Oh, we've been waiting for this for a while...
Tomatoes finally showed up in our CSA this week, and we got straight to eating them. First it was a no-cook tomato sauce for dinner. Today, tomato sandwiches for lunch.
This is how we make ours. Nothing fancy — no bacon or lettuce or even toasted bread. Just plain, white bread, lots of mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. The tomato juice runs out with the mayonnaise, leaving milky, pink drips on the plate... Heaven.
How do you make your tomato sandwiches?
Related: Recipe Roundup: Tomato Tarts
(Images: Elizabeth Passarella)
TW Salt Mill by Wil...

I haven't ever made tomato sandwiches, but I'm thinking of starting tonight!
LOVE tomato sandwiches!!!!! i also wait all year for the perfect ripe jersey tomato. i lightly toast 7-grain bread, slather with miracle whip (yes, i like the tangy zip!), then sprinkle with salt & fresh ground pepper. delish!!!!
Any ideas for those of us who cannot stand mayo? Or is this just something we have to miss out on? I'd much rather have a good tomato straight up with s&p than anything with mayo.
We had some pasta with cherry, grape, and heirloom tomatoes last weekend that was so good. There isn't much better than tomatoes that taste like they should!
I take my sandwiches on italian or french bread, and like 2T I sometimes use Miracle Whip because it does taste great with tomatoes, plenty of s & p. Or I eat grilled cheese with tomatoes, yum.
You're not eating well enough if the juice isn't running down your chin!
Mayo sicks me out, so I like to substitute it with thick slices of mozzarella cheese and a little olive oil. You get the same decadent richness from the cheese that is totally complimentary to fresh tomatoes, *plus* the chin-dripping juice from the tomato and oil olive .... man, I want one of these asap!
i would add some cream cheese maybe... make a spread from some mayo and cheese. chop in a few herbs. mmm
try substituting goat cheese for mayo. and you might add a little arugula/watercress.
I would never eat this sandwich (not a big mayo fan outside of potato & chicken salad) but that is such a vibrant and gorgeous image!
We make them with homemade mayo and white country bread.
Or no mayo and a little salsa verde on baguette.
Or simply rub toasted bread with the tomato and add olive oil and maybe a bit of garlic or serrano ham. Spanish yum!
best non-mayo tomato sandwich would be the caprese:
crusty bread, mozzerella, basil leaves, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper.
I agree with both Spanish yum and the caprese--so good.
just like you have it!
in Louisiana we've have "creole tomatoes"....nothing else like them.....fresh tomatoes...sliced thick...homemade bread...or fresh french bread...mayo...salt/pepper...and maybe some cheese....
they are good to stick in grilled cheese too! makes me want one!
BUUTTTTTER!!!!
Tomatoes, Sourdough and good butter.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
I have to put butter on one side and mayo on the other. NO MIRACLE WHIP!!
Then just salt on the tomatoes and I'm good to go!
It helps if the white bread is really soft. Mmmm
I make a nice loaf of ciabatta bread and then slice it in half and pile on tomato slices, bacon, and goat cheese. It is amazing! Actually, anything on that bread or with bacon is amazing.
A thin spread of hummus (heavy on the lemon & garlic), a shmear of homemade basil pesto (with a hint of maple syrup), and big slabs of tomato. Crusty bread a must.
Ciabatta, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves with olive oil!
We make ours the same, but sometimes we add a little mustard and greens...still so yummy :)
eek-- no mayo!
really nice toasted sourdough, really good unsalted butter, tomato and salt.
yum.
another vote for BUTTER!!!!
...the very best tomato sandwich of my life was the one I had the day I went into labour with my first child, so it is part of the story I tell her of her birth at bedtime (she knows the components of a good tomato sandwich!) --
sourdough rye (NOT toasted), good French unsalted butter, thin slices of a a really good cheese -- an artisanal cheddar, an aged alp-milk gruyère -- and the best, most tangy slices of tomato...
oh! and Maldon salt and freshly milled pepper on the tomato!
that picture brings back memories of reading "harriet the spy" when i was a kid and drooling over the descriptions of the tomato sandwiches she'd insist on eating everyday. to be honest, i've never had one but between salivating over the book description and the image you have, i may make one tonight!
Good bread is a must-sliced sourdough or ciabatta, salt and peper and some kind of fat, be it mayo, olive oil or butter. Delicious.
i make it the same way you do - and have been eating them since before i could remember. that and banana and peanut butter sandwiches. yum.
I don't know about a just tomato sandwich, but my favorite is white bread (or honey wheat) thinly spread with mayo, with thick cut tomatoes, avocado, sprouts, cheddar and swiss.
i like a portugese roll, toasted and then rubbed with a garlic clove, olive oil, tomato, salt pepper. had my first of the season this week!
I wrote about this for the Huffington Post last year:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elissa-altman/the-worlds-cheapest-and_b_60415.html
Dark toasted bread, cream cheese, tomato, kosher salt and fresh pepper. Open faced.
This inspired me to spread some fresh ricotta on country wheat with tomato, fleur de sel and lots of pepper. Delicious.
This may sound like madness but a tiny bit of sugar on the tomatoes taste really great brings out the sweetness and takes some of the tartness out... lovely!
Hm, the version i eat regularly is a bit different. First ate it about 10 years ago, when I was 10 or something like that. A friend's father ate it for dinner and gave me some.
You use what we call "Black Bread" in Germany. There are severall versions but I prefer "Pumpernickel" because it has a really rich flavour and is just a little bit sweet. You put some butter on it, sliced tomatoes (the tomatoe situation here in Germany is horrorble, just garbage out of some netherland greenland garbage without any taste), and thin slices of shallots. Then just a little bit of black pepper and fleur de sel. Just delicious, give it a try ;-)
In the movie "Harriet the Spy," she makes this sandwich (tomato and mayo). I always thought it looked great. I had forgotten all about that since I saw this post!
Tomato sandwich is one of my fave breakfasts... growing up, my dad always made them, and I always grow a patio full of heirlooms every summer... can't beat it, with tomatoes picked fresh moments before slicing...
Never did mayo, though:
Lightly toasted bread, BUTTERED!
Thick sliced tomatoes
Salt & fresh ground pepper
That's all it needs. Though I occasionally get carried away and add a slice of cheese...
OMG I have been eating like 3 of these a day!
buttered and toasted bread
tomato
mayo
little dijon
salt
pepper
cheese: goat, parm or cheddar
Shades of Harriet the Spy!
I am way behind the times, but I felt compelled to share.
Okay.
You take some of that harvest wheat type bread, the real grainy kind. And you toast it.
For your condiment, you take ranch dressing (because I'm a 10-year-old fat kid at heart) and slather it on the toasted bread.
Then you lay out a few slices of tomatoes on that toasted bread.
And finally, you cover the sucker in salt and pepper.
Fin. Delicious.
My mother used to make us tomato sandwiches with avocado and sprouts. For those who don't like mayo, I'd use olive oil with a little sprinkle of salt and pepper. Delicious.
butter instead of mayo!!! lots of salt & pepper on the tomatoes.
I love tomato and cheese sandwiches. Any cheese works but I prefer American. Tomatoes must be at their ripest (New Jersey tomatoes are a plus). Add mayo, lots of black pepper, and you have yourself a meal. Guacamole also tastes great as an addition.
I make my tomato sandwiches exactly the same! There's no need to do anything else to a superb combination!
I absaloutley LOVE!!! tomato sandwiches they are sooo delish!!! I eat them all the time and they are BEAUTIFUL!! with CHEESE UMM!! I think i'll have one NOW!!!