Ellen Silverman
Ellen Silverman

This summer, the field tomatoes that are the season’s perfect pleasure will be rare and expensive, due to the terrible blight that is causing enormous losses on farms across the Northeast. My advice, for the tomatoes you are lucky enough to find, is that they are best savored with little adornment – just enough to maximize the experience of ripe summer tomato. The gist: Every tomato needs a little bit of salt to make its flavor vivid. If you like, drizzle over excellent extra-virgin olive oil…maybe a drop or two of Sherry or balsamic vinegar…and/or a few torn basil leaves.

The best manifestation of this formula is the tomato salad recipe of Lucia Lo Presti, wine writer Anthony Giglio’s Sicilian mama-in-law. Its lushness that will make you feel intoxicated. Lucia dresses her tomatoes “a tavola,” while everyone is seated at the table and waiting. (The salt will cause the juice in the tomatoes to run and you want to eat them at the perfect point before total collapse – that is, soon after they are dressed.)

Recipe: Mamma Lucia’s Insalata di Pomodoro

Slice the ripest tomatoes you can find into wedges and place in a bowl. Salt them generously and stir them with a large spoon, or toss with your hands. Add an abundant amount of extra-virgin olive oil (for mopping up with bread), tossing again.

Spoon the mixture into shallow pasta bowls. If you want, and have access to REAL freshly-made mozzarella, place a slab on top of the tomatoes. Pass a crusty loaf of bread around for tearing off big pieces to mop up the juices.

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3 replies on “recipe: mamma lucia’s insalata di pomodoro (for when tomatoes are like gold)

  1. Mama mia, this is good! Sorry y’all are having trouble with tomatoes up north, in NC it’s been a very good year…

  2. Thanks! Glad to hear your tomato season has been good.

  3. A volunteer, glowing black on top and scarlet on its bottom, came bursting out of our compost digs. Don’t rightly remember its parent, but omg, what an eater! Pass the salt…

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