Bread and Cherry Tomatoes

Summer is ambling to a close and the garden’s offerings are fresh and fragrant. Cherry tomato plants are welcome invaders, who entwine themselves everywhere. Looking for the red spots and gathering them is a feast for the nose before becoming one for the palate. It makes me want to bathe in the sun and stock the heat. Nothing is better than a lazy lunch, where the picking takes longer than the preparation. Such Provencial classics as pan bagnat (literally wet bread) furnish the inspiration. At every corner of the streets of Nice, you find sandwiches made out of tuna, tomato, salad soaked in olive oil and vinegar. I prefer a salad made of cherry tomatoes, beets and peaches seasoned with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Do not forget to soak your bread in the juices left over.

Summer Salad

Ingredients:

6 beets

1 lbs (500g) cherry tomatoes

4 ripe peaches

Basil leaves

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Several slices of fresh country bread

Material:

Aluminum foil

Salad bowl

Remove the tops of the beets and rinse the roots.

Wrap each root in a foil. Add a drop of olive oil and bake in the oven at 360F (150C) for about an hour or until easily pierced with a knife. When cool enough to handle, remove the skin and slice the vegetables.

Wash the cherry tomatoes and remove the stems.

Peel and slice the peaches. Discard the pit.

Toss the fruit and vegetables in a salad bowl. Add oil and vinegar.

Layers the washed basil leaves and roll them in a tube. Snip with the scissors over the salad bowl.

Serves 2.

The longer the salad stays in the sun, the better it will taste.