Fresh summer tomatoes were made for this panzanella salad
When you stroll through a farmers market during peak tomato season, you can almost feel the yearning. One table after another burns bright with the fruits of the season, nature's true eye candy. Everything about these plump orbs invites you to take them home: their juicy colors, like prism light swollen with nectar; their musky aromas of grass, earth and papaya; and their curvy ripeness, with skins stretched tighter than water balloons.
A summer tomato is, in fact, designed for temptation. We as a species are helpless against its charms.
There are many ways to surrender to this temptation. None of them, fortunately, require a confession afterward. You can slice, salt and devour the fruit right at your kitchen counter, the weekend fling of tomato attraction. You can take a few thin wheels of tomato and press them between toasted slices of bread slathered with mayonnaise, a basic sandwich that proves you love the headline ingredient enough not to smother it completely. You can even surround a tomato with an ensemble cast to better set off its unique attributes. Think of it as a summer stock production of gazpacho or pasta with red sauce, with tomatoes in the lead role.
My own summer romance with tomatoes begins and ends with panzanella, the Tuscan salad with only a few ingredients but a thousand ways to prepare them. "There is a different idea in every household about what panzanella should be, and there is nothing more Italian than that," said Fabio Trabocchi, the Italian native and chef behind Fiola, Del Mar and other restaurants.
Several years ago, Trabocchi played the role of mentor during my pursuit of the perfect panzanella. I recently had the chance to revisit the recipe, which combined ideas and techniques from several sources, including Trabocchi and J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, the chief culinary adviser for Serious Eats. I have to admit, this one is a keeper.
The recipe works, I think, because it doesn't try to do too much. It relies on chopped heirloom tomatoes, toasted sourdough bread and a light, slightly pungent "vinaigrette" built from juices drained from the star ingredient. It's a tomato salad drizzled with a tomato dressing, an endless loop of the summer's most desirable flavor.