Heirloom tomato salad with mint oil, feta and Kalamata olives

The mint oil is a revelation

Published originally on my blog on 10 August 2012

Not a day goes by without me eating salad. It is always present on my dinner table, to accompany and complement the main dish or, at times, simply served as the main meal.
During the winter months, it's usually a green salad with thinly sliced apples or pears, pecans or hazelnuts and a pungent vinaigrette, paired with a blue cheese or a hard, Greek kefalotyri.
In the summer, though, everything changes. Tomatoes are in season. The most glorious, sweet fruit known to mankind. A fruit that's so frequently mistaken for a vegetable.

All kinds of tomatoes are used in my kitchen throughout the hot months of summer, not only in salads, but in meat sauces, shrimp saganaki, gemista (Greek stuffed tomatoes and peppers), bulgur pilafs and my scrumptious pizza sauce, which I have to share with you someday.
Roma tomatoes, beefsteak, heirloom, cherry, vine-ripened, you name it. My trips to the market invariably end up with me dragging my feet from the weight of the large bags filled with the red, summer fruit and it is worth it every single time.

This dish came about from my need to consume yet another tomato salad. I wanted to change things up from my usual and beloved Horiatiki (Greek) salad, and wanted to use up some mint I had bought for dolmadakia (Greek stuffed vine leaves) that I made a few days ago. I never throw anything away, I've told you that, right?
Mint and tomatoes are a delectable combination and mint oil is my new favorite thing to make. Olive oil, fresh mint and sea salt; that is all that's needed to create the most aromatic and flavorful concoction that can be used to dress a juicy barbequed steak, a piece of grilled fish and of course, this bright tomato salad.

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Mint Oil, Feta and Kalamata Olives

I can't live without feta so its addition to the salad was inevitable and of course the briny olives completed the picture. Feel free to use any other type of soft goat's cheese you prefer.