Trempó Mallorquín

Trempó Mallorquín is Mallorca's summer salad: ramallet tomato, green pepper, and sweet onion, chopped small and dressed with olive oil and salt. That's all. No lettuce, no vinegar bath, no bits added to make it look busier. The dish is the three vegetables meeting in the bowl, each one clear, none of them bossing the others.

The cut decides it. Chop everything small enough that a forkful carries tomato, pepper, and onion together, but not so fine that you make salsa. Salt first and let it stand ten minutes, because the tomato gives its juice and that juice joins the oil into the real dressing. If you pour it away, you've poured away the point.

Far from Mallorca, use ripe, firm plum tomatoes or good vine tomatoes if ramallet tomatoes aren't there. For the pale, tender Mallorcan green pepper, an Italian frying pepper or Cubanelle is closer than a thick bell pepper; if bell pepper is all you have, use less and cut it small because it brings more crunch and more water. No hace falta haber pisado España. You do need summer vegetables and a sharp knife.

My Margin for this one is short: don't chill it dead. Trempó should be cool from the kitchen, not numb from the fridge, with bread beside it to catch the oil and tomato juice. That's lunch when the heat is doing its work.