ON MY TABLE: A TON O' TOMATOES

I went a little nuts when I placed my last order with The Bountiful Sprout, which is why my kitchen counter is now covered in all sorts of tomatoes, from tiny yellow and orange cherry tomatoes, through the medium sized Juliets, and on to some beautiful red slicers and a few gorgeous heirlooms. As I sat this morning, thinking about all my favorite ways to use them, it occurred to me that I should probably share that information with you guys. In return, perhaps you can give me a few new ideas to try?

Tickled, as usual, by the way those color-mad tomatoes match my Bakelite utensils.

The first thing I usually do, upon bringing home some fresh tomatoes, is to pick a slicer that is bruised or damaged, or close to being overripe. I cut out any bad parts, and use what's left to make an old fashioned tomato sammich. I'm not a big fan of either mayo or mushy white bread, but this is where I make an exception, since there's no other way to make this sandwich. You try to fancy this up with extra ingredients, and you're gonna be sorry. Just spread white bread with good mayo, pile on the sliced, fresh-from-the-garden 'maters, sprinkle with coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper, et voila! The best thing you ever tasted.

Next up would be a Caprese salad. In fact, we will probably be having several variations on that this week, since I happen to have a nice ball of fresh mozzarella in the fridge. A couple of days ago I sliced a variety of tomatoes into a dish, layered with slices of the mozzarella. Then I whisked up a quick red wine vinaigrette and drizzled it over all, and topped them with some slivered fresh basil. Tonight I may use a few slices of red tomato, skip making the dressing, and just drizzle them with a bit of good olive oil first, then a bit of balsamic. Sometimes I just drizzle them with pesto.

Not long ago I gave you my simple fresh tomato sauce recipe, where you just let them marinate at room temperature for several hours, then serve over warm pasta or toasted Italian bread. Sometimes I also use this recipe I found in my Jamie At Home cookbook, from Jamie Oliver.

I usually make some variation of a Greek Salad, like this one from our Jamie-inspired Greek Easter Feast a few years back...

or a Provencal salad, something like this:

There should be a recipe for this over in my sidebar.

You can always roast your romas or those prolific little Juliettes, when they all come ripe at once, then use them over pasta, or atop goat cheese that has been spread on toasted bread.

I roast mine with garlic, thyme, and olive oil, then store them in the fridge.

Last but not least, there's this super simple, but super yummy recipe for a Tomato Pesto Tart that I discovered last year.

Guess that's about it for my fresh tomato repertoire. What about you? What's your favorite way to use them?