Saturday, August 1, 2015

Tomatoes till we bust



The tomato days are here. They really only start in mid-July, and we will see them till early October. I have learned to wait for them. No tunnels, no Canada-grown (sorry, Canada), but sun-ripened fruit from Jersey, upstate New York, and Long Island.

And then they will be over.

The best way to eat the first ones is to toast some good sourdough bread, rub it with raw garlic, smear it with mayonnaise, load it with tomato slices, salt and pepper it, and drizzle some olive oil over the lot. It is simple and it is decadent.


If you want to go crazy, add some basil.

13 comments:

  1. My favorite way to eat fresh tomatoes is toasted sourdough, rubbed with raw garlic, nice slice of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes...pop is the oven just long enough to begin melting the chesse....Yum! Or just pick them of the plant, salt and bite!

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  2. This has been a favorite "summer sandwich"in my family for two generations, though we add lettuce. My Aunt used to add a bit of sugar-she added a bit of sugar to everything. She also used to add canned tuna mixed with BestFoods/Hellmans. No Miracle Whip in our homes-only Best Foods!

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  3. They are filling my counters now with many bags of roasted Tom's already in the freezer for winter sauce. Had Roadside Chicken for dinner tonight, with rave reviews from all guests. Many thanks!

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    1. You have refined that chicken, webb. I call it Roadkill Chicken :-)

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  4. They look absolutely delicious!

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  5. Did you ever read Harriet the Spy? Tomato sandwiches were her favorite.

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  6. Arriving in New Orleans for a two-year assignment in 1980, I took an on-campus, Cajun cooking class at Tulane in an attempt to learn how the locals prepared their meals. Our wonderful teacher--also a Cajun artist--observed at the outset that "in New Orleans, we never cook anything without first adding garlic, and lots of it." And considering Marie consistently (and delightfully) employs garlic in her recipes, she must also appreciate Mrs. Renard's first rule (!) of Cajun cooking. And having learned my lesson in 1980, the smell of garlic always hovers over my kitchen and outdoor grill.

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  7. Are those Cherokee Purples? Black Krim? I miss my Cherokees, which have just been too delicate to star as one of only 3 tomatoes I have room for on my patio. But I am delighted by Cosmonaut Volkov, which looks sort of cheap and red but actually has a pretty good glutamate level. But nothing beats the gluamate on a purple/brown/deep green tomato!

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    1. They may have been Black Krim, but were not labeled.

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  8. Have you had success moving tomatoes? I'm about to leave Portland for Traverse City Michigan....

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