Tomatoes with Oil and Salt

Heat dulls the appetite. It makes me lazy, and I like to cook as little, or as quickly, as possible. Preferably, with no flame involved. Here is a delicious snack I've been enjoying lately that fits my requirements well: Grape tomatoes -- or fat and heavy heirlooms, if you have them -- with oil and salt.

I take a small dish from the cupboard, a dish I can hold in the palm of my hand. I then grab a handful of the tomatoes sitting on my kitchen counter. (Never keep them in the fridge, unless you like them mushy.) Wash the tomatoes, slice them in half, toss them in the bowl then squirt with olive oil (I keep a squeeze bottle filled with olive oil, for treats such as these) and sprinkle salt on top. The snowflakey Maldon sea salt is my favorite, for its brightness and crunch.

Oh, yes. Don't forget a little squeeze of lemon juice. Eat this, and then use a slice of crusty bread to sop up the tomatoey juice that's left in a little pool in the bottom of the bowl. It tastes like summer.

Photo credit: Ben McLeod