I’m still very tied to my lazy-yuppie-supermarket habits, but every now and then the foodie/hippie in me likes to check out the local farmer’s market(s) to see if anything strikes my fancy.  There just so happens to be one on Wednesdays during the summer, right on my way home from work.  Today’s prize find?  Heirloom tomatoes!

Now I’m no tomato connoisseur; all tomatoes are good in my book.  But the fancy pretty ones … well, they’re just so fancy and pretty, I can’t resist!  I got two lovely Cherokee Purple tomatoes, a pint of yellow cherry tomatoes, and one San Marzano. (by the way, I only remembered the names of the tomatoes by going on wikipedia and looking for pictures that most closely resembled what I bought)

It being summer, and hot and gross, I didn’t want to cook tonight, so I figured I’d do a quick and dirty tomato salad.  Here’s how it goes:

The goods:

-Two heirloom tomatoes (of a good size) or two regular supermarket tomatoes, diced

-a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes (yellow or red), cut in half

– half of a cucumber, peeled and diced

– half of a green bell pepper, seeded and diced

– red wine vinegar, salt, and extra virgin olive oil (to taste)

The method:

Mix everything together.  Feel free to tinker with seasonings, add some herbs (this would go FANTASTIC with some fresh basil, but I didn’t have any on hand), or garlic, or whatever.  The basic point is that you’re eating some lovely fresh tomatoes.

I served it over some parmesan flavored couscous, with some more shredded parmesan and some banana peppers on top.  It would also be great on bread (can we say bruschetta?  YUM!) and/or with some lovely slices of fresh mozzarella.

Summer days, fresh tomatoes… life just doesn’t get much better than this.