After toasting a slice of sturdy, country-style bread, I rub it with a half clove of garlic, and then with a small tomato cut in half, pressing the tomato firmly until the flesh nearly dissolves into the bread. Drizzle some olive oil over it, season it with salt and pepper, and there you have it, summer's perfection. Tomatoes love company. When I make a simple tomato salad for myself, I don't peel the tomatoes, but if I want a more refined effect, I do. A salsa beat is best.
Salsa is never better than during tomato season.
It takes almost no time at all to chop a few ripe tomatoes and toss them with minced white onion, serrano or jalape o chiles, fresh cilantro leaves, and some kosher salt, the ingredients in salsa Mexicana, also known as pico de gallo . I often dress up this basic salsa by adding garlic, a splash of red wine vinegar, some good olive oil, thin strips of fresh mint, or snipped chives. If it is a particularly good year for tomatoes, and I have an abundance of varieties, I make rainbow salsa, using every color of tomato I can find, from the palest peach tomatoes to bright orange, yellow, purple, brown, striped, and green-ripe. I add minced red onion, serrano chiles, lime juice, basil, mint, and cilantro leaves, and a generous splash of extra-virgin olive oil. Then I grab a bag of tortilla chips, sit down right there in the garden, and slowly savor the enticing flavors of my favorite fruit, the petulant, beguiling tomato.