Tomato and Mayo Sandwiches

I wasn't aware of this until this summer, but apparently it is sacrilege if you don't make and consume tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches all July. I'm not talking about anything fancy--which is exactly the beauty of it. Just take yourself to the closest farmers' market, pick up a few of the best-looking heirloom tomatoes you can find, along with a loaf of plain white sandwich bread, and voila! You've got yourself the fixings of a meal fit for kings.

Tomatoes--real tomatoes, not the kind that come from Florida in the winter, full of chemicals and distinctly lacking in taste--hit their peak in mid-summer, when they're juicy, sweet, and perfectly ripe. This is the time to do things like eat them alone, perhaps sprinkled with a bit of good salt. Or, as I stated earlier, slice them up for sandwiches. It's simple as can be--spread two slices of sandwich bread with mayo (I used Vegenaise instead), thickly slice your tomatoes and season with good sea salt or Kosher salt and black pepper, lay the slices across one slice of bread, and top with the second slice of bread. And make sure not to add lettuce or anything silly like that. This is perfection that just shouldn't be messed with.

All photos by Mark Iantosca. xo