I love this recipe when we have a shit ton of tomatoes to use up or we just feel like having a light summer dinner. It also works great as an easy but impressive appetizer.
We grow cherry tomatoes in our backyard pots, so that’s what I use, but any ripe tomato would work. We also grow basil, which is super easy, even for brown thumbs like me. There is no right or wrong here as far as proportions – I am more moderate in my garlic quantities, but my sweetie goes for the vampire repellant level.
Chop up some variety of ripe tomatoes. Ok to mix and match. Add as much chopped garlic as you like. Throw in some chopped up basil. Toss it all with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar plus salt and pepper to dress. Once I used a lemon balsamic vinegar and that was really good. You can get creative here.
It is even better if you let this marinate a bit, even for a few hours. Just cover it and let it sit on the counter for a while. We usually go for a martini length of time here (time it takes to drink a martini).
Toast some bread slices and spoon tomato mixture on top, with or without grated parmesan or Romano cheese. Italian bread or baguette are best, but I’ve been known to use whatever bread we have lurking around in the freezer for this. It’s meant to be low stress, so use what you got. The toast is just a vehicle for this summer tomato goodness. You need to eat it right away though or else it will become soggy, but then you could just put it into a bowl, eat it with a fork and call it Panzanella salad instead!
