In praise of 'real' tomatoes

Sometimes cooking feels difficult, time consuming and completely uninspired. An evening meal may be nothing more than a few pieces of toasted bread with some brie and tomatoes on top, perhaps a few basil leaves and a sprinkling of salt and pepper too, but, it can quite simply be the best thing you have eaten in a long time. I don't want to turn into a food bore and it's been said many times before, but it is true. The real beauty of Summer food is the fact that you don't need to muck around with it much. Of course, if your tomatoes are heirloom from the farmer's market along with the artisan bread and small holding homemade Brie, you will be applauded for your good taste and sense of locality and seasonal eating, bravo you 'foodie' you. I remember a funny episode of King of the Hill, where the ever sensible Hank visited a 'community' market to pick up some good meat and was given some 'real' tomatoes and hemp toilet paper as well. 

"Are you trying to get me arrested" he complained as he threw the toilet paper out of his pick up window, but the tomatoes he kept and took home:

Hank, like many people was probably only used to those uniformly sized and coloured supermarket variety, bred and grown for yield and their eerie clone like appeal, he probably kept them in the fridge too.

The tomatoes in the image above are three different types. In my professionalism, I have forgotten what the red and orange ones are called, but love the contrast between the vivid green seeds and orange or red flesh. The green ones, however, I know because they are my favourite. Green zebra are both beautiful and incredibly delicious. I like to think they have tiger stripes and the flavour is not too sweet, slightly tart but bursting with juice as you bite into them. I had plans to try growing them this year, having found an Internet site in the States specialising in preserving heirloom seeds from all over the world, (take that Monsanto). The attempt will have to wait until next year however, as I currently have no deck, garden or balcony, just a solarium that seems to be frying my poor plants. So, the crunch and crisp of toasted bread, a little earthy hit of pungent garlic, the creamy ooziness of a very ripe Brie, the sour-sweet juiciness of tomatoes, the slight aniseed-y herbal punch of basil, salt and pepper to make it sing and you can imagine dinner, a very good one.

'Recipe' : Toasted bread with Brie, tomatoes & basil

Recipe this ain't, just a list of ingredients and assembling instructions. 

2 slices of robust, country style bread, (something with a crisp crust and a moderately dense texture)

1 clove of garlic, peeled and cut in half

enough slices of a good Brie to cover both pieces of bread

3 or 4 medium sized Heirloom or other flavourful tomatoes, sliced

a few leaves of basil, ripped

salt and pepper

a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, (optional)

Toast the bread on both sides until browned and rub one half of the garlic clove over each piece. 

Lay the Brie and tomatoes on top, sprinkle over the basil and season quite generously with salt and pepper. Drizzle some oil over also if you like and enjoy.