is just sometimes.

This is my new comfort food. Since the ice cream here is either super expensive (super-tiny serving of HagenDaz for $5) or tastes awful I needed a substitute. There are also no Cheez-Its or pre-made frozen cookie dough. These are my comfort foods of choice. All not good choices, so I am happy to have found a healthy alternative. Go me!