Heirloom Tomato Salad with Cashew Basil Ricotta, Olive Oil, Balsamic & Chili

This is a simple and beautiful salad you can make using only a handful of ingredients. You want to wait until you have the most beautiful, in season vine ripened tomatoes for this. Flavourless winter tomatoes will not lend well to a dish that is truly celebrating an ingredient when it's at its best. My friend who is a passionate gardener gave me a basket of several varieties of tomatoes she had grown. There was no way I was going to make anything other than this. The tomatoes cut into varying chunks, my cashew basil ricotta, good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sea salt and black pepper & a bit more fresh basil to garnish. HEAVENLY. I really want to share this salad as an example of HOW to use my ricotta recipe. I also use the ricotta in my Zucchini Involtini.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS
This is less of a recipe than it is a list of ingredients that you can just arrange on a plate. The key to this dish being successful is all in the quality of the ingredients. You must use a delicious olive oil, and a balsamic vinegar with some natural sweetness. You need to spend a bit more for quality  but it is worth it (a little goes a long way too). Alternatively for balsamic, you can buy bottles of balsamic glaze fairly inexpensively...I find I like to use them sparingly in different dishes just as a garnish for a touch of added sweet & acidity. I think that would work great in this salad as well.

THOUGHTS ON SALT
If you have a good quality finishing salt, this is the time to use it. Finishing salts are ususally a coarser grind and are meant to be used just as the name implies, to garnish a dish either after it's been cooked or sprinkled on something like this tomato salad. Fleur du sel comes to mind, one of my favourites that I wish I would have had on hand while making this salad. If you have never used or even heard of finishing salt, look into it! Definitely a way to improve your kitchen creations. I just had a pink Himalayan salt so I used that. I wouldn't want to use regular table salt here personally (I never buy regular table salt...for cooking I use flaked kosher salt)

Ingredients:

• Vine ripened tomatoes (in season)
• Cashew Basil Ricotta  
• Good Quality Olive Oil​
• Good Quality Balsamic Vinegar
• Fresh Basil
• Finishing Salt (See note above)
• Black Pepper

Method:

1. Cut tomatoes in randomly shaped chunks and arrange on a serving plate. 
2. Arrange a generous amount of the cashew ricotta on top.
3. Drizzle everything with good quality olive oil then just a bit of balsamic (don't go too heavy on balsamic....you can always add more later after you've tasted so better to start with less)
4. Garnish with fresh basil leaves, salt & pepper. 
5. Enjoy!!!