Summer Grilled Green Tomato Salad

It’s August already,  I find time slipping like sand from my fist. I am always conflicted, should I put my feet up and relax and enjoy the pace of life and let things happen when they should, or should I push my passion and make goals and enjoy the adrenaline rush. It’s strange how I can train my mind to do either. But as I grown older with each passing year, I love to push myself, to get more creative, to overcome my fears and to be more flexible and spontaneous. For those who know me personally will find it hard to believe I am not spontaneous.  Well, to be frank I am a hard core planner and if your throw an un-planned agenda at me, it bothers me and I will rant till the cows come home. Ask my better half and he will nod in agreement. Strangely, I have observed that am my best when I don’t think and just do something with a spontaneous flow (I love to over thing), be it photography, cooking or something as mundane as driving twenty miles from your comfort zone (don’t judge me people, but I am quite a chicken when it comes to driving out of my comfort zone).  Planning is a great tool for all my task lists but not my creativity. 

“It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.” – Paul Caponigro

There is really no formula for creativity, there is no gadget or lens that can give you the desired results, that will evoke an emotion. Tools can help you express yourself, but how and what you express is your creative journey. 

I had to share this, you all know my obsession with food photography, this last month we had a photography challenge (in our food photo critique group on FaceBook), we had to reproduce an image from a classical painting (still life). The purpose to push our creative boundaries. It was really a creative high and if I may say so myself I was proud of myself. Here is the image, the top one the original painting: Morston Constantine Ream - Still Life Of Fruit And Flute On A Tray. The one below it is my photographic representation of the painting by Morston. 

We had Andrew Scrivani critique it for us and this is what he had to say about my image, “ This one was the one that I thought truly started to blur the line between painting and photography. The incredible softness of the surfaces in the photo really look painted. Also, the creation of this set is remarkable. It must have taken a lot of sourcing to find all of these props. Stunning shot. I am mesmerized by the green grapes in this shot. “

I just love fresh produce and if it did not involve as much work as it does, I would have had a huge part of my yard growing tons of fresh veggies. I just might end up having a huge space just for herbs.  Am in love with my tomato plants, which were gifted to me by a friend. Impatience got the better of me and I could not wait for them to ripe. After I took pictures of the raw tomatoes, I was thinking of making a chutney, but grilled them instead, tossed them in a salad and loved the outcome.

2 big green tomatoes cut in big square chunks

1 medium red onions cut in rounds 

2 carrots long strips

1 cup red cabbage shredded 

1/2 a cup of cherry tomatoes halved 

Grill the tomatoes till semi-cooked. 

Vinaigrette  

4 tbsp olive oil 

2 tbsp lemon juice

lemon zest

himalayan salt to taste

red pepper corn ( not red chili but pepper corn)

2 tbsp mint leaves finely chopped

Shake the vinaigrette and toss in the salad. You can add grilled tofu too, if you love tofu, you will love this salad.