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Saturday, August 4, 2012

The First Tomato

We celebrated a momentous occasion this week. Our first tomato has finally blushed to perfection! 
I might have mentioned before that I excel at killing plants. Thank goodness children require slightly different care and feeding from vegetables or I'd be in a penitentiary somewhere. Fortunately Mufasa has spent the past few years honing his gardening skills and after several disappointments (ravenous rabbits and squirrels mainly) we have a real thriving, albeit small, garden.
Picking time!
Much to our delight we feasted on tomatoes, cucumbers, and basil all grown within a 10 foot radius of our house. Now that's local. I love summer.
Tomatoes and Cucumbers with Basil Salt

1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup kosher salt
3-4 cucumbers, the fresher the better, extra points for growing them yourself
3-4 tomatoes still warm from the sun

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Combine the 3/4 cup of the basil leaves and salt in a food processor. Process until well combined. Spread basil-salt mixture on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake 45-50 minutes shaking pan occasionally until dry. Allow to cool to room temperature.
2. Slice the cucumbers and tomatoes. Arrange on a platter and top with remaining 1/4 cup basil leaves. Sprinkle a bit of the basil salt on top to taste, reserving the rest in an airtight container for the bounty of vegetables yet to ripen (or perhaps to rim a margarita, the choice is yours).
So simple, lovely, and summery

2 comments:

  1. Mmmm we've had lots of those cucumber-tomato plates lately too (minus the fancy basil salt). I guess neither one of us inherited the gardening gene. I love garden fresh tomatoes but I have trouble remembering to water my plants!

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    1. The garden is really fun. Luckily now you have JoMo to help remember to water your garden :)

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