Tomato / Sun-dried Tomato Mayo / Sourdough

To me, nothing says summer quite like a toasted tomato sandwich. I included this in the Classics chapter because it was a staple in our house growing up. I grew up in Windsor located at the very southern tip of Ontario and right across the river from Detroit. Nearby is Leamington, the tomato capital of Canada (there’s even a giant tomato by the side of the highway and it’s where most of the ketchup in Canada is bottled!). So, you see, we take our tomatoes and toasted tomato sandwiches seriously. I’ve casually surveyed my friends and, shockingly, a toasted tomato sandwich is not as classic as I thought. But it remains here, forever a classic to me.

The smell and taste of an excellent toasted tomato sandwich will always remind me of my childhood. Growing up, my mom and dad had a big garden in the backyard, and the crop they grew the most was tomatoes. Lunch for us, during the long, hot summer months, was almost always toasted tomato sandwiches—sandwiches slathered with tangy mayo (which almost melted on the hot, toasty bread) and layered with thick-cut tomatoes, almost always just freshly picked from the garden. My brothers and I would be out in our backyard climbing trees, making forts, and playing with our pet rabbits when we would hear our mom call out: “LUNCHTIME!” We would run toward the house with anticipation, our stomachs growling with hunger. Feeding four growing boys daily is not easy, but luckily for my mom, she found a sandwich that we all agreed was perfect.

This iteration amps up the tomato quotient by adding a good amount of sun-dried tomatoes to the mayo. This adds a bit of salt and a bit of tang, and I think it’s just right. This super-simple yet delicious sandwich comes together in minutes. I hope you enjoy it.