Ingredients
This salad resounds with the intense fragrances and flavors of southern Italy. It's a new take on an old favorite. Thick-sliced tomatoes with mozzarella and basil are spiced with a mixture inspired by the Arab influences in southern Italy. Spoon between the slices a blend of toasted pine nuts, onions, currants, and garlic spiked with fresh lemon juice and hot pepper. The tomatoes and mozzarella foil these new tastes beautifully.
With this recipe, the only thing you have to cook is the pasta. My cousin Edda makes it all summer long. This is the freshest, purest-tasting recipe I have found for a sauce of raw tomatoes and uncooked seasonings. You rub a bowl with garlic, dice up ripe tomatoes, leaving their skin and seeds intact, tear a few leaves of fresh herbs over the tomatoes, twirl in a thread of olive oil and finish with salt and pepper. Nothing could be easier, or taste better. In some country houses, you might find capers and oregano in the bowl, or hot pepper and crushed garlic, or mint or even celery leaves. Everything in this dish is about what the country cook has on hand.
My friend Lois claims having these tomatoes on hand is like having money in the bank. I use them when sundried tomatoes are called for but these are much juicier and luscious. Pieces of ripe summer tomato are slow roasted with olive oil until their edges have a lacy golden crust and the tomatoes taste like candy.