Remember when the only tomatoes you could find at the store were red? And not just red, but that kind of washed out red, that did not bode well for the flavor of said tomato. Thankfully those days are behind us and now an array of heirloom tomatoes is becoming easier and easier to find.
I love heirloom tomatoes, I love looking at them, taking pictures of them, talking about them, and eating them. The shades of reds, greens, yellows, purples, all beautiful.
When I eat good tomatoes, I don't want much done to them. I'm more than happy to eat them like an apple, taking big, messy bites out of them, with pauses for fresh sprinkles of salt.
But sometimes, one needs to step up to the plate, and do a little something with them, and what I did was Tyler Florence's Heirloom Tomatoes and Black-Eyed Peas. Well, I sort of did it, since I didn't have any watercress or red onion, so I subbed in a little fresh parsley for color. And then I kind of diced them instead of artfully slicing them and arranging them oh-so-prettily like Tyler (we are on a first name basis) does.
I'm not going to post the recipe, since you can follow the link above and see the recipe on his site. Plus you get the benefit of seeing his interpretation of how this salad should look. Doesn't matter, mine was quite yummy, I should know I ate it for three days in a row, and would have eaten it for more, it's just that I ate it all up.
This lovely summery salad will be my entry for this week's Tyler Florence Fridays!
Music listened to while cooking: Home
by The BoDeans.
16 comments:
I just love heirloom tomatoes too! They are so beautiful.
Your recipe looks so terrific! I love the black-eyed peas with the tomatoes! What a great combination of flavors. :P
heirloom tomatoes make regular tomatoes look lame and boring and blah. i love 'em, and i love this simple salad!
What a beautiful and tasty salad. I love heirloom tomatoes.
Flavorless tomatoes are a huge reason I'm growing my own. All of mine are heirloom tomatoes, and if the fool things ever grow up (at least they've started appearing with our recent warm, not raining, weather) I expect to die of happiness with tomato in hand.
Oh, that looks so good. I love tomatoes just as you described, eating them like an apple! I have been eating lots of tomatoes lately with B. bringing fresh bunches of them from the Market.
Salad looks yummy. I love black-eyed peas.
Fresh tomatoes are one of the best things about summer. I love this salad, nice use of beans too.
Delicious. Heirloom tomatoes have so much more character, flavor, and, well, *life* than the traditional red ones I think. (Though a bite of a warm, fresh picked tomato of any kind is quite nice...) Great recipe, simple, and elegant.
This post reminds me of the first time a friend of mine saw an heirloom tomato at a local farmers' market - she was hesitant to get it because she thought it had been malformed or attacked by disease because of the (to her) unusual shape and color. I can report, though, that she is now a convert to that flavor.
I love heirloom tomatoes too and have them growing in our herb garden. I'm not familiar with Tyler's recipe but I know I'm going to love it because next to tomatoes, black-eyed peas rate very high on my chart.
Sam
I've been wanting to make this recipe, but I am having trouble finding heirlooms. This is a great simple salad. I chuckled when you said you and Tyler are on a first name basis. I had a dream that I had his phone number and called him for cooking advice, etc.
Simple dishes like this are excellent for summer! You've gotta soak up all the ripe tomatoes while you can, heirloom or otherwise (although heirlooms are definitely prettier).
There is no better tomato than an heirloom tomato. The flavor in the is just unmatched! They really give this dish some flair! Great job!
Never had an heirloom tomato - I love the unusual colors.
I will have to try this - you make it look awesome and your description leads me to believe I'd be happy to eat it three days in a row too.
I love both tomatoes and black-eyed peas so this looks just perfect to me. Yum!
Hmmm to the farmer's market I go, shopping for tomatoes.
Am off to hunt down some heirloom tomatoes (never mind that I have some seeds that never got planted this year...). Anyway, I love black-eyes peas, and your pictures are amazing!!
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