Tomato Sandwiches [The Cookbook]

When I got out to the garden this morning, I was greeted with a very pleasant surprise:

They're ripening!

I swear to you, I handled this is a very classy fashion. I totally didn't jump and squeal or anything.

It's been a very wet and cool summer in these parts, which while great for the snap-peas, which are still producing into August now, not so much for the more warm loving plants: tomatoes, peppers, my sad, sad cucumbers, etc. I've got a lot of lovely green fruit on almost all of my plants, but it's all mostly green. I'm so glad to see some ripening going on. This particular variety is called "Saucy," an heirloom paste tomato, which according to the description is a pretty early variety, so hopeful a few of the other varieties will get themselves to ripening before October.

Now, these tomatoes (along with a few other paste varieties) were planted with the express purpose of going into my spaghetti sauce. Pastes are meatier and using them will definitely cut down on "cooking down" time with my sauce. Unfortunately, when planning my tomato varieties, I didn't think about the fact that this was an "early paste" and what that meant. It's not canning time yet. Or, rather, none of the other tomatoes are even close to ready for it to be canning time, so I can't even whip up a small test batch. Still, I didn't want little critters munching on my tomatoes, so there was only one thing I could do.

My photos of the actual finished product are awful, so you're going to have to deal with a picture of toasting bread. Hopeful in the next month or so, my photo quality will improve thanks to some changes, which I discuss later. Anyone who knows me, though, knows what the toasted bread is about to become.

It's a dish that really brings back memories of summer lunches on the back porch with my mother. They were probably accompanied by a huge mug of coffee. :) I don't remember eating them with Bisnonna though. Likely because of that terrible anti-tomato phase I experienced in youth, but don't talk about the dark days.

Madre remembers though:

Tomato Sandwich

Madre writes: This is one of my favorite lunches with Grandma. Toast two thinly sliced pieces of Italian bread [Amy's note: Or medium-ish wheat, I don't think it makes a difference *hides*] Butter them, slice your tomato, and put it on the bread. Sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper and a tiny bit of oregano. Enjoy!

So there you have it. A favorite (delicious and easy!) summer lunch for generations.