Not a newsflash: summer in the Northeast is short. And the tomato season— talking peak here— is even shorter. It takes time and luck (plenty of sunshine and just enough rain) for tomatoes to ripen fully on the vine into thin-skinned juicy, firm-fleshed, sweet, acidic, utterly umami-delicious tomatoes we can only dream about the other ten months of the year.  

This is why, for these few short weeks, I scroll past even beloved recipes that call for cooked tomatoes—opting instead to highlight fresh tomatoes in easy-to-make meals and snacks that simply let them be.    

Tomato sandwich

Can’t-get-much-simpler tomato snack-hack

Don’t laugh if you haven’t tried this. Take a slice of white bread. Yes, that kind of white bread—the one that comes packaged in a rectangular loaf, sliced. Slather one side with Hellman’s mayonnaise. Top it with a thick slab of a heirloom tomato. Sprinkle the tomato with kosher salt and let sit for 5-10 minutes, to let the salt release juices that mix with the mayo to permeate the bread. Add few grinds of pepper. Garnish with basil if you like.  

BLTs for dinner

A fat, juicy heirloom tomato can elevate the humble BLT to at least the status of a tasty weeknight dinner. Of course, the other ingredients matter, too. For the B, use quality applewood smoked bacon (North Country is great), cooked but still pliable and chewy, not hard and crisp. Use a good country or sourdough bread, toasted, and Hellman’s mayo because, besides Kewpie, there is no other kind.  And for L, layer on some of the lettuce you picked up at the farmers’ market when you bought the tomatoes. 

Caprese salad 

You don’t need a recipe for this one: a plate of sliced late-summer tomatoes sprinkled with thinly sliced red onion, salt and freshly ground pepper, dotted with torn mozzarella (or creamy burrata), basil leaves, and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Have tomatoes but no mozzarella? Make it without. Also: hold the vinegar: late summer tomatoes are plenty sweet and acidy. They don’t need it. 

Penne plated

Penne with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil

Here’s how to use uncooked tomatoes in a delicious main dish. For this one, I like to use penne: not-too-fat/not-too-thin pasta tubes that trap tomato’s juices and are easy to pick up with a fork.  

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups short pasta like penne 
• 2 cups tomatoes—any combo, any size—coarsely chopped, juices reserved 
• 2 fat cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 ball of mozzarella, torn or cubed
• A handful of basil leaves, torn if big 
• More olive oil, salt, pepper to taste

Directions 

1. Cook the pasta in salted water to al dente and drain.  
2. When pasta has cooled slightly, put it in a large non-reactive bowl. Add the coarsely chopped tomatoes and their juices, a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and the minced garlic. Sprinkle liberally with salt, freshly ground pepper. Add  2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and toss gently.
3. Once you’re confident that the pasta has cooled almost to room temperature, add the mozzarella, basil, a little more olive oil, and taste for salt and pepper— adding if needed. 

Dress it up with handful of pine nuts lightly browned in olive oil or pan-grilled shrimp, black olives or and/or sauteed baby eggplant. On this one, let your imagination be your guide. 

Gazpacho – all vegetables mixed

Summer Gazpacho  (serves 4)

You can make gazpacho with canned tomatoes or fresh tomatoes at other times of year.  But it will never dazzle with the complexity and zing of late-summer tomatoes.

Ingredients

• 2 slices of country bread, crusts removed, torn into chunks
• 2 big heirloom tomatoes, any color, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt, divided 
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 fat cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cucumber—peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped
• 1 red pepper—cored and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 red onion, coarsely chopped   
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sherry, champagne, or balsamic vinegar to taste

Directions

1. Place the bread in a large non-reactive bowl and the chopped tomatoes on top of it. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the salt and the pepper over the tomatoes and let sit for 5-10 minutes. 
2. Add all remaining ingredients the second tablespoon of salt and mix with a wooden spoon.  Let sit for 1/2 hour.
3. Process well in a blender (ideal) or food processor, and pour into bowl. (You may have to work in two batches.)

Gazpacho plated

Taste. After you’re done swooning, decide: If you’d like a smoother, silkier soup, strain it through a mesh colander. If, like me, you enjoy a little texture, leave it.  Either way taste for salt, pepper, vinegar. But you’ll probably decide it’s perfect as is. Serve immediately (or chill for later) garnished with fresh herbs like basil and chives and drizzled with olive oil.  

Sadly (but gratefully) that’s about it for summer. More to come as we approach fall. 

Photos by Carolyn Swartz