Tomato and Horseradish Salad

One of the most gratifying things for a home cook is to scrimmage a meal together out of leftovers. It’s enormously satisfying to ransack the fridge and use up what lies under plastic wrap or is lounging about in the vegetable drawer; it always provides a relaxed, unforced creativity. I certainly would never have thought of using horseradish as a dressing for a tomato salad if I hadn’t wanted to find a way to use up a horseradish root staring beseechingly at me every time I opened the fridge.

While obviously excellent with beef, this is wonderful with any oily fish, too.

To eat this at its best, leave time for the tomatoes to steep in the piquant dressing before serving.

Ingredients

• Horseradish root – 1/4 cup finely grated

• Raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar – 2 tablespoons

• Regular olive oil – 3 tablespoons

• Sea salt flakes or kosher salt – 1 teaspoon

• Sugar – a pinch

• Cherry or grape tomatoes – 1 1/4 pounds (3 1/2–4 cups), halved across the equator

• Italian parsley – leaves from a small bunch, very roughly chopped, to give 1 cup loosely packed

At My Table by Nigella Lawson

Directions

1 Stir the grated horseradish and vinegar together in a small bowl, then add the oil, salt, and sugar and whisk a little with a fork, just to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for a while, if time permits.

2 Tumble the halved tomatoes into a large mixing bowl, add the dressing, and mix everything gently but thoroughly together. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave for 30–60 minutes, by which time the tomatoes will have given out their fruity juices, which duly mingle with the fierceness of the horseradish.

3 Toss the tomatoes tenderly in their bowl, then add the parsley leaves and toss again gently. Decant to a smaller serving bowl or a large plate and take to the table.