Family Heirloom
Tomatoes are kind of a thing with my family. Every summer my mother waits with baited breath for home grown tomatoes so that she can have her favorite tomato sandwich. My husband likes to eat them sliced thick with a pinch of salt. My grandmother was also a huge fan of summer tomatoes though her favorite way to serve them has become a family joke. We call it Gammy salad.

During the summer, when her tomatoes were super tasty, Gam would frequently serve her tomato salad at Sunday dinner. The “salad” consisted of sliced tomatoes and avocados artfully arranged on a platter with a large dollop of mayonnaise in the middle. That’s it. Sometimes she would get wild and sprinkle a little Italian dressing on top but for the most part, it was tomatoes and mayo.

Now I fully admit to being a food snob and maybe it was a generational thing. But, I have always thought that the tomato/mayo combination was just, well, weird or maybe it was just her age. People of her generation ate some things that we wouldn’t think of eating today…for a number of reasons. (Heart attack prevention would be one.) My grandfather liked butter on his ham sandwich which I guess isn’t too strange when you consider my great grandfather liked bacon grease sandwiches. (Yeah. Think about that for a minute.)

So, I always put the Gammy salad in the older folks like weird stuff category but I have to admit my favorite means of eating tomatoes isn’t that much of a jump from hers.

I, too, like to slice my tomatoes thick and arrange them on a plate. But, I opt for freshly-made blue cheese dressing instead of the mayonnaise. Nothing looks prettier on a plate than some thickly sliced heirloom tomatoes with a drizzle of tangy blue cheese dressing.

Making your own dressing is pretty easy. Though, I have to say the freshly made dressing we have in our cheese department is even easier…..

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa At Home by Ina Garten

Ingredients
3 pounds mixed heirloom tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 pound Point Reyes Blue Cheese
1 cup good mayonnaise
1/3 cup heavy cream or buttermilk
2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Directions
Core the tomatoes and slice the large ones into thick slices. Cut the smaller ones into halves or quarters.

Arrange the slices on a plate or platter and sprinkle generously with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Place the blue cheese, mayonnaise, cream or butter milk if using, vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper into a food processor and process until combined but still chunky.

Drizzle the dressing over the tomatoes. Sprinkle the chives on top.