Farmer Cheese and Tomato Salad
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cooking Time: None
- Serves: 8
Growing up, this was one of the staples my family prepared for shabbat lunch. Since we almost always had dairy lunches (with the rare break for a meat shabbat lunch when it was really cold out and my mom made a lusciously velvety, rich cholent, but that’s a recipe for another time), this salad, sporting fresh herbs and plump tomatoes, was a refreshing break from some of the heavier cheese dishes we usually served. This salad also holds up well in the refrigerator, so it can easily be made a day in advance.
- Part of Meal: Salad
- Food Type: Dairy
- Service Temp: Room Temperature
- 2 8 oz. packages (or 1 16 oz. package) of unsalted Farmers Cheese (may use lowfat)
- 3 medium ripe plum tomatoes
- 2 scallions
- salt
- pepper
- nutmeg (optional)
- extra virgin olive oil
- milk (optional)
- spicy paprika (optional)
- Empty the package(s) of farmers cheese into a bowl. With a fork, break it up into a creamy consistency (the curds should be small).
- Rinse the scallions well and remove any dead or black leaves, as well as the tip of the root. Thinly slice the scallions, starting at the white end and working your way into the green part. Add the chopped scallion to the bowl with the cheese.
- Rinse the plum tomatoes well and cut them first in half lengthwise (from root to tip), then take each half and cut them into quarters, lengthwise. At this point, you may remove the seeds and tomato water (yes, it's called tomato water, not juice) and discard them.
- Cut a medium dice from the tomato quarters, first by cutting strips lengthwise, and then turning the strips sideways and cutting cubes out of the strips. The size of the dice is up to you. Add the chopped tomato to the cheese and scallions.
- Fold the mixture together, incorporating the cheese, scallions and tomatoes.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. You can also add just a pinch of nutmeg (the nutmeg should be just a very subtle hint—you know it's there, but you don't "taste" it).
- Drizzle salad with one teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil at a time, incorporating it into the salad to create a creamy texture and infuse the salad with a bit of rich olive flavor. If you wish to achieve a more creamy consistency, you may add a little bit of milk at this stage as well.
- You can garnish the salad with a light sprinkling of spicy paprika to give it a burst of color and a very subtle spicy kick.