Rainy Day Salad

My husband, Michael, couldn’t resist this Siamese-twin tomato at the Lyme Farmers Market this week (it would have been a perfect match for the boomerang eggplant I bought the week before, but that had already become caponata)

Then, having bought it, he went back to New York, leaving me to tackle the double-headed monster on my own, which I did with one of my favorite knives

The knife (so elegant), made in Japan by Kyocera, has a ceramic blade with microscopic serrations that slice through tomato skin and soft tomato pulp effortlessly and neatly – the skin never tears and the fruit never goes ragged. 

Once I had separated the twins, I tasted the tomato to see if it was worth continuing.  The answer: yes!  In fact, the tomato was so good that I dashed out into the pouring rain to get some basil from the garden. 

With a tomato this good, less is just enough, so all I did was cut it into chunks, sprinkle it with fleur de sel and splash it with great olive oil.  Then I added some sliced plums, an idea lifted from a salad Dan Barber, the remarkable chef, had made at the remarkable Blue Hill at Stone Barns.

With a hunk of bread and good butter, it was the perfect lunch, made perfecter by the fact that I was alone so, when I finished the salad, I could drink the luscious tomato “soup” that had accumulated in the bottom of the bowl.  It certainly brightened a gray, rainy day.

Comments

[Dorie]

Kevin, thanks so much for writing. I had a wonderful time on Martha Stewart Living Radio with Lucinda. Lucinda is terrific -- so smart, so talented, such a good cook and such a great woman.

Isn't it funny about the Kyocera knife -- I'm using it more now also. Like a good little school girl, knowing it was made for tomatoes, that's the only thing I used it for. But now I find I pull it out whenover I've got something delicate to cut, including peaches for a pie and strawberries for a shortcake. I love the way the knife works, but I also love the way it looks -- I think it's terribly elegant.

[Kevin]

Love this wonderful blog that Casey alerted me to, and then I heard you on MSL Radio, I believe on Lucinda Scala Quinn's show! And love that knife. I have one and I find I love using it for increasingly more and more tasks besides tomato. Love using it on bell peppers.
I also have the Kyocera slicer which I find much easier than setting up the slicing blade and cleaning the Cuisinart. That siamese tomato was a wonder!

[Dorie]

Ruth, thanks for the link to the picture -- the tomatoes are as nice as their name. It's funny, but yesterday my husband said what you said, ie, maybe I should start my plants earlier. But I really think my problem is location, location, location: I just didn't plant in the right spot. The one little tomato plant on our deck is the only one that's bearing fruit and I think it's because it gets the most sun. I'm determined to get this right for next year.

Sonya, the Kyocera serrated knife is a splurge, but it's wonderful - but you know that because you've already got a ceramic-blade knife.

The other Kyocera ceramic tools I really like are the vegetable peeler and the slicer, which is like a mini mandoline.

Rose, you're funny to talk about the courage to leave a comment -- I hope now that you've commented, you'll visit often and comment a lot, especially since you raise a very interesting question. Unfortunately, it's not a question with a simple answer. The best quality olive oil is considered to be "extra-virgin olive oil," which comes from the first (cold) pressing of the olives, but there was an article in The New Yorker a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/13/070813fa_fact_mueller

saying that not every oil labelled extra-virgin really is extra-virgin. Aaarrgh.

In the end, I think, as with chocolate, the best product is the one that you like most. And so you do have to taste. Many specialty stores that have good selections of oil will often set the oils out so that you can taste before buying (and since oil is so expensive, that's a great thing). I don't know where in Michigan you live, but if you're near Zingerman's in Ann Arbor you're very lucky -- and you'll be able to taste great oils. If you don't live close by, you, like thousands of us, can enjoy reading their online catalog and ordering from them. They really are oil experts.

I use several different oils. While I use Colavita as my all-purpose oil -- it's what I cook with -- and love some of the oils from Provence, such as those from Jean Corneille and Castelas, I'm always tasting oils when I can and buying what I like. For the tomato and plum salad, I used Castelas, which I carried home with me from France (but which I just noticed is on Zingerman's website).

[Rose]

Dear Dorie,

This is my first comment ever on your website. I have never had enough courage to leave you a note.
Those tomatoes sound delicious. I should try adding plums to my salad some day. Could you tell me Dorie, what brand of Olive oil do you use? We often hear recipes calling for "good olive oil", but what is a good olive oil? How could we know the good from the bad unless we taste it?
Now this is why I don't leave comments, because I talk too much!
Thank you so much for your great recipes and tips.
Have a great weekend.

