Pair Your Tomatoes With This Summer Stone Fruit For The Most Refreshing Salad

Many summer salads take advantage of the peak produce that runs abundant throughout the season — ditching the usual leafy greens to embrace full bowls of fruits and veggies. There's the omnipresent watermelon salads that swap the greens for melons and cheese, and the classic cherry tomato Caprese salad, which, despite being enjoyed all year round, takes advantage of sweet and juicy summer tomatoes. The tomato and plum salad is another example, and one that doubles down on two of the season's most sought after fruits in the produce aisle by pairing tomatoes with none other than stone fruit. 

Sliced uniformly and tossed in a light vinaigrette, the soft textures and sweet flavors make for a refreshing salad that's the epitome of summer snacking. But, while entirely delicious as is, there are certainly ways to make it more interesting. Tasting Table's plum and tomato salad recipe, for instance, pairs the two with goat cheese and arugula pesto while opting for a combination of raspberry vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil for the dressing.

Other variations play with more summer produce, tossing in sliced cucumbers or swapping the usual heirloom tomatoes for cherry tomatoes and thinly sliced red onion, while others take full advantage of the wide variety of herbs like mint and scallions that also find their stride in the warm season. Of course, mozzarella cheese is an obvious addition, too, but you could take note from vegan Caprese salads and substitute it for tofu instead.

How you serve your plum and tomato salad is up to you. While it will taste good no matter what you toss it with, there are some better pairings to serve on the table next to it than others. Given the use of stone fruit in this salad, you'd be right to pour something along the lines of a chenin blanc or riesling with this salad — or any summer wine cocktail made from either of the two given the salad's emphasis on summer produce. If it's a BBQ you're hosting, it'd do well served alongside a nicely charred plate of grilled chicken or fish. But, that isn't to say this refreshing salad won't stand up to a serving of fried chicken, steak, or tacos, either.

If you want to get even more creative and make good use of your outdoor pizza oven, you could take inspiration from Tasting Table recipe developer, Michelle Bottalico's Caesar salad pizza recipe. The good thing about this salad being free from greens is that it can actually be added to the pizza crust and baked along with it. In this case, both the tomatoes and plums will soften and brown as the cheese — be it mozzarella or goat — melts and bubbles. Pesto would work as a wonderful base in this scenario, along with a nice garnish of fresh arugula, tossed in the same salad vinaigrette used in Tasting Table's tomato and plum salad recipe.