Marinated Cherry Tomatoes & Herb Croutons

If you have a generous supply of cherry tomatoes and like croutons, this salad is for you. It is an adaptation of a dish we ate at a quaint sidewalk cafe while visiting Hamburg, Germany, two years ago in August (well before the Covid-19 virus). Recently, I found a similar recipe on a German food blog, “Mediterraner Brotsaladmit Tomate-Mozzarella,” which roughly translates to “Mediterranean bread salad with tomato mozzarella.” Who else would think of naming a salad, “bread salad”? I am renaming the salad with emphasis on the tomatoes. It is a great way to jazz up cherry tomatoes by adding in flavorful croutons (with Mediterranean-type herbs) made with New Orleans-style French bread. Here is my recipe variation.

I have the best luck growing cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes in my garden compared to all the tomato varieties that I’ve planted. These tiny tomatoes come in many shapes and sizes. The rounds ones are cherry tomatoes. They tend to be juicier with thinner skins. The oval ones are grape tomatoes with thicker skins and are the ones usually sold in grocery stores. I like to add a few of these tomatoes to green salads. This recipe features the tomatoes as the main ingredient.

Growing Container Tomatoes — You can do it!

Cherry tomatoes grow in clusters on the vine — almost like grapes. These tomato plants are the first ones to produce tomatoes in early summer and they grow prolifically. I plant these in containers with a rich potting soil and good drainage and they just take off in the spring. So if you have a very, very sunny spot in your yard or balcony; there is no reason why you can’t grow these tomatoes. Just give them lots and lots of water!

The containers are large paint buckets which I purchased at Home Depot. We drilled drainage holes in the bottom of the buckets and added pebbles and sand for drainage (also from Home Depot). I used Miracle-Gro® Potting Soil. It is expensive (so the set up probably costs more that the tomatoes) but this soil has the right blend of soil, peat moss and compost to successfully grow vegetables. And it works! It’s all about the satisfaction of “doing it yourself.”

Recipe

For the tomato part of the salad, I cut the small tomatoes in half and marinated them in lemon juice and olive oil along with green onions. Balsamic vinegar would also be great in this salad.

 

For the croutons, I used New Orleans-style French bread with a course texture. This bread is light and airy and crumbly. Our local grocery store ships this bread in daily from New Orleans and I love to use it for po boys and the leftovers for croutons. It doesn’t matter if the bread is a day or too old. Stale bread works for croutons. The recipe calls for “Mediterranean-style” herbs including rosemary, basil and oregano. I have all of these growing in my garden, but only fresh rosemary is pungent enough to flavor the herb croutons. And so I used dried basil and oregano leaves.

To make the herb croutons, cut the French bread into small cubes. Make a mash of the rosemary, oregano, basil, fresh garlic and salt (optional). Mix in olive oil. Toss with the French bread and place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast the French bread in a hot oven for about 10 minutes (or less). Remove from the oven when the croutons are browned.

Just before serving, finish the salad. Combine the marinated cherry tomatoes with the toasted French bread croutons and add in mozzarella cheese (either shredded or fresh mozzarella balls). I served the salad on some torn lettuce leaves and doused on a little more balsamic vinegar.

This recipe easily serves six people; the quantities can be reduced for fewer people. Of course, you can also increase or decrease the volume of croutons used in this “bread salad” depending on how much you like croutons. Well, I love croutons and included alot in my salad.

This is a great way to use all those cherry tomatoes growing in your garden. And if you are new to gardening, growing cherry tomatoes is a good way to start. Guaranteed success!