August Means the Start of Tomatoes

At least here it does — in the backyard, that is. We have a couple of Romas in the garden that are starting to turn red and many more that are still green. I can’t wait. In anticipation of our own almost-ready garden tomatoes, I made this super simple salad the other night with some nice looking tomatoes I got at Limbo.

An easy oil and vinegar dressing accents the tomato and the fresh Mozzarella cheese makes it creamy. Top with some basil and who needs anything else for dinner?

Tomato & Mozzarella Salad
3-4 Roma tomatoes, sliced
Fresh Mozzarella cheese, sliced (as many thin slices as you have tomatoes)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine or balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
2-4 fresh basil leaves, cut into strips, length-wise
salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix the oil and vinegar with the garlic. Set aside. Alternate tomato and mozzarella slices on a plate. You can either do this in a line, a semi-circle or a full circle. Really, any shape you want. If you make a circle, you can fill the middle with some spinach or other leafy greens and turn this into a bigger meal.

If you’re wondering what is in the title picture next to our tomato salad, it’s some wild mushroom polenta. (Recipe here) — yes, we are in the 70’s again. Hooray!

Drizzle the dressing over the tomatoes and cheese. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper and basil.

In other garden news, jwa pulled up the first (small carrot) from his mighty carrot crop the other day. After documenting it with the camera, he promptly ate it.