Komatsuna Greens and Heirloom Tomatoes

Our farm box folks have been offering a great selection of greens. I ordered 2 bunches of a green I've never heard of: komatsuna, or "Japanese spinach." There aren't a whole lot of recipes out there specifically for komatsuna, so I started with a regular salad.


I had a bunch of assorted heirloom tomatoes on the counter, so I whipped up the simple Mixed Tomato Salad found in Everyday Food's Great Food Fast cookbook:

2 pounds mixed tomatoes, such as red or yellow beefsteak, cherry, grape, and pear - I used 1 pound
3 T. red-wine vinegar
3 T. extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
1 bunch arugula (6 - 8 oz) washed well and dried - I used 8+ oz of mixed arugula and komatsuna

1. Core the beefsteak tomatoes; cut each into 8 wedges. Halve the grape and cherry tomatoes; leave the pear tomatoes whole.

2. Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar and oil; season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together

verdict

This salad was close to perfect. With just a 1:1 ratio of vinegar:oil, and some good red wine vinegar, the bright dressing highlighted but did not overwhelm the fantastic freshness of the varied tomato flavors. The komatsuna had a very mild, clean taste - I will order this green again, and make this salad again. Honestly, it doesn't get any easier - or tastier - than this. [edit: I've made this salad as written, with just arugula, and it's really great. I've also used this dressing with other salads, and enjoyed it. This time I just threw the komatsuna in there because I had it!]

The next day I sauteed some komatsuna leaves in olive oil with sliced garlic and pine nuts, stirred in a bit of leftover tomato sauce and spooned it all over pasta. It was delicious.


{Note: I'm celebrating my first 100 blog posts with a cookbook giveaway - to enter, go here and leave a comment before December 3}