Tomatoes taste of Summer (A post by Molly)

Nothing says summer like a ripe farm fresh tomato. Unfortunately the tomato season came late this year, and for most of the summer Martha Stewart seemed to be personally taunting us with a particularly appetizing magazine cover. Finally, last weekend we were able to silence Martha’s sneers. On an impromptu trip to the farmers market, I picked up a spectrum of cherry tomatoes with colors ranging from lemon lime to deep plum, courtesy of Mike’s Tomatoes. We were finally able to create the rainbows of tomato bruschetta that grace Martha’s magazine.

As many of you know, last Saturday was ungodly hot, obviously not the time to break out the broiler. So, following Martha’s recipe recipes exactly was out of the question. Luckily, after meticulous research into the nature of oven-less bruschetta, I was able to wing it. Sorry Martha. The end product was a simple but striking summer dinner.

We’ll be serving this recipe many more times, just to prolong the season of summer. Though school has started, and the leaves are changing, just one bite of fresh tomato carries us back to the season of long days, shining suns, lazy mornings, and droning cicadas. When there’s snow on the ground and a howling wind, I hope this recipe will have the same effect.

Rainbow Bruschetta

6 slices French bread

Olive oil (enough to lightly drizzle on each side of bread)

¼ cup fresh basil (chopped)

²/₃ cup mozzarella cheese

2 cups tomatoes chopped (1/2 cup per color, yellow, orange, red, maroon)

1. Drizzle olive evenly on either side of each slice bread, toast in a pan over medium heat until bread is crisp
2. Spread basil evenly on one side of each slice of bread, sprinkle mozzarella cheese over basil. Melt cheese (this can be done will the bread is in the pan, or in the microwave). Place toasted bread on a plate.
3. Arrange tomatoes in a spectrum formation, going from greenish-yellow to maroon. Serve and enjoy the taste of summer.