You know that time in late summer when you have way too many tomatoes and they are infinitely cheap and absolutely delicious? This recipe is for that time. I'm making it now (June) because the 'fuzz found really great hydroponic heirloom tomatoes at the New York Farmer's Market in Union Square, and bought some in-between flare-ups of violent police activity.
Take a lot of tomatoes. Grate 1/3 of them. Yes, this is the blasphemy. Grate them with a box grater. Chop (or slice) the rest. Mix the grated and chopped tomatoes with red-wine vinegar (maybe less than 1 tbsp for every pound of tomatoes?) and salt (maybe half a tsp for every pound of tomatoes?). Throw in a glug of olive oil if you like. Let stand for an hour or so.
When you are ready to eat, toast hearty slices of beautiful, bourgeois bread, scrape them with a split clove of garlic (to make them garlicky), spoon on surfeit of tomato salad and garnish with basil, olive oil, and anything else you like such as mozzarella, proscuitto, bacon, hard cheese, thyme, sea salt, parsley, you name it. Eat like a sinner.
