rushing the seasons

i am very programmed, when

it comes to tomato buying,

to wait.

until the peak of august,

the beginning of september,

when tomatoes are at their

ripest,

juiciest,

most flavorful,

most beautiful.

sure, i pick up pints of

grape tomatoes

year round, but for gorgeous

heirlooms? i stick to summer's end.

usually.

recently, while running

quickly to pick up a few things for

dinner, i stopped short at the crate,

reading:

heirloom tomatoes - first crop.

and they were not at all expensive.

it seemed a little unreal.

i walked by three times, before

deciding to break my rule.

once i started

picking them up

examining the globes

choosing the prettiest,

i realized something:

i was alone.

no one was pushing me

out of the way, or

even gently nudging me

to the side.

no one was fighting me

for the perfectly round

purple fruit i had just found

in the back.

in fact, no one even seemed

to be glancing in their

direction.

to me, this said one of two

things:

either i was a fool for buying

these in june

or

no one else cared/understood/

paid any attention

to what they were seeing.

deep down, i was going with (A),

but i really wanted to

believe in (B).

so, i picked my favorite five,

took them home for a

photo session and then

stared at them for a week,

deciding how they would

be best utilized.

by the time i decided

on a panzanella salad,

it was a sunday and i wanted

it with dinner that night.

isn't that the problem with bread

salads? they were created as a

way to use up extra bread, yet

often they require actually

buying the bread in the first place.

so, i went out and bought a loaf.

when i came home, i cubed half

of it and spread the bread out on

a sheet pan, letting them dry out

or become stale on their own

in a low temp oven.

after looking at several recipes,

i decided to wing it

(i know.

this can either turn

your dish into

the most delicious, ever,

or be a

disaster.)

i set to work cubing the

tomatoes, almost sad

to cut through them.

ultimately, i made the decision

to seed the pieces.

this is something i never

would have done before

culinary school.

to me, it was always a waste

of time,

a bigger mess,

an obvious disposal of good tomato.

but, in school we experimented,

making

salads

sauces

pizzas

with the seeds and without.

it's true that the ones with seeds

had less flavor

were watery

didn't pop.

so now, a lot of the time, i take

out the seeds.

but what i did next, surprised even

me. i made the decision to

seed all the tomatoes into one

bowl, rather than into the garbage.

once seeded, i poured them into

a fine-mesh strainer over the

toasted bread and pressed all

the juices out. i had planned to use

water to moisten the cubes,

but at the last minute i thought,

this is how to maximize the flavor.

this was pretty much enough

to wet the bread,

but i tossed

a few sprinkles

of water in, just in case.

the rest was easy.

i stirred together a vinaigrette

of olive oil

red wine vinegar

lemon juice

oregano

red pepper flakes

salt

garlic

and

slivered onion.

after i tossed together the

bread

tomatoes

vinaigrette

and freshly torn basil,

i let the salad sit for about

3o minutes to meld.

the salad tasted like summer

and a little bit like cheating.

besides buying

bread the day i was planning to

make the panzanella,

i bought heirloom tomatoes in

june. june! but that night,

when we sat down,

you could have told me it

was august. and i may

have believed you.

heirloom tomato panzanella salad

i used a loaf of paisano, a rustic bread. it was just slightly crusty on the outside, but when i squeezed, it had a little give. you can substitute for whatever bread you enjoy or would like to use up. also, i made the decision to keep the crusts on - faster, more rustic, prettier - but, feel free to trim them if you think they will bother you. if the bread is fresh, simply cube it and spread out on a baking sheet. toast 3-7 minutes at 225˚f, or until the pieces feel "stale." oh, and with the basil leaves, don't bother to count out 30 (unless you want to). instead, just tear them up and toss them in until it seems like the right amount.

1/2 loaf paisano (about 1 pound), cubed into 1" pieces

5 heirloom tomatoes of varying shapes, sizes and colors

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 small sweet onion, very thinly sliced and chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

kosher salt

cracked black pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil

30 fresh basil leaves, torn

place bread in medium bowl.

on cutting board, core tomatoes. cube tomatoes; then over bowl, remove seeds. once all tomatoes are seeded, place fine mesh strainer over bowl of bread cubes. pour in seeds, pressing to extract all juices; discard seeds. toss bread cubes with tomato juices to moisten. if they don't feel quite moist enough, run your hands under running water and flick bread a few times with water, tossing after a few flicks. you want the bread to be moist enough to absorb the dressing, but not soggy.

in bowl, whisk together red wine vingear, lemon juice, oregano, red pepper flakes, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. slowly drizzle in oil, whisking constantly. taste the vinaigrette - if there's anything you're not crazy about, change it or fix it now.

place the tomatoes in bowl with bread; drizzle with vinaigrette. toss mixture together until completely coated. add basil; toss to combine. season with salt and pepper, if desired. cover; let sit at room temperature 20-30 minutes.