The Tomato Sandwich: Summer’s Ultimate Food

What’s better than garden-fresh tomatoes on sandwich bread slathered in mayonnaise?

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Well , it is ultimately that time of year again that we gardeners anticipate with great delight … harvest our garden bounty . While we have been eat our greens , onion plant , squash and garlic already , my long - awaited garden favorite is the first - picked dead - ripe summer tomato . My first of the season garden Lycopersicon esculentum sandwich is indeed a gourmet delight and a taste sentiency .

A Lycopersicon esculentum sandwich is simple to create , You ’ll call for a tomato ( of course ) . mayonnaise , bread , and seasoning .

• The first and most authoritative requirement is that the tomato must be summer mature . It can not be indoor garden farm or ship unripe maturing into a gritty - textured non - flavored fruit . It has to be dead - ripe , succulent , and bursting with juice . It should never be refrigerate .

• A good - character mayo is 2d on the list . For those of you who do not like mayonnaise , you are just plain up the brook without a boat paddle . I suppose you could drift along with European olive tree oil , or nothing at all , but without it , part of the magic is miss .

• Third is the bread , which must be soft , not crispen . Childhood sandwiches were on balmy sandwich blanched bread , the kind that you could roll a slice up in a egg and manipulation for fishing bait ( doughballs my granny called them ) . As an adult I prefer a whole - wheat country - style loaf of bread that has a toilsome cheekiness , but the interior is soft . The bread must be gentle and return to absorb the mayonnaise and succus of the tomato . No honey or nut - character lettuce — they would interpose with the flavor .

• Last but not least , salt and freshly terra firma pepper are the essential seasonings .

I have been corrode tomato since I was a child grow up in Baltimore ; my mother buy them during the summertime at roadside stand or from the street vender who came down our back alley with a horse and handcart . Before we meet the sandwich , I have to tell you that they are good than ever since I became a nurseryman and rise my own . Sometimes I spy a tomato ripening in the garden and I earmark it for a tomato sandwich . I visit it every sidereal day and wait its ripening with large pleasure . Any self-aggrandizing juicy tomato will do , but some of the heirloom , with names like Brandywine , Cherokee Purple , German Striped , or Zapotec Pleated put up extra sensual taste experiences .

Make the sandwichWash and dry the chosen tomato . Using a tomato plant tongue , make a little atomic number 23 around the stalk core to remove it . slice up the tomato ; compact or sparse is a personal matter . I like average - flimsy piece so I can pile them two high .

slit the lettuce and spread the mayonnaise densely on both slices , pay off tending that the mayonnaise reaches all the way to the bound of the crust ( sometimes I have to lick mayonnaise off my knuckles off from reaching into the jar ) .

set up the tomatoes to equip onto one of the slices of kale . Add an surplus slice of tomato on top . liberally season the tomato slices with salt and freshly flat coat pepper . rate the other fade of bread over the tomato plant . Press down gently but firmly with your hand as you slue the sandwich in half ; I prefer sandwiches thin on the slanted .

At this point , you have two options , well maybe three . you’re able to take the sandwich and eat it over the sink , letting the juice tend down your chin or your hand ( this is handy for clear - up ) . Or you could put it on a plate and take it out to the back stoep , where it is less formal but it does n’t count if you dribble , and eat it in the sunshine where the Lycopersicon esculentum was grown . Or you could be civilize , sit at the table , with lots of napkins , and perhaps a glass of iced tea . I reasonably much like to eat on my tomato sandwiches alone .

Love at first pungency

The first bite is all about texture , before the flavor . sink your teeth into the gentle bread , the velvety photographic emulsion of mayo , the juicy - bursting tomato are all percentage of the sensory experience that I look forrad to . The compounding of flavor to the tastebud is staring harmony — the subtle sweet and yeastiness of the lucre is in the background for the creamy richness from the fat of the mayonnaise and the tart loony toons and sweet of the tomato , accentuated by the salt and a bite of pepper . The first bite is so overwhelming to my senses that the second and third bites I actually can try out the flavors better , and the eternal rest of the sandwich I can imagine about and smack .

This is a food that is about as basic as you’re able to get , so it is very solid and grounding , it seduce me feel good , like coming menage . However it is at the same time exquisitely carnal , titillating all of my sense , leaving me feeling satiated and well fed . Since these can only be had during the summer time of year , I wipe out them just about every day , for breakfast , tiffin , dinner party , or in between .

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A fat and juicy heirloom tomato is the star of this tomato sandwich.Photo/Illustration: Susan Belsinger

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