Heirloom tomatoes sliced on a board with fresh basil and flaky salt
← All recipes Garden · Summer · No-Cook

Tomato & Basil, Nothing Else

There is a two-week window in July when the tomatoes in our kitchen garden are so good they don't need anything done to them. This is the recipe for those two weeks. If your tomatoes aren't quite there yet, let them sit on the counter another day. Never the fridge.

Prep
10 min
Cook
None
Total
10 min
Serves
4

Method

  1. Core the tomatoes. Slice the large ones thickly — about ½ inch. Halve or quarter the cherry and medium ones. Arrange on a wide, flat plate or a cutting board with a lip to catch the juice.
  2. Tear the basil over the tomatoes. Big pieces are fine. This is not surgery.
  3. Drizzle the olive oil over everything. Use more than you think you should.
  4. Sprinkle flaky salt over the top. Crack black pepper generously.
  5. Let it sit 5 minutes. The salt will draw some juice from the tomatoes and it will puddle at the bottom of the plate. That juice and oil together is something worth sopping up with good bread.
  6. Serve immediately, at room temperature, with plenty of sourdough on the side.

Add a farm egg and make it a meal

Fry a couple of our pasture-raised eggs in olive oil until the edges are crisp and the yolk is still runny. Slide them onto the tomato plate. Finish with more flaky salt. That's summer dinner, no apology needed.

The best cooking you'll do this summer will involve almost no cooking at all. From the kitchen garden, July
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