At the peak of ripeness, an in-season tomato is one of the things that makes life worth living. Happily, that season is upon us. And this recipe is my ode to that summer tomato.
All kinds of tomatoes are at the best just now, big and small, beefsteak and cherry. At the base of this salad are sliced beefsteak tomatoes, which are topped with chopped small tomatoes and drizzled with a tomato-based vinaigrette.
Given that this is an essence-of-tomato salad, it’s crucial that all of the tomatoes in the line-up be as ripe as possible. The best place to find them is at a farm stand or farmers market. How do you know if a tomato is ripe, ripe, ripe? Smell the stem end; its perfume should fairly shout, “Tomato!” And once you get them home, do not put them in the fridge. It will kill both flavor and texture.
You also can heighten that flavor by pre-salting your tomatoes and letting them drain for 15 to 20 minutes, as I have done here. The salt not only seasons them, but also pulls out water, thereby concentrating their tomato-ness.