Tomatoes
At some point during the summer, most recipe columns attempt to deal with the overload of zucchini that seems to overwhelm most people. We, on the other hand, find that we are overloaded (voluntarily) with tomatoes and basil because every time we go to the Farmer's Market we buy more. On any Saturday, a look at our kitchen counter would convince most people that we are in the business of growing vegetables. It is not unusual for us to have ten pounds of tomatoes, several glasses filled with freshly cut basil, numerous cucumbers, eggplants and, recently, butter beans and crowder peas.
The challenge then is to come up with new ways to use all of these wonderful things while they are in season. With that in mind, here are more tomato recipes that we have enjoyed recently. The pasta is a variation on a recipe that appeared in Bon Appetit magazine (February 1995) calling for canned tomatoes. We revised it to include fresh tomatoes; although once summer is over, we will probably make it the way they suggested.
The bread salad recipe is excellent by itself or when served as a side dish with grilled chicken or tuna. When we first made the salad, we weren't sure it would work if kept overnight, but we were pleasantly surprised the first time we had leftovers to try out the next day. The column finishes with an interesting basil sesame dressing to serve over tomatoes.
