Tomatoes 5 and 6: Panini with Cheese, Garden Tomato, and Pesto; Black Bean salad

The tomato vines in the Tiny Garden are yellowing and looking fallish, although I still have one or two stragglers ripening on the counter.  Still - 80 degree October weather or not - it's time to finish off the Summer 2011 Tomatoes posts with this Saturday lunch we all loved a few weeks ago.

Panini with cheese, garden tomato and basil, pesto, and 3 cheeses

I'm not saying this was a healthy choice, but mmmm. Seriously, these are the panini you eat in your dreams. If you have very good dreams.

To use the ripe, juicy tomatoes without making the sandwiches soggy I sliced them thin and let them sit between pieces of paper towel while I prepared everything else. One slice of bread got a layer of pesto mayonnaise (just fresh basil pesto mixed with a little Hellman’s). Then a layer of cheese (muenster), a few slices of (jarred) roasted red pepper, a thin layer of a more piquant cheese (irish swiss - it was on sale), the tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, and one more layer of cheese (provolone until I ran out, and then mozzarella). 

I don’t have a sandwich press, so I improvised. Make sure either the top of the sandwich or the bottom of the upper pan has been oiled.

Black Bean Salad with Fresh Tomatoes

1 can rinsed black beans

Corn from 2 leftover ears of corn on the cob

Sweet onion, about ½ medium

1 large or 2 medium ripe tomatoes, diced

¼ to ½ red bell pepper, chopped

Cilantro – about 2 Tblsp, or to taste [why is there no cilantro showing in this photo? Beats me]

Dressing

About 1/3 cup sweet vinegar (or use wine vinegar and sweeten with some sugar, or both)

About ¼ cup oil

Juice of one lime

Salt and pepper

Alternatively, use more lime juice, oil, and sugar and leave out the vinegar.

The kids don't like the salad although they like all of its component parts. More for us adults - keeps great in a fridge for a quick healthy lunch (and doesn't wilt in a lunchbox, either.)