Dear tomatoes, I love you.
We have been on a small vacation to the beaches of Delaware. And, thanks to a well-timed stop at a farm stand on the way home, we have tomatoes. And blueberries, cantaloupe, and peaches, all perfectly ripe.
This amazing produce was the inspiration for my lunch yesterday. I had mozzarella, salted orange tomatoes, smashed fresh garlic, and garden basil on a toasted baguette drizzled in olive oil. This is also what we had for dinner the night before. And the night after. It is one of my favorite meals. I love the food of summer because the are ready to eat. If you don’t want to cook, you don’t have to. So simple and so, so good.
To accompany my lunch I also made a cantaloupe salad with salt, olive oil and basil. It was pretty good, but the basil I used was too strong for the delicate cantaloupe. I’ll let you know if I get the recipe worked out.
I had hoped that, upon returning to Brooklyn, my own tomatoes would have ripened in time for the unofficial start of tomato time, July 4th. I did get a few cherry tomatoes off of my Tiny Tim plant (pictured), but the heirloom still have a way to go.
oh man, how i miss those heirloom tomatoes from the williamsburg farmer’s market.
i was just lamenting it actually. i love that meal too! get the fresh bread, basil that mozzarella…delicious. we don’t have really any of those ingredients here actually. for some reason tomatoes are a no go on the hawaiian islands, and there are no really great cheese stores or bakeries. but don’t fret we’re surviving. there is lots of amazing tropical fruit. apple bananas, papaya out the wazoo, lychees oh god and the recently ripe mangos. we’ve got a fair number of these available in the local yards actually. we make these far out smoothies and juices with the champion juicer.
no tomatoes? and here i thought you lived in paradise. we always joke about picking up bananas at the farmer’s market, so at least there’s that. i hope you guys are putting some salt on that tropical fruit. salty fruit is the best.