Kitchen

[blueroses47]

 I mostly eat them in a salad or on a BLT or melted cheese sandwich (both sandwiches with lots of mayo).

The one other way I like to eat them when they are really in season and most flavorful is in a pasta dish that I  found in Nora Ephron's book "Heartburn", that included some recipes in the back.  (Nora apparently loved to cook).

You just take fresh tomatoes, peel them  and seed them (two steps I usually skip), cut them up in smaller chunks, add olive oil and some vinegar or lemon juice (something acidic, as you would making a salad dressing), garlic if you like it, salt and pepper, and fresh basil if you like it and have it. 

As you can see, this is very flexible, according to your personal tastes.

Let this marinate for as long as you like, at least an hour, I'd say.

Then boil up some pasta (she used angel hair, I use anything), and add the fresh tomato sauce and some cheese if you want to.

It's such a nice light tomato sauce, just very different from a cooked one. 

I like to make this a few times when we have tomatoes ripe from the garden.

[loriqvc]

When I was growing up, I always hated tomatoes unless they were transformed into a sauce or salsa and would not eat them plain under any circumstances. In my early 20s, I learned that I actually just didn't like the bland "non-taste" and mealy squishiness of grocery store tomatoes. Ever since then, when I can get a good, fresh, locally grown tomato, I love to eat it thickly sliced with a generous sprinkle of salt or a slab or crumble of feta cheese to bring out its acidity and slight sweetness. Now my pickiness about tomatoes is for a different reason... 

[DesertPony]

Can't do the Miracle Whip...but white soft bread,tomato with salt and pepper and mayo, has to be Hellman's, will do the trick!

[sunshine45]

if we are talking strictly plain tomatoes i prefer them in chunks with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

otherwise, it depends on what i am eating them in......salads get chunks, a tomato basil mozzarella appetizer gets sliced, soups get pureed, i turn some tomatoes into tomato sauce or paste,  spaghetti sauce tomatoes get halved and cooked down, stews usually get chunks or a rough chop, sandwiches/subs get slices, pasta salads would have small chopped tomatoes.

[alicedee]

I love tomatoes all of the ways described so far.  I also enjoy them sliced with a little sugar sprinkled over them.  Or just plain!

[KentuckyWoman]

I love fresh home grown tomatoes.  I usually blanch them in hot water for about thirty seconds, then easily peel away the skin.  I slice them and eat them with with kosher salt.  I never put home grown tomatoes in a salad.  I also love to make a caprese salad with basil and balsamic vinegar.  I also love a good "mater" sandwich.  Ciabitta bun, mayo, and fresh tomatoes, or just plain old white bread.  Yummy.

[GiantsLover]

I slice the tomatoes a bit thick and using toated rye bread I make a delicious bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich.

I also slice tomatoes into salads and into hard boiled slice eggs and serve as a side dish..

[manny2]

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@pupwhipped wrote:

Unfortunately, I like them with a lot of salt. 

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Me too!

[manny2]

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@okaywitheasypay wrote:

My favorite is ripe, sprayed off with hose, salted and fresh off of the vine in my yarden. That is if the pesky little squirrels haven't beaten me to them.

I have never made a good fried green tomato except at other people's house.

At the first of the season I like a 'mater' sandwich = a healthy bread (or sourdough) with a lot of mayo .

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I love tomato, mayo and a lot of salt sandwiches. I love it on calendra's Italian bread!

[blackhole99]

I love tomatoes in season and grow my own. I rarely eat tomato slices just so, I usually put sliced tomatoes on a sandwich. I really enjoy cherry tomatoes just straight up, tomatoes are so much better tasting when you grow your own.