The ultimate BLT
It's a party when you serve it with vine-ripened tomatoes in gazpacho and tomato-corn salad
The inspiration
“This is our little slice of heaven,” say John M. Teixeira and Shelby Mayfield about their Lone Willow Ranch, in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Bordered by river and creek, their 48 acres of organic farmland near the town of Firebaugh are planted with more than 300 varieties of tomatoes, as well as dozens of different melons, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, lettuce, sweet corn, and herbs, not to mention fruit trees. “If there’s a variety of something,” claims Mayfield, “we like to try and grow it.”
Bart Hosmer, executive chef at Bradley Ogden’s Parcel 104 restaurant in Santa Clara, California, agrees. For three years he has brought his entire staff out to the ranch, which supplies Parcel 104 with tomatoes and other produce, for what he dubs “the ultimate picnic.” It’s simple. They pick tomatoes, taste them, and (with no pots or pans) create dishes that aren’t just fresh from the field but made in the field: BLTs, gazpacho, tomato-and-corn salad ― food that pays homage to tomatoes in all their supremely ripe glory.
