Saturday, August 7, 2010

Tomato heaven

  This summer I planted 3 tomato plants in my flower garden. I'm not much of a gardener—I try to weed my garden of low maintenance flowers and plants twice a year whether it needs it or not. I have ignored my tomato plants in an almost criminal manner and should probably be turned over to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Vegetables. Nevertheless, I have already harvested a lot of cherry tomatoes and my heritage variety just started producing huge tomatoes.
My favorite thing to do with home grown, flavorful tomatoes is make bruschetta.  It's so simple you don't need a recipe and probably everyone already knows how to make it, but here's my super easy method. It doesn't involve turning on the oven, which is generally a bad idea since tomato season is by definition hot.
 Get out one plate per person. Pour a spoonful of olive oil onto your plates. Toast a piece of substantial bread in the toaster. Rub one or both sides of the toast with a piece of raw garlic. Plunk the toast down on the olive oil. Chop of some really ripe tomatoes and some fresh basil leaves. Pile them on to the toasts. Drizzle with some more olive oil and salt to taste. Consider serving with some sweet corn and a hunk of good cheese.