The South’s heirloom tomatoes don’t just have great names—Arkansas Travelers, Spear’s Tennessee Greens, Mortgage Lifters, Cherokee Purples—they also have amazing flavors, putting any standard supermarket hybrid to shame. This stunning salad lets the tomatoes shine, paired with corn and cucumber for refreshing crispness, and all enveloped in a tangy, herb-infused buttermilk dressing.
Recipes
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Green Goddess Buttermilk Dressing
Serves 6
A taste of summer
photo: Peter Frank Edwards
Ingredients
Heirloom Tomato Salad (Serves 6)
6 ripe garden tomatoes, sliced inch thick
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
Kernels from 1 cooked ear Silver Queen corn
2 thick bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
1 tablespoon sliced fresh chives
Green Goddess Buttermilk Dressing (Makes about ¾ cup)
1/3 cup whole buttermilk
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sliced fresh chives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
Preparation
For the Heirloom Tomato Salad:
Arrange the tomato and cucumber slices artfully on a platter. Drizzle with half of the dressing. Sprinkle with the corn kernels and bacon. Garnish with the chives. Serve with extra dressing on the side. (Any remaining dressing will keep, refrigerated, for up to 1 week.)
For the Green Goddess Buttermilk Dressing:
Combine the buttermilk, mayonnaise, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, chives, dill, and tarragon in a blender. Blend until smooth.
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