Chef Isabel
Asadillo Manchego
Asadillo Manchego is La Mancha's roasted pepper salad: red peppers, tomato, olive oil, garlic, and cumin, pounded plainly and served with egg, warm or cold.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Trempó Mallorquín
Created by
Trempó Mallorquín is Mallorca in high summer: ramallet tomato, green pepper, and sweet onion cut small, salted, and dressed with good oil until the vegetables make their own bright dressing.
Salads
Spanish
Quick Meal
Outdoor Dining
Budget Friendly
20 min
Active Time
0 min cook•30 min total
Yield4 servings
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.
Trempó belongs to Mallorca and takes its name from the Mallorcan Catalan verb trempar, to dress or season. The salad comes from the island's summer garden, where tomatoes, green peppers, onions, olive oil, and salt made a meal without lighting the stove. The same seasoned mixture is spread over dough for coca de trempó, one of the plainest and best ways the island carries this salad into the oven.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
ripe ramallet tomatoes, or firm ripe plum tomatoes
Quantity
600g
cored and cut into 1cm dice
Mallorcan green peppers, or Italian frying peppers
Quantity
250g
seeded and cut into 1cm dice
sweet white onion
Quantity
150g
peeled and cut into 5mm dice
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
fine sea salt
Quantity
5g, plus more to finish
country bread (optional)
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| ripe ramallet tomatoes, or firm ripe plum tomatoescored and cut into 1cm dice | 600g |
| Mallorcan green peppers, or Italian frying peppersseeded and cut into 1cm dice | 250g |
| sweet white onionpeeled and cut into 5mm dice | 150g |
| extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
| fine sea salt | 5g, plus more to finish |
| country bread (optional) | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Sharp chef's knife
- •Kitchen scale
- •Wide shallow serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Choose the vegetables
Make trempó only when the tomatoes are worth eating raw. They should smell of tomato at the stem end and feel heavy for their size, not cold and hard from the refrigerator. Wash and dry the tomatoes and peppers well, then weigh everything before you cut. Pésalo, no lo adivines, weigh it, don't guess.
If your onion is sharp enough to sting, dice it and soak it in cold water for ten minutes, then drain and dry it. You want bite, not punishment. - 2
Cut it small
Core the tomatoes and cut them into rough 1cm dice, keeping their juice. Seed the peppers and cut them the same size. Dice the onion smaller, about 5mm, so it seasons the bowl without taking over. This cut is the method that decides the dish: each forkful should carry tomato, pepper, and onion together.
- 3
Salt and rest
Put the tomato, pepper, and onion in a wide shallow bowl and sprinkle over the salt. Toss with your hands or two spoons, gently, then leave it for ten minutes. The salt draws out just enough tomato juice to meet the oil later. That juice is the dressing, not something to pour away.
- 4
Dress and serve
Add the olive oil and toss again until the vegetables shine and a little green-gold juice gathers at the bottom of the bowl. Taste and correct the salt. No vinegar is needed here, and no lettuce, tuna, olives, or clever extras hiding in the bowl. Those can be good lunches, but this is trempó Mallorquín: tomato, pepper, onion, oil, and salt. Serve at once with bread for the juices. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Chef Tips
- •Ramallet tomato is the Mallorcan one, small and full-flavoured, often kept hanging in bunches. If you can't find it, choose ripe plum tomatoes or firm vine tomatoes with good acidity. Watery beefsteaks give too much juice and not enough taste.
- •Use a thin-skinned green frying pepper if you can. A green bell pepper works only at a pinch; remove the white ribs, use a little less, and cut it small so it doesn't turn the salad into a pepper bowl.
- •Serve trempó within an hour of salting. After that it is still edible, of course, but the vegetables soften and the pepper loses its clean bite. Leftover juices are for bread, not for the sink.
- •Out of tomato season, leave this one alone. Mallorca has cooler-weather dishes for that time, like sopes mallorquines, bread and vegetables cooked until they belong to each other. A winter tomato won't do the work here.
Advance Preparation
- •Wash and dry the vegetables up to 4 hours ahead, but cut the tomatoes close to serving so they keep their juice and shape.
- •The onion can be diced and soaked in cold water up to 2 hours ahead if it is sharp; drain it very well before mixing.
- •Dress the salad 10 to 20 minutes before serving. Keep it in a cool place out of direct sun, not buried in the refrigerator until it loses its flavour.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 325g)
Calories
260 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
12 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
690 mg
Total Carbohydrates
33 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
10 g
Protein
5 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Ensaladas & Aliños de España
Browse the full collection
Chef Isabel
Empedrat Català
Empedrat is Catalan: white beans and shredded salt cod dressed with tomato, pepper, onion, black olives, and good oil, then left to rest until the salad tastes joined instead of mixed.
Chef Isabel
Ensalada Campera Andaluza
Ensalada campera is Andalucía's summer potato salad, loose and bright with tomato, pepper, onion, egg, tuna, olive oil, and vinegar. It is not bound in mayonnaise, and that matters.
Chef Isabel
Ensalada Catalana con Embutits
Ensalada Catalana is Catalonia's green salad made a meal: crisp lettuce, ripe tomato, onion, olives, and sliced embutits, dressed plainly with olive oil, vinegar, and salt.