I don’t know about you, but it seems like I can’t go anywhere without bumping into an heirloom tomato (except my office cafeteria…I can always go there when I need an escape from fresh, quality foods). Is it like this every summer? Has this summer been especially good weather for heirloom tomatoes (really, I can’t tell…it’s always 75 and sunny here)? Or are these heirloom tomatoes becoming “trendy”? Perhaps I’ve just never noticed this abundance of technicolor tomatoes because I’ve never before had 3lbs of them delivered to my door in a weekly farm box. That’s right…THREE POUNDS of heirloom tomatoes.
So…what does one do with THREE POUNDS of heirloom tomatoes (FOUR if you consider the fact that I never got through last week’s delivery either)? Well…I’ll tell you!
RULE #1:
For the love of fresh veggies, do not, under any circumstance, put your heirloom tomatoes in the refrigerator!! Am I clear? The refrigerator will destroy all of the flavor in your tomatoes. Yes, they will remain pretty for a bit longer, but unless you’re in the business of photographing heirloom tomatoes and don’t care about FLAVOR, trust me – no refrigerator. I know it’s hard to leave them on the counter and attempt to consume them fast enough (especially THREE POUNDS of them), but it’s totally worth it if you want to really take advantage of the magic of the heirloom tomato.
Now, I really don’t care if you toss some red slicer tomatoes in the fridge that you intend to eat on wonder bread with bologna and miracle whip…because at that point, who really cares? But heirloom tomatoes really do deserve better.
RULE #2:
Cheese. Enough said.
(Wait…I said cheese, not cheese product. Use real cheese. Velveeta is not real cheese. Nor are Kraft singles. They taste good with bologna and wonder bread, though, so if you’re into that, go to town with those red slicer tomatoes you threw in the fridge after reading Rule #1)
RULE #3:
Sea Salt. Are you surprised? It’s in the title of the blog for goodness sakes! Use sea salt. Tomatoes like salt. A sprinkle of sea salt on a raw (unrefrigerated) tomato is like a miraculous explosion of flavor.
(In the interest of your blood pressure, skip the sea salt on your bologna sandwich. Actually, if you’re worried about your blood pressure, please skip the bologna sandwich altogether and keep reading about fresh tomatoes)
RULE #4:
Please stay tuned. I have a series of spectacular tomato recipes in store for you. I do have THREE POUNDS of tomatoes to work with here…
(Unless you’re expecting a recipe for a bologna sandwich. We don’t do that here.)
September 16, 2011 at 7:36 pm
September 18, 2011 at 10:49 pm