TOMATO SALAD IDEAS

After factoring in salt, feel free to borrow from a whole world of flavor combinations

After factoring in salt, feel free to borrow from a whole world of flavor combinations.

Here’s how to make a tomato salad: Cut tomatoes, salt them, then drizzle with fruity olive oil.

■ You need only salt and fat to turn a perfect tomato into a perfect tomato salad, because tomatoes are a great source of sweetness and acidity all on their own. But tomatoes aren’t always perfect. Even the most beautiful ones can be watery, seedy or otherwise unfortunate inside (a good life lesson!) Moreover, there are many forms of salt and acid — as well as textures — to consider — to play off the fruit’s juiciness. And, sometimes, no matter how perfect a salad, we just want to mess around.

■ Before we freestyle, know there’s one nonnegotiable: For a tomato to shine no matter how ripe, it needs salt. Cut the tomatoes in any way that moves you, then put them in a bowl and gently sprinkle them with salt (sugar, too, if they really need help).

■ In five to 10 minutes, pale pink liquid will seep out of the

tomatoes, collecting in the bowl. Taste it. That’s the tomato’s water leaving the fruit. What’s left is a relaxed, seasoned and concentrated tomato. Yum. Salt does some other sciencey stuff to make the tomato taste sweeter to us, but you’re already sold on salting, right?

You can save that tomato water for bloody marys or gazpacho, but I like to keep the tomato water as the start of the salad dressing.

Beyond kosher and flaky, there are other forms of salt you could consider. For instance, in the Thai-style Marinated Tomatoes and Cucumbers, the tomatoes sit with fish sauce for a funkier result. Soy sauce would also work. Just give your seasoned tomatoes enough time to concentrate — and shake off their chill if they came from the fridge (refrigerating tomatoes is a personal decision best not broached with even the closest friends).

Now that we have tomatoey tomatoes, we need the dressing part of the salad.

A drizzle of good olive oil is enough, but it’s also an opportunity to play. In the Tomato and Stone Fruit Salad With Seeds, olive oil warming on the stove mingles with sesame and cumin seeds, black pepper and turmeric. As they sizzle together, the spices and seeds get crunchy, their fragrance carries through the kitchen, and the oil takes on all the spices’ flavors. This infused oil and its aromatics are then poured over the salad, where it stops cooking and settles into the fruits’ crannies. The above method is an Indian technique with many names, including tadka and chhonk. The oil brings texture and deep, dark flavor to whatever it lands on. Here, it’s a savory counterpart to the sweetness of tomato and stone fruit — apricot, nectarine, peaches — whatever looks best where you’re shopping.

Beyond olive oil, cheese, cured meat, nuts, oily fish, avocado and spoonable dairies all provide richness to balance the tomatoes. Look to your tomato favorites for inspiration: BLTS, pizza, Greek salad, shakshuka, fattoush, tomato chutney, chilaquiles, bagels and lox, Chinese stir-fried eggs and tomato and so on.

If you leave out salt and fat in your tomato salad, it will feel as if something is missing. The flavors won’t be balanced. But beyond those two elements, let your cravings and your fridge and pantry guide you. Tomatoes take to creamy, crispy, crunchy and silky textures. That could mean seeds, cucumbers, nuts, chips, leaves and beyond. They also can take on some heat — check out the Bloody Mary Tomato Salad doused in hot sauce. And if you’re overwhelmed by the possibilities (it can happen with tomatoes), just remember: tomato, salt, olive oil.

Slagle is a recipe developer and freelance writer. This article appeared in The Washington Post.