Tomatoes

I love tomatoes! I am passionate about tomatoes! I anxiously await mid-summer when the sun has been blazing down, warming the earth and ripening all those delicious red globes of flavor. The really good tomatoes only start showing up mid to late June. If someone tries to tell you they have great homegrown tomatoes in April or May. Trust me they were not homegrown nearby, unless you live may be in Florida or California. I still might question it. I watched tomatoes being harvested in California. They were red. Trust me, once again, they were not ripe.

I grew up in Louisiana, in the country. My Dad always had a wonderful garden, and the star was almost always his tomatoes. I learned quite young, the best way to eat a tomato was over the sink with a salt shaker in one hand. I can remember standing there taking that first bite with the warm juices running down my chin. I would eat until I thought I might pop. He still grows tomatoes; I'm just not close enough to enjoy his bounty, but discuss his trials (to much rain - not enough rain) and successes (overloaded plants - I could help him with that problem) frequently.

There is nothing better than a simple tomato/cucumber salad, bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich (probably nothing healthy about that one, especially if your loaded it down with mayo), tomato with mozzarella and pesto. So many wonderful concoctions. But probably of my favorite things to do with my farmer's market tomatoes is make gazpacho.

My Gazpacho
(makes about 4 soup bowl servings, but easily doubled or tripled and so on)

4 small garden tomatoes
3 to 4 pickling cucumbers (or 1 hothouse)
1 red bell pepper
1 roasted red pepper (chopped)
1/2 large purple onion
1 medium jalapeño pepper (minced)
2 large cloves garlic (finely minced)
23 oz. (about 1/2 bottle of tomato juice)
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (about 2)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. cumin
a handful of fresh cilantro (roughly chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
(amounts and measurements are sort of estimated)

In the food processor using the pulse speed I chop, separately, the tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper and onion. I like my gazpacho with a lot texture, so I don't puree' it. I leave lots of
chunky pieces. I toss them in a big mixing bowl and add the jalapeño and garlic (I was conservative in my amounts. I love jalapeños and garlic.)

Pour in the tomato juice, lime juice and olive oil. Add the cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper.
Stir and refrigerate overnight. The longer it sets the better it gets.

Enjoy!