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Tomato Salad
Select rather small, well-shaped tomatoes, peel them and chill. Cut exactly in half between the stem and blossom end. Sprinkle with salt and spread one half with cream cheese a quarter of an inch thick; put the other half on top of the cream cheese. Stick a little stem and two small mint leaves on the top and arrange on lettuce hearts with mayonnaise.
A composed salad that depends entirely on the tomatoes and on presentation. Nothing here is difficult; the only real work is peeling and keeping everything cold.
- PeelingScore an X in the blossom end, drop into boiling water for 15-30 seconds, then into ice water. The skins slip off and the flesh stays firm. Peel first, then chill thoroughly — an hour in the refrigerator is enough.
- Cut direction"Between the stem and blossom end" means an equatorial cut, across the middle, not through the poles. That gives two shallow domes that sit steadily and reassemble into a whole-looking tomato.
- SaltingSalt draws water immediately. Sprinkle it on lightly just before you assemble, or the halves will weep and slide apart on the plate.
- Cream cheesePeriod cream cheese may have been softer and moister than modern block cheese, though that is hard to pin down. Let a full-fat block come to room temperature and beat it smooth, thinning with a spoonful of cream, or the quarter-inch layer will tear the cut face of the tomato as you spread it.
- The "little stem"Purely decorative — a short length of mint stalk, chive, or a whole clove pushed in stem-down, meant to make the assembled halves read as an intact tomato with its leaves still on.
- Lettuce heartsThe inner leaves of iceberg or a small butter lettuce, kept in cold water until crisp and dried well. Wet leaves will slacken the mayonnaise.
- MayonnaiseServed as a spooned dressing alongside or over, not stirred in. A homemade version thinned slightly with lemon juice sits better on a chilled tomato than stiff commercial mayonnaise.
- YieldOne tomato per person as a first course or luncheon salad. Assemble no more than half an hour before serving.
Cookbooks of this kind belong to the American warm-weather salad tradition, in which "cool" cooking meant food that could be prepared in advance and served cold on a hot day. The stuffed or filled tomato was one of the era's workhorse luncheon dishes — hollowed and packed with chicken salad, or, as here, sliced and layered so the finished thing looks deceptively whole. The decorative flourish of a false stem and two mint leaves suits the composed, individually plated salad style served on lettuce with a spoonful of mayonnaise, a manner often associated with ladies' luncheon menus. Commercially made cream cheese, available in foil-wrapped blocks, is what makes the trick practical at all.