Cook Crook Creation: Heirloom Tomato and Blue Cheese Salad

Nothing gets my attention more during the summer than tomatoes! I am especially a sucker for heirloom tomatoes, the various colors and tart flavor are a treat! I really wanted to showcase the tomatoes as well as make something with a lot of flavor so I pulled out one of my other favorite ingredients: blue cheese.

Blue cheese, especially the quality kind purchased from a specialty store or a grocery with a good cheese case, is strong so a little goes a long way. It also has a natural saltiness so extra salt is often not needed. For this creation, I decided to go very basic: simply red wine vinegar, red onion, olive oil, the blue cheese and tomatoes and some fresh ground black pepper.

The result was a very pretty and fresh tasting salad that went perfect with that evenings grilled ribeye steaks. It reminded me of the days when my mom would bring in ripe tomatoes from out garden, slice them and then crumble blue cheese on top of them. I think the heirlooms are beautiful and their acidity combined with the blue cheese creates a nice bite of flavor.