Heirloom Tomatoes, "Panzanella Style"

For dinner, I prepared the Heirloom Tomatoes, "Panzanella Style" from page 32 in Rick Tramonto's Amuse-Bouche that accompanies the Buttermilk Crackers I made yesterday.

 

This being April in Ohio, and watching the grapple/snow falling off and on today (yes, on the 22nd of April), the most you can hope for in tomatoes with any taste are grape tomatoes, so I substituted red and yellow ones for heirloom, tho honestly I believe the red ones are baby Romas.  I cut a dozen of each color into 3 crosswise slices and allowed the seeds and liquid to drain while I prepared the pasta that was our main course. 

 

The recipe is as follows, with my notes/changes highlighted in red w/white ink.

 

1 cup diced red and yellow tomatoes

1 T olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 T balsamic vinegar (fruit of the gods!)

6 large shavings Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

6 Buttermilk Crackers (page 247) OR high-quality store-bought crackers

Currant tomatoes on the vine, for garnishing

 

1. In a small bowl, toss the tomatoes with the olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.  I use extra-virgin olive oil exclusively.
2. To serve, divide the tomato salad among 6 small plates and drizzle with the vinegar.  Top each serving with a shaving of cheese, a cracker, and a few currant tomatoes.  I divided this into 4 small bowls, as it's too large a portion for me to consider as an amuse, but it's great as a small side salad, especially if you add an extra cracker and a grating of cheese, or in my case tonight, buttery, oozy delicious burrata cheese and a few crostini.

   

   BUTTERMILK CRACKERS

   
   

   

   INGREDIENTS and UTENSILS NEEDED
   
    

   

   HEIRLOOM TOMATOES,
   "PANZANELLA STYLE"
   
    

    

   
   

   

   CAVATELLI ALLA MELANIE
   
   Give it a try - this one's a skill level of 1, unless you have no knife skills, but what the hey, as long as you're using grape tomatoes, you could always just use them whole.
   
   Ciao again, and buona sera...