When I was a little kid, I didn’t like tomatoes. Or I thought I didn’t like tomatoes. Then one day during the peak of summer, on a road trip to Yosemite, we stopped at a fruit stand. My dad took a ripe tomato that had been warmed by the sun. He sprinkled some salt on it. It looked plump and firm. It was my nemesis. He asked me to try it. I refused. He asked me again. I refused again. Finally, as I was whining, he shoved it into my protesting mouth. “I hate toma . . .” My mouth was full of this sweet umami-based, acid-spiked, juicy, unbelievably flavorful substance. It was . . . a tomato.
That day my father imparted two bits of wisdom to me. First and foremost, you simply cannot oversalt a perfectly ripe juicy tomato. Second, sometimes — not always, but sometimes — parenting is looking past your child’s whims and just deciding for them.
From “DAD, WHAT’S FOR DINNER?” © 2025 by David Nayfeld. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Summertime Bagel
A quick, simple treat that’s unbelievably delicious.
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: Serves 1
Ingredients
- 1 sesame bagel, halved horizontally
- 2 (1 inch/2.5 cm) thick slices very ripe tomato (heirloom or other meaty varietal)
- coarse sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 4 oz (115 g) cream cheese
- extra-virgin olive oil, with fruity or herbaceous notes (e.g., Sicilian, Ligurian or California variety)
- toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Toast the bagel to your desired doneness.
- On a cutting board, season the tomatoes with coarse salt, edge to edge, so the salt is visible, and black pepper.
- Divide the cream cheese evenly between the bagel halves and spread thickly. Place a tomato slice on each half. Drizzle some olive oil all over the bagel, so it is dripping off of it. Sprinkle a generous amount of sesame seeds on top. Enjoy immediately.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: No-bake
- Method: Quick
- Cuisine: American
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