[Sonya]

That knife! I have to get it. I already have the Kyocera knife that Ming Tsai used on his cooking show. And, my husband went ahead and got it for me. The Wustoff tomato knife is what I use, but, the one you have is ingenious!!!

[ruthwells]

Here's a pic of Pruden's Purple. Mine are coming out bumpier and a very deep pinkish red, not purply as some pix show.

http://www.snakeroot.net/farm/PixVeg/Veg_TomatoesPrudens_t.jpg

With the amount of traveling you do, I'm sure it's hard to time your garden for maximum production. But you can start seedlings inside as early as February or March to get a jump on things.

[Dorie]

Estelle, I love the name "greenies" and I think I'm going to have to get used to using it a lot because my plants are hopeless. We really miscalculated the amount of sun my tomato patch would get and so, unless the weather stays warm until December (and unless the garden beasts go someplace else), I don't think I'll see a ripe tomato. I'm going to start looking for green tomato pickle, relish and chutney recipes.

David, you're right: what could be better than a tomato salad, great tuna and those adorable fish boys!

Kelly-Jane, I agree, tomatoes are a treat! And where we are now, Connecticut, we've been getting great tomatoes -- some of the best in years. There's a farmers market this afternoon and I can't wait to get more.

Luisa, I think you'll like the tomato-plum combo and, knowing how everything you make looks so beautiful, I think you'll like the mix of colors too.

Ruth, one day I'd like to have the I-can't-keep-up-with-them problem. In the meantime, I'm glad you've got a bumper crop. I've never heard of Pruden's Purples, but I'm going to look them up.

[ruthwells]

Heaven on a dish. I'm growing Pruden's Purple tomatoes this year (amongst others) and the fruits are huge and bumpy, like the one your husband found. I'm eating lots of BLTs and bread salads and still can't keep up with them!

[Luisa]

We swooned over our summer tomatoes with basil, salt and olive oil last night, too. I could eat them morning, noon and night and never grow tired. And with plums?! I will have to try this very soon.

[Kelly-Jane]

Beautiful tomatoes are such a treat :)

[david]

I can only imagine one thing better; a nice slab of grilled tuna with that.

Too bad the fish-boys are on vacation!

[Estelle]

Dorie, my mother used to take the green tomatoes left at the end of the season and pickle them. Very delicious. The greenies served a very different purpose than their red counterparts. Served as a pickle, they are good for digestion.
You made my mouth water with the picture of your tomatoe and plum salad.

[Dorie]

Tomatoes and apricots! Rona, that sounds really, really good.

[Rona]

Ah, Michael missed a great meal. I've been living on tomato, fresh mozz and basil this summer. I add a touch of olive oil, sprinkle a little rose peppercorn salt and sometimes slice a few apricots with it. It is so delectible. That and a glass of sauvignon blanc and I'm very happy. Will try the plums- it sounds like a great combo. I've also been thinking about the wonderfully fresh produce from the greenmarket that I'm going to miss when the summer is over. I've been buying lots of blueberries and freezing them. Can we have just a few more months of summer?

[christianne]

Our poor little tomato plant has only created one tomato to date this summer - and we eat it tonight! I'll have to pick up some plums as well, it sounds good.

[Dorie]

Maria, it's funny - in a moment of 'the glass is half empty' thinking, I cut the tomato and thought how soon this wonderful season will be over. It's such a treat to have a daily supply of great tomatoes. Of course, when the season is over, I'll still have green tomatoes on my vines -- it turns out my poor little tomatoes are not getting enough sun and they're probably never going to ripen. (Never mind that those that show the least little blush of color, get eaten by the critters.) So maybe I've solved my woes -- I'll have perpetual, if inedible, tomatoes.

Casey - the thanks for sharing should go to Dan Barber, who did the original salad. It is intriguing because, like tomatoes, plums are both sweet and acidic -- but their sweetness and acidity are completely different. I hope you'll try the combination and let me know what you think.

[Casey]

Adding plums to chopped tomatoes is an intriguing idea. Thanks for sharing.

[Maria]

Fresh summer tomatoes are the best...especially with a hint of basil. It looks like you found an extra special tomato...I am glad you enjoyed it!