Welcome to June! The third Thursday is World Tapas Day…a celebration of little plates. Round up your prettiest tomatoes and make a plateful of delicious tomates jarra marra. This is a popular salad served in many restaurants, particularly those featuring Moroccan inspired dishes from the South of Spain. Fresh tomatoes, spices and a simple oil and vinegar dressing. It’s wonderful!
Leaning over the sink while eating a juicy tomato sandwich is just one of my favorite ways to enjoy eating tomatoes. Ensalada caprese, with slices of tomatoes and fresh mozzarella is another. When we were served a platter of sliced and seasoned tomatoes in one of our favorite restaurants for pinchos morunos (see our version here), we added yet another version to the list.
Right now in the markets we’re finding lots of Roma tomatoes as well as varieties which look like heirlooms. When you slice into them they’re juicy and meaty, with a gorgeous color that screams, “eat me now!” It’s a little early for local vine ripened tomatoes, but we’re not unhappy with these.
There’s no secret to this dish, just use the best tomatoes you can find and cut them into slices, quarters or halves depending on the type of tomato. There’s no need to measure either. Drizzle on your favorite olive oil and vinegar. Here in Spain they use sherry vinegar and I like that best, but we’ve also used regular and white balsamic and enjoyed them. Use fresh or dried oregano and shake on the ground cumin at will! The traditional garnish of black olives and chopped parsley adds a colorful touch.
Ingredients
- One or two tomatoes per person sliced or quartered. For cherry tomatoes, use a small handful per person, cut in half.
- Olive oil
- Sherry vinegar
- ground cumin
- garlic powder look for roasted garlic powder
- oregano fresh or dried
- salt and pepper
- black olives for garnish
- parsley fresh or dried for garnish
Instructions
- Arrange the tomatoes on a platter. Drizzle with olive oil and sherry vinegar.
- Season with ground cumin, oregano, salt and pepper to taste.
- Garnish with black olives and parsley.
- Serve with crusty bread for sopping up the juices and dressing.
Other tomato recipes you’ll enjoy:
Delicious Tomatoes jarra Marra , yes you are right tomatoes are abundant and coming to store in Texas. I too buy Roma tomatoes a lot, love to try this version thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop, pinning, tweeting and featuring on this week’s hop.
Thank you, I really appreciate it 🙂
Beautiful photographs – and what a delicious recipe! Your Tomatoes Jarra Marra look irresistible! And my favourite way to eat tomatoes is in a juicy tomato sandwich too 🙂 Would love for you to share this at the Hearth and Soul Hop link party, open now!
Thanks, April 🙂 I’m on my way….