When I was still in high school, after a night of clubbing, my friend and I ended up staying at her grandparents in town (we lived in the burbs). My friends grandparents were Italian and the grandmother was a great home cook. They had, among other things, grapes and tomatoes growing in their small backyard. My friend's grandmother made me a sandwich for breakfast which consisted of toasted home made bread, slices of tomato from the garden, olive oil, basil leaves (also from the garden) and salt and freshly ground pepper. It was by far the best sandwich I have ever had. I can almost recapture the taste with late July tomatoes but I imagine I will never be able to recreate it. Mostly because you cannot recreate a revelation. But the possibility of a savoury breakfast not including bacon and eggs was new and welcome to me. Not to mention drizzling olive oil onto tomatoes and spreading basil leaves over top like lettuce.
This morning I went running on the aerobic corridor in the rain and the forest was beautiful and lush and I was quiet alone without even a single bug. One of the main reasons I run is so that I can eat what I want and what I wanted for lunch today was soup to warm my bones, and a crusty ciabatta sandwich with summer tomatoes, cheddar and bocconcini (to fatten my backside?). I also threw in some finely cut artisan's salami, some tomatoes slices and fresh basil leaves. I distributed cheddar on one side of the baguette and bocconcini atop all the other ingredients on the other and toasted them both on broil in the oven. Photogenic and delicious! No one really needs a sandwich recipe as its not rocket science but sometimes it nice to be re -reminded of the possibilities...such as bocconcini which melts very well and is mild and satisfying when accompanied by other stronger saltier ingredients.
Its also a crime, if you are Canadian, to not eat as many tomatoes as you can get your hands on in summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment