Tomato, Mozzarella, & Basil Sandwich

I don’t know about where y’all live, but in New York it is blazing hot right now. I tried walking around earlier today and found myself melting. So I quickly headed back to my air conditioned apartment. The problem was that I didn’t have anything for lunch, and what does one want to eat on such a hot day?

In the summertime while growing up in Alabama, I remember my mom and me sitting in the kitchen enjoying yummy tomato sandwiches. We would simply toast bread, spread on some mayonnaise, add slices of tomato, and then top it with salt and pepper. They were so perfect for hot summer days—the tomatoes were cool and super juicy (in fact, often we’d have to eat our sandwiches over the sink because they were so messy from the juices) and the sandwiches were nice and light.

Mmm…I loved the idea of making a tomato sandwich but was also interested in doing something new with it. Last evening a friend and I made pizzas using fresh mozzarella as a topping, which tasted great. With the virtues of fresh mozzarella still in mind, I decided to use this. Naturally, basil is the next logical ingredient. I don’t have mayonnaise right now, but the more I was thinking about it, I preferred the idea of using olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Basically, I was creating the traditional tomato, mozzarella, and basil dish in a sandwich.

So here it is (per sandwich)…my measurements are purposely vague here as the amounts really depend on the size of your toast. So just go with it—it is pretty strait forward.

• 2 Slices of bread
• ½ Garlic clove
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Tomato slices
• Salt
• Pepper
• Fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
• Basil leaves

1. Toast the bread slices (I prefer toasting my bread on the stove top with a grill pan, but obviously a normal toaster works as well).
2. When the toast is ready, take the cut side of the garlic half and rub it against the top sides of each piece of toast. (This allows for the flavor of garlic without being overpowering.)
3. Evenly sprinkle the olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the top side of one piece of toast. (For my sandwich, I probably sprinkled about 1 ½ tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar.)
4. Now lay out the tomato slices over one of the pieces of toast. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the tomatoes.
5. Add a layer of fresh mozzarella cheese over the tomatoes and then top with basil leaves.
6. Now just take the other piece of toast and lay on top. Voila—an elegant and simply divine summer sandwich!

Enjoy!