I’m constantly eating out for my job as Food Editor, but this

Published 6:15 pm Sunday, May 18, 2014

I’m constantly eating out for my job as Food Editor, but this weekend’s stroll through the U-District Famer’s Market had me buying a whole salmon to grill. But that’s not what I want to tell you about.

With tomatoes not yet in season, it was a stroke of luck that brought me to the stand selling a few different varieties of heirloom tomatoes. There were only a few left, but I knew the one I wanted the moment I saw its homely, knobby, “Is this a growing experiment gone awry?” beauty. Its color was deep red, with some purple in it that gave it that slightly muddied quality heirlooms so often have, a green stripe or two running down its skin. The day called for rain but the sun was still out and the tomato made me hungry for summer. I bought it and then went over to the Samish Bay Cheese folks and got some organic mozzarella swimming in its juices. Back home, I’d just planted basil (as well as a slew of other herbs) and I picked the bright green leaves and chopped them roughly. When I cut into that tomato, it was everything I’d hoped it would be: juicy and full of flavor. An ugly prince of tomatoes, but a prince nonetheless. I sliced up the tomato, topped it with chunks of the mozzarella, the shredded basil and some sea salt and then drizzled it all with olive oil. Sure, it’s just a Caprese salad, but with ingredients like these, its splendor can’t be overestimated. Oh, and the salmon was good too.