Every patio table in the Algarve in August seems to have the same salad: tomatoes, onion, a green pepper, olives and a fistful of oregano, dressed with nothing more than good olive oil and a splash of vinegar. It is one of the least complicated recipes on this site, and when the tomatoes are really good, one of the best things you can eat all summer.
There is genuinely no trick here beyond using ripe, in-season tomatoes and not overworking them. Everything gets cut, tossed with the dressing, and left to sit for ten minutes so the tomatoes give up a little of their juice and the whole bowl turns into its own light, garlicky-adjacent sauce at the bottom. Along the coast you will see oregano used more than parsley, which is part of what gives this its distinct Algarve character rather than tasting like a generic tomato salad.
Serve it alongside almost anything grilled; it is especially good next to our Bacalhau à Lagareiro (recipe on the site) or piri-piri chicken. If you like this kind of raw, olive-oil-forward vegetable dish, our Salada de Pimentos Assados and Gazpacho Alentejano (recipe on the site) are two more ways Portuguese cooking makes a tomato go a long way.
Salada de Tomate a Algarvia Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 large ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 1 small cucumber, sliced
- 1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 12 to 15 black olives (Portuguese or Kalamata)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried oregano)
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Arrange the tomato wedges, cucumber, onion, and bell pepper in a wide, shallow serving bowl or platter.
- Scatter the olives, parsley, and oregano over the top.
- In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, a pinch of sea salt, and black pepper.
- Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss very gently, just enough to coat everything without bruising the tomatoes.
- Let the salad rest at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before serving, so the flavors meld and the tomatoes release a little of their juice into the dressing.
- Taste and adjust salt just before serving, since tomatoes vary a lot in sweetness.
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