Put Tomatoes On Your Table

(CBS)  Late summer is typically tomato season in many areas, so now would be the perfect time to enjoy this fruit.

In the continuing series with Williams-Sonoma, cooking teacher and author Tori Ritchie teaches about the tomato, an old-fashioned favorite that's gained popularity in recent years.

Heirloom tomatoes are the old-fashioned varieties ripened naturally on the vine. They come in a range of colors and sizes, with far more flavor and thinner skins than supermarket tomatoes. The popularity of these tomatoes has boomed in recent years, due in part to their visibility at farmers' markets.

Try Ritchie's recipes for Farmers' Market Tomato Salad, Capellini With Fresh Tomatoes And Basil, and Tomato-Rubbed Bread, found in page 2.

Here are her tips before you start:

Farmers' Market Tomato Salad:

• Use perfectly ripe tomatoes. Look for ones that are fragrant and give gently to pressure. Never refrigerate whole tomatoes.
  
  
• The best way to slice the tomatoes is to use a tomato knife: Its serrated edge cuts through the skin much more easily and the tip is used to core.
  
  
• Soak the onion in milk to make it less strong and easier to digest.

Cappellini with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil:
This is Ritchie's favorite summer pasta sauce because it isn't cooked. It can be made with seeded, chopped heirloom or plum tomatoes, which are meatier and smaller and often called "Romas."

• To seed an heirloom tomato, cut it in half crosswise (through the "Equator") and gently squeeze out the seed sacs while placing your fingers in the holes to keep the tomato from collapsing.
  
  
• To seed a plum tomato, cut in half lengthwise and remove seed sacs with a knife.

Tomato-Rubbed Bread: This dish from Spain is fun to make when you are barbecuing.

• Rub the side of grilled bread with garlic first, then tomato, and then drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Ritchie likes to sprinkle on salt, too.

Click on page 2 for recipes.

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