Peach, Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad

Peaches and tomatoes come together in this amazingly refreshing summer appetizer sprinkled with goat cheese and drizzled with a sweet and tart balsamic reduction. The vine ripe tomato is sweet and juicy, it perfectly mirrors the peach.

BUT- this dish rocks not only because it contains awesome ingredients, but because it contains a tomato I GREW.

Despite all adversity, this tiny tomato seed come up from nothing, struggling through the dry, cracked earth to push its leafy tendrils towards life giving sunshine…!! 🙂 Hahaha, I live on the edge of hyperbole (in case you can’t tell).

But really, this tomato- a German Johnson variety to be exact- is special because it survived the deer attack my garden suffered in July.  Despite living in the heart of DC, I am not safe from these 4 legged nuisances.  There are lots of deer that live in the large national park, Rock Creek, that runs north-south through the district.

Even though I have a 5+ foot fence surrounding my garden, they still made it in and ate every single one of my ripe/almost ripe tomatoes. This is bad because some tomato plants only set a certain amount of fruit each season. So when it’s gone, it’s gone.

Tomato casualty, crushed under hoof

Ate all the leaves off my peppers,

and the tops off my carrots and summer squash.

Sigh. This was very disappointing and I actually teared up a bit when I saw the damage. So that’s what makes this German Johnson so special, it lived. The tomato that lived!!

Peach, Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad

• 1 large peach
• 1 large homegrown tomato*
• 2 heaping tablespoons soft goat cheese
• balsamic reduction for drizzling (make it yourself by boiling down vinegar until syrupy, or just buy it like I did)

Slice the tomatoes and peaches a medium thickness. Arrange on a plate. Scoop up the goat cheese and then rub it between your fingers to crumble it over the fruit. Just before serving, drizzle with a balsamic reduction.

*Note: Homegrown, fresh tomatoes are necessary because they taste sweet, are very juicy and have a firm meaty insides. You will not get this in a store bought tomato, even if it is from Whole Foods. Grocery store tomatoes are picked before they are ripe to accommodate shipping which results in a lifeless taste.

Enjoy!

– Erin

Daily Question: Do you have any unlikely animal pests in your garden? Do tell.