I’ve gone a little tomato crazy this year. I’m finding myself literally surrounded by tomatoes of all varieties and I only have myself to blame for it. As I may have mentioned before we receive more than we can eat in tomatoes each week from my mother-in-law and with many failed attempts at refusing her generous offers, because she really gives us way more than we could possibly eat, we gave up.
You would think that this constant supply of free tomatoes would extinguish any temptation to buy other available varieties in the market.
Nope, unlike most people who find themselves in an over abundance of any one thing, I don’t seem to know when to stop. You see, its tomato season in Vancouver and we have all kinds of amazing otherwise unavailable varieties like heirlooms and Okanagan Field tomatoes (still a few more weeks for these but I’m anticipating!). I wait all year for good Okanagan tomatoes I still think they’re the best in the world. How would it be possible for me to pass these up?
In a moment of panic, upon realization of my dilemma, I have come to the conclusion that we will be eating a lot of tomato based meals in the near future, at least until the Okanagan tomatoes are through. I’m OK with that for now. I promise I will exercise some restraint and not post exclusively tomato recipes for the rest of the summer.
Here’s a salad I absolutely adore. It’s based on a pasta recipe my mother used to make, which you could easily transform back by substituting the bread for hot pasta. I was in the mood for a non traditional panzanella salad, one of my all time favourites. Its like the best sandwiches ever deconstructed in a bowl. There are so many possibilities with a panzanella salad, whats not to love? I used a few varieties of tomatoes, a surprisingly good green house cherry tomato as well as a small heirloom variety – you could use anything you have available. The trick is to serve this salad at room temperature. Better yet of you buy tomatoes in small quantities don’t refrigerate them, they are so much more flavourful when the aren’t stored in the fridge. But if you can’t don’t worry just let them sit out a while and come to room temperature. The combination of brie, bread, good tomatoes and basil is truly out of this world.
Cherry Tomato, Basil and Brie Panzanella Salad - Serves 2 as Dinner
A whole bunch of Cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small – medium piece of good quality French Brie, cut into bit sized pieces
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, smashed
olive oil
lemon juice
fleur du sel
1/2 day old Georgian baguette torn into bite sized pieces and toasted in the oven
1 bunch fresh basil, washed
Toss the cherry tomatoes, brie and minced shallots in a large bowl and set aside. Pour some olive oil (about 1/4 cup) into a small bowl and toss in the smashed garlic clove. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon into the oil and stir with a fork to emulsify, season well with salt and pepper (this is really what makes a good salad dressing good) and pour the dressing over the tomato, brie, shallot mixture. Allow this to marinate at room temperature for an hour or so. You want the cheese to be a bit melty and all of the flavor of the dressing to get into the tomatoes.
When you are ready to eat, toss the toasted baguette pieces into the bowl and tear the basil roughly over top. Toss well to combine and adjust seasoning to taste. Serve immediately.
I’m a sucker for anything with brie in it! Great recipe!