There’s salad. There’s pasta sauce. Those are things you can do with heirloom tomatoes in the summertime to make dinner.
But try this: get a loaf of really good bread. Slice the bread thickly and set it aside. Now take an eggplant (preferably purchased from the farmer’s market) and cut it into rings; cut a red heirloom tomato into rings too. Place those rings on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper…
And pop into a 350 degree oven until the eggplant’s cooked and the tomato has wrinkled and looks more intense.
Have some good goat cheese ready.
Toast a slice of that bread, drizzle it with good olive oil, top it with some goat cheese and then top with the roasted eggplant and tomato. Drizzle with more olive oil and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt. Set that aside.
Now slice your biggest and prettiest heirloom tomato. If you have rendered bacon, and who doesn’t, crumble that into a bowl and mix it with some mayo. Spread that bacon mayo on to another slice of toasted bread:
And top with sliced heirloom tomato. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and some minced chives and set aside.
Finally, if you feel like this dinner needs more substance, drain a can of chickpeas and a can of black beans. Mix them together along with a dressing made with yogurt, minced garlic, lemon juice, a splash of olive and some white wine vinegar. Add lots of scallions to the bowl and some pepper, if you like that sort of thing.
Pile the bean salad on to the plate with the two tomato toasts and there you are… heirloom tomatoes for dinner.
