red salad w/ tomatoes, carrots & red onions

So here's a great side salad that Dan and I made a few weeks back. There's actually no lettuce in it - crazy for a salad! It's pretty great though, really complemented the rigatoni w/ pancetta that we paired it with. Here's what you'll need:

• 3 heirloom tomatoes or 16 grape/cherry tomatoes (we used cherry in the pic below)
• 4 carrots
• 1 small sweet red onion
• Balsamic vinegar
• 1T olive oil
• Salt/pepper
• Torn basil leaves

Cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters (depending on the size) and set aside. Cut the carrots into thin rounds and place into a bowl. Thinly slice the red onion and add it to the carrots. Season with salt/pepper. Mix in the olive oil and balsamic to taste (I think we did equal parts). Add tomatoes and basil and stir. Serve.

We actually made ours in advance. In that case, we held of on the salt and vinegar until just before serving. It's a super easy salad that's a nice change from the norm. Definitely give it a try.

Bon chappétit!