Fresh summer produce—what could be better? Even if you only have room for a pot or two, I encourage you try growing some tomatoes and basil.
Small tomato types, such as the “wild”, grape, cherry, and patio types are usually easier for a beginning gardener to grow. Mine really produce and I keep finding ways to use them all up. A fun thing to do with the tiny “wild” tomatoes is to put them whole into a pot of soup. Add them after you’ve turned off the heat and let them sit for five minutes. As you eat the soup, you’ll get little bursts of tomato flavor.
My basil is big and fragrant—it’s delightful to walk past. Fresh basil is expensive to buy but extremely easy to grow from seed or transplant. Even in college, I’d keep a pot of basil on the windowsill. More than anything else, the smell of just picked Italian (Genovese) basil means summer to me.
I also like to grow garlic in a pot. The whole yard smells of the garlic I just harvested and put to dry on the back porch. If you haven’t had fresh garlic, really fresh, you are missing one of the great pleasures of life.
One of the very best parts of summer is combining fresh tomatoes, basil, and garlic into a salad full of delicious flavors.
Bite-sized tomato, mozzarella, and basil salad:
- 4 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 clove of garlic
- 8 oz. fresh mozzarella balls
- Freshly ground black pepper (about 20 turns of a grinder or 1/8 teaspoon)
- 8 large fresh basil leaves, stems removed
- Red wine vinegar
- 12 oz. ripe tomatoes (about 1 ½ cups diced)
- 1 teaspoon of grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (optional)
- Salt to taste
Pour the olive oil into a bowl. Mince garlic and add. Crush the garlic until disintegrated. (You can crush it with an herb crusher or the edge of a glass or cup.) 
Drain the mozzarella and cut into small bite-sized pieces (if the balls are very small, you don’t need to do this), add to the bowl, and toss to coat with the olive oil.
Thinly slice the basil leaves and add. Add the black pepper. Add a dash of red wine vinegar. Sprinkle in the grated cheese (freshly grated is best). Stir to mix. At this point, you can let the salad sit while you finish preparing the rest of the meal. The tomatoes should be added just before serving.
Cut the tomatoes into pieces the same size as the mozzarella. Mix into the bowl, sprinkle with salt, and taste. If needed add more salt and/or grated cheese. Divide into smaller bowls, and serve. (I serve this with a spoon or crusty bread to scoop up all the good juices on the bottom.)
Excruciatingly detailed notes for new cooks:
OTHER VERSIONS. The traditional Italian version of this salad (Pomodori e Mozzarella) doesn’t use garlic, vinegar, or grated cheese and, depending on the quality of your ingredients, you may not need them either.
If you can’t afford fresh mozzarella, you can substitute cubes of slightly stale Italian bread. Add some thinly sliced onion. Blend and let sit about an hour before serving. If you can’t afford olive oil either, add a dollop of mayonnaise instead. (One way or another, I’m going to get you to make this salad because, by golly, if it’s got fresh tomatoes and basil, it’s going to be good!)
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL (EVOO). An expensive ingredient but very healthy for you! If you are overwhelmed by the choices in the grocery store, start with the store brand. Then, if you have the money, buy small bottles of different varieties and see which you like. Frequently the very, very expensive EVOO isn’t any better than the cheaper versions. My personal favorite is Borges Family Reserve (available at Spec’s Foods down here). It is an indulgence.
Just pressed EVOO will have a peppery bite but if your EVOO is bitter, that’s not peppery, that’s nasty and it means it’s gone bad. When I open a new bottle, I’ll taste a little to be sure it’s OK. EVOO doesn’t have to be refrigerated after opening unless you don’t use it often. It tends to get cloudy and thick when refrigerated but letting it return to room temperature will set it right. Taste before using.
GARLIC. In a recipe, when they tell you to use one of something, they mean averaged-sized. So, if you have small cloves of garlic use two, but if you have very big cloves, use half. Fresh garlic will be stronger tasting than old.
Garlic is easy to grow. You can plant it using bulbs from a grocery store. In the fall, pull off the cloves and bury them pointy side up about an inch deep and eight inches apart in good soil. Water as needed. When the leaves turn all brown in the early summer, dig up the bulbs. I usually grow it in pots because I tend to lose track of where I planted it, it has such a long growing season.
MOZZARELLA. The mozzarella needs to be soft and fresh. Use the kind that is in balls packed in liquid. It’s usually in the specialty cheese section of the store. It’s expensive but worth it for a summer treat. It comes in different size balls but it’s all the same cheese. The Cantare brand is decent. When you open the container, there should be no sour smell. If there is, you can usually rinse the cheese in water to freshen it. Taste the cheese before using, though. The mozzarella used for pizzas is not the right kind for this recipe–it is aged, firm, and dry. I also find that the “fresh” mozzarella wrapped in plastic is not suitable.
If you have lots of money to spare, fresh mozzarella made from water buffalo milk (instead of cow’s milk) is the very best. It’s extremely expensive. You also have to worry about imported types from Naples having contaminants from the Mafia dumping polluted waste in the Italian countryside—I’m not kidding, look it up.
RED WINE VINEGAR. This is another thing that has a lot of variation in quality and price, and the more expensive is not always the best. Homemade is amazing but takes time. Of the store brands, I like Alessi the most, but Pompeian is also good, not as expensive, and more readily available. Once again, you can buy small bottles of different types and see what you like.
TOMATOES. I prefer grape tomatoes for this salad and I cut them in half. Cherry tomatoes I quarter. Ripe heirloom tomatoes cut up are also good. The tomatoes will leak juice as they sit, but I love the taste of the mingled juice and olive oil. I don’t actually measure or weigh the amount of tomatoes for this recipe; I just eyeball it so that I have about 1.5 times as much tomato chunks as I have mozzarella.
I seldom buy tomatoes in the store. When I do, I look for deeply colored ones. At home, I wash them in soapy water, rinse well, and dry. Look at the country of origin when buying tomatoes. U.S. tomatoes are no guarantee of lack of contaminants but we do have higher standards than most other countries. Of course, garden tomatoes are the very best!
GRATED CHEESE. OK, I confess, when we were full possuming, we didn’t buy cheese. For grated cheese, we’d use a sprinkle of powdered milk. That’s the bottom rung. Next up is the powdered stuff sold in plastic jars with green lids. Much better is the grated cheese sold in the deli section. Best of all is a block of imported Parmesan or Romano freshly grated. The last is so flavorful you don’t need to use much.
SALT AND PEPPER. Oh, what the hell, you can figure these out for yourself. Except…except…flavored salt and sea salt are overpriced…and…and…please don’t use pre-ground black pepper. But other than that, you’re on your own!
Dolly
Following her success as an author with the acclaimed book Possum Living: How To Live Well Without a Job and With (Almost) No Money, Dolly Freed grew up to become a NASA aerospace engineer. She aced the SATs with an education she received from the public library and put herself through college. She’s been an environmental educator, business owner, and college professor. She now lives in Texas with her husband and two children. Visit her website at www.possumliving.net.
