We were at a restaurant the other day...it was a buffet type restaurant. Joe was filling his plate and I was sitting at the table...watching the salad bar. (I wouldn't have watched so long if this hadn't happened.) A man started to compose his salad. He put some lettuces on his plate and hollowed out a hole in the center. An empty hole with lettuce encircling it.He then started to build his salad. First some cukes, then onions, then carrot shreds and on and on, until he had a pile of veggies in the middle. Then came the tomatoes...he arranged the cherry tomatoes all around the lettuce base. He then tried to put a tomato on top of the pile in the center. It wouldn't cooperate and kept rolling down the side. I'm not kidding you...he kept fooling with that darn tomato forever. Finally it was the way he wanted and then he went on to put the dressing on it. He had a smile on his face...mission accomplished. He must be a meticulous person in everything he does. I think that you can tell a lot about a person when they are composing a salad.
I'm going to plant those cherry tomatoes again this year. A red one and a yellow. They were the first ones ripe last year...we ate them way before the big ones were ripe. We did get the big ones in the ground late, as I remember.Maybe some will start from seeds where I had them last year. In my garden years ago...they always popped up year after year, and I didn't have to buy any.
I found this interesting tomato at White Flower Farm. I ordered a plant to put in my cup and saucer planter on the deck table. I wanted to see how it would grow. It is a determinate tomato and is a dwarf variety. Has anyone ever had one of these?
This is the description online...A delightful dwarf variety, 'Red Robin' overflows containers with loads of 1 in round cherry fruits bursting with extra sweet flavor. Excellent Tomato variety for smaller gardens and fun to use in mixed container plantings or in a window box with your favorite Nasturtiums. Compact plants require no staking and ripen for early harvests 60 to 65 days from transplant. Determinate.
I don't have a big garden, but I do like to try an unusual plant or two.
Well, I will have cherry tomatoes and I will try to remember how the guy built that salad. It was a challenge.
Recipe for roasted cherry tomatoes.....
Ingredients
4 pints cherry tomatoes
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
20 fresh basil leaves, chopped or julienned
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Toss the tomatoes lightly with olive oil on a sheet pan. Spread them out into one layer and sprinkle generously with kosher salt and pepper. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft.
Transfer the tomatoes to a serving platter and sprinkle with basil leaves and sea salt. Serve hot or at room temperature.
This would be delicious with Mac and Cheese and a crusty French bread...a dinner for Lent.
Balisha
2 comments:
Well those little bushes look loaded with Cherry tomatoes. I love yellow tomatoes. I am still debating what kind to plant this spring. Last years Brandywines were just too much vine so I am looking for something shorted. Maybe a container variety of some sort.
It is fun to watch people sometimes and try to figure them out LOL! I am usually way off base. ;-)
Hi Balisha, I love all kinds of tomatoes. I did grow cherry ones in containers last year but don't remember the kind. I grew them from seeds and we had tomatoes until way after the first frost. They keep great, too. I would put them in sandwich bags in the fridge and eat them for a snack. My dad had to add a big pink tomato to his patch every year and I loved those because they did not have as much acid. I used to make red tomato preserves and yellow tomato preserves when we lived on the farm. I would eat so many tomatoes my mouth would get sore.
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