The first couple of seasons I tried gardening, the yield was pretty pathetic. Over the years I’ve learned that you need to have plenty of sun, deep watering but not too much watering, soil prepped with compost, and a good covering of mulch. I’ve even taken to crumbling up egg shells and placing them at the base of the plants to help the soil with calcium, which can ward off blossom-end-rot. This year we finally figured out that we need resistant hybrids, tomatoes that can fight against the verticillium wilt that is endemic to our soil. So into the ground went the Celebrity variety, resistant to just about everything, and I’m happy to report that we have a bumper crop of excellent tasting tomatoes. So much so that we are a little overloaded at the moment. What to do when you have a bounty of garden tomatoes? Well, my dad likes making tomato juice, and I have spent the last couple of days canning tomato salsa. This snack, which I’ve made a few times over the last week, is a winner! So simple. It’s just toast, spread with Boursin herbed cheese, topped with sliced fresh garden tomatoes, and sprinkled with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. We get freshly baked La Brea bakery French and Italian loaves at the local market, which of course makes a difference. You want a toast that will hold up to the tomato and not just collapse the minute it touches something moist. We just happen to have Boursin in the fridge, but you could easily use any spreadable cheese, like goat cheese, mixed in with a few minced herbs. Easy! And crazy good. Eat immediately.
