Alone In The Kitchen With A Tomato

I found myself at home for lunch the other day with a few very ripe tomatoes and a small piece of fresh mozzarella.

I decided to cut one of the tomatoes in half, sprinkled the halves with some thinly sliced garlic, salt and olive oil. I then roasted the tomato in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes until softened.

Meanwhile, I cut a slice from the mozzarella. When the tomato was soft I removed it from the oven and sandwiched the cheese between the two slices as the heat from the tomato began to melt the cheese. Served with a slice of crusty bread, it made the perfect summer lunch.

Actually, I roasted the tomato a little longer, about 20 minutes, so it would be oozing its juices. I figured it was just me for lunch, and soaking up the juices with bread was an enticing though messy event.

If you roast the tomato until just done, then add a thin slice of mozzarella until it just turns soft, this would make a great first course for an end-of-summer dinner.

Since the rest of the tomatoes needed to be eaten that I day, I ran with it and continud the tomato theme for dinner with panzella salad. Bread salad. What could be better than that?

Cubes of crusty bread, chunks of tomatoes, cucumbers and thinly sliced red onions. All tossed with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and basil. 

With a shrimp vinaigrette on the side, it was the perfect light dinner for a hot evening.