summer Archives - Our Stable Table

My garden is flourishing. In fact, it’s not just flourishing, it’s growing enough food to feed a small army. We are happy to share everything this mutant garden produces, except the tomatoes.

Have you ever tasted a super-ripe garden tomato that is one day away from turning to mush?

If your answer is no, you have not lived, my friend.

TomatoSlice — Perfection in a garden-grown tomato. No white, no chewy places, just super ripe goodness bursting with flavor.

After visiting one of my favorite Portland haunts with two of my favorite ladies and our husbands, I was inspired to find the biggest, ripest tomatoes and make a simple salad with quality ingredients. Because flavorful, satisfying food doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. It just has to taste good.

I’ve been a fan of the traditional tomato mozzarella salad for many years. Who doesn’t love mild, slightly creamy fresh cheese paired with the bright acidic flavor of a ripe tomato with a touch of basil?

(Okay, if you hate tomatoes or cheese, this is admittedly not the recipe for you.)

For the rest of the tomato loving world, this recipe will change the way you eat your tomato mozzarella salad. In fact, you might never go back to store-bought tomatoes or mozzarella again after tasting this.

Burrata is a shell of fresh mozzarella, stuffed with cream and cheese curds. It’s creamy, decadent, silky smooth, and provides the perfect accompaniment to those sweet, ripe tomatoes.

There are six ingredients to this and it takes roughly seven minutes to prepare. But it is so impressive and addictive, I have a hunch you can get that prep time down to five minutes. I will say this, though. The quality of the ingredients is in direct correlation to the fantastic taste factor. Without the quality ingredients I’ll list below, you will take this dish from a 10 to a 5. So, if you want to do your tomatoes justice, spring for the ingredients. You won’t regret it.

TomatoCloseUp — I intentionally did not filter or tweak the colors in any of the pictures because I want you to see how beautiful and ripe these tomatoes are. It’s possible.

Ingredients:

2 large, very ripe tomatoes from the farmer’s market or your garden. (Deep red, people. No orangey red.) Pick ones that are on the cusp of being too ripe. You can also ripen them in a window sill for a day or two.
1 ball of fresh burrata cheese (I found mine at Whole foods.)
3-4 leaves of fresh basil, torn or roughly chopped
1-2 Tbsp organic olive oil
fresh cracked pepper
kosher-style sea salt

Directions:

Remove burrata from refrigerator, drain water, and set aside.
Slice whole tomatoes one inch thick.
Arrange tomato slices on a platter and top with basil, fresh cracked pepper, and salt.
Place burrata in the center of the tomato slices. Lightly drizzle entire plate with organic olive oil.
Serve and devour immediately.
My husband and I ate this for dinner the other night. Just this. Nothing else. Because we are adults who love good food and also don’t like expending energy on a 95 degree day unless we have to.

Toematoe Tomahhtoe,
Carrie

When you live in a region of the country that is poorly prepared for century mark temperatures, folks do everything they can to keep cool. Kiddie pools, sprinklers, poorly equipped window AC units, movie theaters, cold foggy days on the coast, and lazy days spent on the banks of a lazy mountain river are just a few ways we choose to beat the heat here in the Pacific Northwest.

But few things bring immediate relief like a good old fashioned popsicle.

The other morning after breakfast, I pulled out my final popsicle to photograph it. I had previously devoured the rest during naptimes earlier in the week. Because I’m an adult and like to enjoy a treat without sharing. But on this particular day, I made the monumental mistake in trying to get the picture while my son was awake.

As we started to swelter in the 100 degree weather in our south-facing second story home as our straining AC unit worked hard to keep up, I removed the final popsicle from the freezer. I stopped for a moment and let the frozen air fall over my face and shoulders, reveling that something could still be cold in this heat. I pulled out my camera and began searching for the right light to capture the cold, creamy, fruity essence of this frozen treat.

Enter E.

He wasn’t having it.

He didn’t care that mom needed to use the popsicle for work.

He didn’t care that it was the last one.

He didn’t care that I needed to take a really beautiful picture to share with you.

He. Didn’t. Care.

There was no stopping my tiny monster. I turned on Jimmy Fallon. I tried to distract him with his favorite snack. I pulled out the Tegu blocks, crayons, and even tried to give him my old phone to distract him. Nothing worked.

So, I went with it.