Smoked Blue Cheese Tomato Salad Ready in 5 Minutes

This five-minute fresh tomato salad with smoked blue cheese is simple enough for a weeknight and elegant enough for guests. Make it while tomatoes are at their peak. A great fresh tomato needs only a splash of aged balsamic, good olive oil, salt, pepper and a scattering of smoked blue cheese.

This weekend my mother set out on a small adventure: she decided to simplify her life.

Make that a lot more simple.

A few months ago she chose to give up running water and most electricity and move into a small building on our property so she could try living with fewer modern conveniences without committing to a new home. This weekend was the move-in.

My children have always called her Nana; lately we’ve added a new title: Free Range Nana. It fits.

For the move she harvested a generous bowl of ripe salad tomatoes from her old garden and brought them over. To welcome her properly, I assembled a salad that delivers big flavor with almost no effort.

Everyone knows a really good tomato needs very little. This fresh tomato salad celebrates that simplicity, and Free Range Nana approved.

Fresh Tomato Salad

I sliced those perfect, ruby tomatoes, fanned the rounds on a platter and finished them with a drizzle of aged balsamic, a splash of olive oil, and a seasoning of sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. The finishing flourish was a generous scattering of crumbled smoked blue cheese and a handful of chopped parsley.

Smoked. Blue. Cheese.

If you haven’t tried smoked blue cheese and you enjoy regular blue, seek it out. Its smoky depth elevates the bright acidity of ripe tomatoes. A personal anecdote: my sister Jessamine thought she didn’t like blue cheese until she tasted a bit of smoked blue on pizza at my house. She was instantly hooked and even suggested splitting a whole wheel with me. It’s that persuasive.

My favorites include Rogue Creamery’s Smokey Blue, smoked slowly over hazelnut shells, and Moody Blue from RothKäse, smoked over fruitwoods—both bring an irresistible smoky-creamy tang.

Buy some, crumble it over the tomatoes, and warn your diners: conversation may pause when forks hit the plate. Once it’s finished, the chat will pick up again with appreciative exclamations about how perfect the salad was and questions about where to get that cheese.

Make this salad while summer tomatoes are available. No amount of cheese will rescue an off-season January tomato, so enjoy it in its season.

Fresh Tomato Salad with Smoked Blue Cheese | Five Minute Recipe

Rebecca Lindamood

This five-minute salad is fast enough for a weeknight and pretty enough for company. Use the best tomatoes you can find and finish them with aged balsamic, olive oil, salt, pepper and smoked blue cheese.

Ingredients

Per Serving:

1 medium to large salad or beefsteak tomato
1 teaspoon aged balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon smoked blue cheese crumbles
chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Instructions

Core and slice the tomato. Arrange the slices on a plate, slightly fanned. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Scatter smoked blue cheese crumbles over the top and finish with chopped parsley if you like. Serve immediately.

Nutritional information is an estimate provided for convenience. Calculate nutrition using the exact ingredients you use with your preferred nutrition tool.