5 Ingredients or Fewer

The Wedding's Over Simple Salad

September 12, 2011
4
4 Ratings
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

Turn out the lights . . . . We had a lot of beautiful green onions left over from the weekend's two weddings. And even more tomatoes. Always quick to perceive the obvious, I thought: salad time. For an added layer of flavor, we grilled the onions before adding them to the tomatoes. Clearly, this is a wonderful way to use up a summertime abundance.

I'd intended to toss it with a nice vinaigrette, but after we added the grilled onions to the tomatoes and tossed them together with some more olive oil (be generous), we realized that it and the heavenly juices created their own dressing. The sweetness of the caramelized onions, the tart of the tomatoes, the oliveness and back of the throat pepperiness of the olive oil, you'll gather your fingertips to your lips and say MMMMMMWAH!

This would also be wonderful with garlic scapes or ramps.

By the way, when I say a lot, I mean a serious whole lot, such as, if you're a little short, please get in touch. We can work something out. Say, both in trade for a week in your vacation home. In the Bahamas. In a Montana January. Really, this is that good. —boulangere

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Ingredients
  • 12 green onions, trimmed and greens cut to 6" above the bulb (keep the rest of the greens for something else)
  • 4 large tomatoes, 1/2 " dice
  • 4 ounces olive oil
  • Sea or kosher salt and pepper
  • Pinch of red pepper flakes
Directions
  1. Place the trimmed green onions in the bowl in which you intend to toss the final salad. Add the olive oil and some salt and pepper. Toss around with tongs or your hands. Arrange them on a grill, and roll them around as they start to char. While they're grilling, dice the tomatoes and add them to the salad bowl along with some salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. When the onions are done, add them to the tomatoes. Toss everything together. Taste, and adjust the seasonings if you need to.
  2. Serve with some good bread to sop up all those heavenly juices, open a chilled bottle of wine, and you've just created a feast.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

25 Reviews

boulangere March 23, 2015
Thanks, LBF
LeBec F. March 23, 2015
Love the dish but esp. your sense of humor! Laughter is the best!
lapadia March 5, 2013
YES! A wonderful burst of flavor with every bite...hmmm, I missed it the first time around.
boulangere March 11, 2013
Thank you! I still make this whenever I have an abundance of the one or the other.
growinggourmand October 2, 2011
So simple, but sOOOOOOOOOO delightful! It is so wonderful how grilling really enhances the flavor of these veggies in a way that is pleasantly surprising!
ashleychasesdinner September 17, 2011
The recipe title is great!! I love the simplicity of putting together a few really good ingredients! Thanks for sharing!
boulangere September 17, 2011
Oh, you're so kind. We were honestly amazed by the combination of the grilled scallions, tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper. We'd intended to dress them with a good vinaigrette, and decided they had produced their own dressing.
hardlikearmour September 14, 2011
Yum! Love grilled green onions. This sounds divine and I can just imagine eating it with a big ol' hunk of batard.
boulangere September 14, 2011
Your imagination is pretty perfect, I'd say.
boulangere September 19, 2011
By the way, your grilled onion salsa was inspirational here. We have two cases left that we're going to grill off and freeze tomorrow.
wssmom September 13, 2011
Double MMMMMMWAH!!!
boulangere September 13, 2011
Back at you!
wssmom September 14, 2011
Made this last night, it was .... incredible.
boulangere September 14, 2011
Oh, thank you, so good to know.
Lizthechef September 13, 2011
Looks like what I will be shopping for at the Coronado Farmers Market this afternoon to go with our grilled pork tenderloin tonight.
boulangere September 13, 2011
Oooooooh, that sounds so good!
aargersi September 13, 2011
Hey come on down here and bring those onions - vacation by the pool - wssmom can be in charge of drinks, everyone else can come make snacks ... Henry can come over and be in charge of being cute!
boulangere September 13, 2011
Packing . . . .
wssmom September 13, 2011
Me too!!!
aargersi September 13, 2011
we just cleaned the deck and watered the plants!!
drbabs September 13, 2011
can i glom onto this party?
boulangere September 13, 2011
Road trip!
boulangere September 13, 2011
Open to all!
inpatskitchen September 13, 2011
I love that tomatoes "create" their own dressing and do it often... lovely salad!!
boulangere September 13, 2011
We were a little surprised. Thank you, ipk!