I love tomatoes. Even more, I love tomatoes that I grew myself. Just going out to the garden and collecting ripe, plump, red/yellow/pink/orange tomatoes, gently putting them in your basket, and tearing off several sprigs of fragrant basil is a summer event that I try to imprint in my mind to recall when the cold Maryland winters roll around. Tomatoes rule the recesses of my culinary mind. Every summer day, I think of the endless possibilities of adding its sweet/tart/tangy taste to whatever I eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. It is the time of year when we cannot wait for a BLT, add fresh tomatoes to the morning omelet, grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches, tuna salad filled tomatoes, baked tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, homemade pasta sauce....the possibilities are endless.
Here are two of our favorites. Almost every night we artifully arrange tomatoes on a platter, tuck in basil leaves, crumble feta cheese, sprinkle dry oregano and cracked pepper, and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a touch of red wine vinegar. It is a meal in and of itself.
We also enjoy making a fresh pasta sauce right from the garden. Just saute 1 small chopped onion and 3 cloves of minced garlic in olive oil. Add 6-8(or more) ripes plum-type tomatoes that have been peeled. Saute altogether for about 10 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes until chunky. Add about 1 cup white wine and one small can of tomato paste. Add a sprig or 2 of fresh basil, 1 teas dried oregano and 1/2 teas celery salt. Simmer about 15 more minutes. Add to your favorite pasta. This amount serves 2-3 people easily. Enjoy the season. Hopefully stinkbugs have not taken residence in your garden as they have in mine. There is always the local farmer's market to fill your summer tomato fancies. Eat them now-they are in season. Make that culinary summer memory.
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