I say tomato

While I was recently ignoring a deadline reading the Toronto Star from cover to cover to ensure that I remain fully informed about the life of the city, I came across an article from food writer Mark Bittman with loads of great tomato recipes. Kept the paper so I could make one of the recipes for guests, but since the house in full reno mode, it went missing. So I improvised at the last minute from my recollection of the recipe. It turned out to be so delish that I wanted to share. I chopped a load of large, firm field tomatoes, and tossed them with fresh chopped basil, olive oil and pepper. Then I sliced some rustic Italian bread very thin and spread one side with garlic butter. Slapped thin slices of goat milk cheddar on the bread, put another slice on top, and stuck a few of these in my grill (see pic at left) , which I find I’m using A LOT these days (it was perfect for the Grilled Eggplant recipeI found in the Star’s Living section.) I grilled the bread, then let it cool before chopping it into crouton-sized bites. Tossed those with the tomato mixture and sprinkled it with toasted pine nuts. WAY TOO GOOD. A few days later, I woke up in the middle of the night and thought about a variation – chopped Belgian endive with toasted nuts, and a blue cheese on the bread. I’ll head up this week to my favourite place to buy some nice stinky cheese (the Reesor Farm counter at the York Farmer’s Market and report back.