heirloom tomato and celery salad.
07.24
The first of summer's tomatoes have arrived at the markets. Green Market stalls are filled with piles of gorgeous and unusually shaped heirlooms in purples, stripes, blacks, whites, deep reds, orange and yellows. I love the wabi sabi-ness of heirloom tomatoes. I particularly like the ones that look as though they have been carelessly stitched and scratched like a beautiful Lousie Bourgeois sculpture.
Tomatoes are one of those foods that are in my blood. If I were on a deserted island I could get by if I had stockpiles of my great grandmothers marinara sauce. When I think about the things I love to eat most... they almost always involve this diverse fruit! Foccacia with cherry tomatoes sunk deep into little wells of crunchy bread and pools of olive oil...marinara with a punch of garlic and hint of basil, Panzanella a delicious bread salad, a BLT with a thick chunky slice of a fresh garden tomato, tomato soup and grilled cheese, the ultimate in comfort food or a very simple summer salad of tomato and basil, olive oil and a little sea salt or in this case some crisp shaved celery. Just give me a piece of crusty Italian bread to soak up that juice and I will be in heaven!
More tomato love to come
Heirloom Tomato and Celery Salad (for two)
This is sort of a non-recipe. It is just an inspiration! As with most summer salads they just kind of get thrown together!
4 large heirloom tomatoes
1 stalk of celery with leaves
A handful of fresh basil
Really good olive oil
Sea salt
Cut the tomatoes into pieces and put in a large bowl
Shave the celery stalk into ultra thin slices with a mandolin and scatter on top of the tomatoes
Tear the celery leaf and basil into small pieces and add to the salad
Add a pinch of really good crunchy sea salt
Douse with an extra virgin olive oil
Toss and Devour!
As simple as that and DO NOT forget some crusty bread lest you waste that amazing tomato juice!
celery, farmers market, hierloom tomatoes, summer, tomato in farmers market, food, garden, new york, summer
Reader Comments (3)
What beautiful tomatoes! Simple salads are really the best way to highlight them. Love it! :)
Stunning!
This post is right up my alley - my love note to the humble tomato is here: http://thecitygourmand.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/my-hungarian-oxheart-and-other-spoils.html
Great photos as usual!