There is no ingredient that is more prolific in New Orleans in the Summer than the beloved Creole Tomato. All locals wait in angst for the fruit (yes, I call it a fruit) to start hitting their favorite grocery’s shelves.

I love tomatoes all year round. I will eat them canned, jarred, non-local and any other which way. I ESPECIALLY love them when it’s summer time in New Orleans. During this time, I will purchase three more fresh, local/Creole tomatoes than I need so I can snack on one sliced with just a little fresh cracked pepper and sea salt.

If you follow my instagram, you can see that my go-to Creole Tomato dish is the Caprese. Fresh Mozzarella, home-grown basil and the Creole Tomato are made for each other. It’s easy, delicious, and everyone knows about it.

Right now, however, I’m sharing another easy, delicious, light tomato recipe that everyone will love just as much, if not more. I just happened to be having an over-abundance of my “Lime” mint growing so I was trying to figure out what to do with it.

Hmm what to do with so much lime mint?

Most of the ingredients in this dish are pretty basic ones you should have at home. Obviously, using fresh Creole tomatoes, fresh mint and a fresh lemon would make this dish the best it can possibly be, but not everyone can/wants to go that route, so you can make it with any tomato, dried mint and lemon juice if you so desire. I’ll tell ya though, it is better fresh (my way).

Creole Tomato Salad with Mint Dressing

Ingredients:

2 Medium Creole Tomatoes
1/2 Medium Lemon
1.5 TBL Fresh chopped mint
1 TBL Red Wine Vinegar
2 TBL EVOO
Crumbled Feta Cheese
Kosher Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper Corns

Directions:

Cut the tomatoes into wedges (about two small bites per wedge) and arrange close together. Evenly sprinkle crumbled Feta cheese over tomatoes. Add Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Using a spoon, generously drizzle mint vinaigrette over tomato salad. serve immediately.

To Make the Dressing:

Pour red wine vinegar into a non-reactive bowl. Squeeze all juice (make sure not to drop seeds) of half a lemon into bowl. Add fresh chopped mint and stir. SLOWLY add olive oil, whisking constantly, to the mix.