Make this quintessential summer dish when ripe, fresh tomatoes and fragrant basil are abundant at farm stands (or in your garden). Seek out an artisan sourdough to complement them. Be sure to assemble these as soon as the toast is ready. The hot bread releases the juices and tangy sweetness of the tomatoes.

　　

Ingredients

Serves 4

　　4 ripe heirloom tomatoes

　　4 large slices good sourdough bread

　　Extra-virgin olive oil

　　Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

　　8 fresh basil leaves

　　

Step 1

Cut the tomatoes in half from top to bottom, remove the cores, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

　　

Step 2

Set an oven rack 4 inches from the broiler heat source. Preheat the broiler.

　　

Step 3

Arrange the bread in a single layer on a broiler pan. Generously drizzle oil on both sides of the bread. Broil, turning once, until golden, about 2 minutes.

　　

Step 4

Immediately arrange the tomato slices, overlapping slightly, on the toast. Season with salt and pepper and tear the basil leaves over the top. Drizzle with a little more oil and serve immediately.

　　

c’est bon

Step 5

If my broiler is in use, I use my toaster oven instead. There are few things I like more than grilled bread, but it would be too overpowering here. You definitely want the subtlety of toasted bread.

　　Reprinted with permission from Home Cooking with Jean-Georges: My Favorite Simple Recipes by Jean-Georges Vongerichten with Genevieve Ko. Copyright © 2011 by Jean-Georges Vongerichten; photographs copyright © 2011 by John Kernick. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.Jean-Georges Vongerichten is one of the most influential chefs in the world, having single-handedly redefined haute French cuisine, lightening and refining it by adding select Asian accents. He is the chef-owner of dozens of restaurants in fourteen cities around the world. His flagship restaurant, Jean Georges, at New York's Columbus Circle, is one of six restaurants in the United States to have been awarded three coveted Michelin stars; it received four stars from the New York Times. The winner of multiple James Beard Foundation awards, he lives in New York City and Waccabuc, New York, with his family.Genevieve Ko is a cookbook author and the senior food editor at Good Housekeeping magazine. She has written for Martha Stewart Living, Gourmet, and Fine Cooking and lives in New York City with her family.