Melissa Salad

This tasty salad is a perfect accompaniment for those hot days when you want refreshing summer dishes. The name comes from the use of the Orange balm leaves (from the melissa plant family) which I discovered on one of many trips to a garden centre with the other half. I didn't realise it was orange balm until I did a little research at home, it was the scent from crushing a leaf between my fingers that persuaded me to add it to the overflowing basket! It's citrus scent is amazing and I decided to add the orange chunks to complement their favour. The best part about this salad is that herbs like basil and orange balm are very easy to grow at home in the U.K, and even in our Barcelona window boxes, so there is no excuse not to have a little herb garden of your own!
Ok, I have jumped down from my herb growing soapbox, but anyway try the salad, even if you cant get your hands on the orange balm maybe throw in a little mint or fresh oregano!

 

Ingredients:                                        Serves 2

• 2 large, ripe tomatoes
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1 juicy orange (taken straight from the fridge)
• a handful of basil leaves
• 8 orange balm leaves
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil

  

Cut the tomatoes in half and then half again and slice into 1cm slices. Thinly slice the onion (as fine as you can) and top and tail the orange then cut away the peel and pith, slice into 2 cm slices and chop into small chunks. Tear any large basil leaves in half, you still want to keep them fairly large for maximum taste.

Mix all of the above ingredients together and season with salt (rock salt if you have it) then drizzle a generous amount of olive oil. Now finely slice/shred the orange balm leaves (using a knife) and scatter over the top along with a good pinch of ground pepper. Leave the salad to marinate for a minimum of 10 minutes (to allow the juice from the orange, tomatoes and oil and salt mix together) and then serve at room temp.

Serve with rice and beef kofta kebabs.