My apologies to Food & Wine for borrowing three of their recipes on tomato salads, with my changes. People who visit Israel often remark that the most amazing thing they cannot get enough of are our tomatoes. To make these salads kosher for a meat meal, eliminate the cheese.

Israeli Couscous and Tomato Salad

8 servings

This is from Food & Wine online.

• 6 cups packed arugula, plus whole leaves for garnish
• 2 cups Israeli couscous
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• 4 chopped garlic cloves
• ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 ½ pints halved cherry tomatoes
• 4 1-inch diced yellow or orange tomatoes

1. Fill a large saucepan with water, add salt, and bring to a boil. Add arugula and blanch for 10 seconds. Save water. With a slotted spoon, transfer arugula to a colander and rinse under cold water, then drain.
2. Boil arugula water. Add couscous and cook over high heat for 10 minutes. Drain, spread on a large baking sheet and drizzle slightly with olive oil. Let cool.
3. Toast pine nuts in a small frying pan until gold brown, about 2 minutes. Let cool.
4. Squeeze excess water from arugula and coarsely chop. Transfer to a food processor. Add pine nuts, garlic, cheese and ½ cup olive oil. Process until pine nuts are finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Transfer couscous to a large serving bowl, stir on pesto, and fold in tomatoes.

Garnish with arugula leaves.

Heirloom Tomato Salad

4-6 servings

This is a Food & Wine recipe from Andreas Viestad, a Norwegian food columnist, TV chef and food writer.

• 2 pounds heirloom tomatoes, cored and sliced ¼-inch thick, small ones halved
• Salt to taste
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 T. minced chives
• 2 T. chopped basil
• 1 T. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Arrange tomatoes on a platter. Sprinkle with salt. Drizzle with olive oil.
2. Scatter chives, basil and cheese on top.

Heirloom Tomato Salad With Anchovy Vinaigrette

4 servings

This recipe is from chef couple Amelia O’ Reilly and Nico Monday of The Market in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 minced anchovies
• 1 t. finely grated lemon zest
• 1 thinly sliced medium shallot
• 2 T. red wine vinegar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 ½ pounds halved heirloom tomatoes
• Fleur de sel or salt of your choice
• Ground pepper
• Flat-leaf parsley
• Marjoram leaves

1. In a frying pan, combine olive oil, anchovies, garlic and lemon zest. Cook for a few minutes.
2. In a bowl, toss the shallot with vinegar. Let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Bring a saucepan of water to boil, add eggs and simmer for 6 minutes. Prepare an ice bath. Plunge eggs with a slotted spoon into ice bath and let cool for 2 minutes. Peel the eggs.
4. Arrange tomatoes on 4 plates, season with fleur de sel or salt and pepper. Scatter the shallot and vinegar over tomatoes.
5. Warm the anchovy dressing to simmer; pour over tomatoes.
6. Cut the eggs crosswise and place a half on each plate. Scatter parsley and marjoram over salad.

Serve at once.

Sybil Kaplan, z”l, was is a Jerusalem-based journalist, lecturer, book reviewer, food writer, author (“Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Journalist in Israel”) and contributor or author of nine cookbooks. She worked as a foreign correspondent for North American Jewish publications and created and lead walks in English in Machaneh Yehudah, the Jewish produce market.