.jpg)
Hubs and I are all about some home grown tomatoes. Growing up in the south summertime tomato growing and eating is kind of a religion. Fresh off the vine with some salt and pepper...delish! When we were married the hubs introduced me to the Blue Dogs and when we lived in Charleston we tried to go and see them whenever we could. And while Mozart they are not they are always fun and one of my favorite songs that they sing is "Home Grown Tomatoes".
Watch The Blue Dogs singing Home Grown Tomatoes in Live Events & Specia | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
To me that song just oozes summer and sadly...I think that on the 31st of August summer here in the UK is officially over! Its time to break out the rain gear, wellingtons and fleeces :( but before I completely pack it in we are enjoying the last of the summer produce and have been eating as many tomatoes as we can get our hands on. I actually "grew" tomatoes here...well tried as almost all are still green we enjoyed some fried green tomatoes this week. I also made a really tasty and simple Panzanella http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzanella with some heirloom maters from the farmers market.
Panzanella
Salad
3 tbl Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Good Leftover French Bread (or whatever you have)
Quality tomatoes (4, 5 cherry? anything goes)
Cucumber
Red bell pepper
Red onion
Basil, Cilantro or Parsley(whatever you have on hand)
Vinaigrette
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. Dijon Mustard
3 tbl. champagne vinegar or white wine
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
The key to the salad is you want all the ingredients to be the roughly the same size and in the same quantities so chop it how you like it. I go for everything about an inch big. Take the bread cubes and toss with olive oil salt and pepper to taste then toast up in a hot skillet until they are lightly browned. From there its just tossing all the ingredients together and adding the vinaigrette until just everything is lightly coated even the bread eat it pretty soon. You want the bread to soak up some dressing but waiting to long makes it too soggy.
When I'm cooking I tend not to follow recipes exactly or list exact measurements. That's because I like to use what I have and taste as I go. This has become my go to summer salad when I can get my hands on good tomatoes although I don't think its a big helper for the waistline since you basically substitute hunks of toasted bread for salad leaves.... oh well! C'est la vie and bon appe'tit!
No comments:
Post a Comment