“We collectively allowed things like tomatoes to end up being that sad thing that lives in a salad all year round,” Trinity Mouzon Wofford told Edible Hudson Valley in a recent feature on her family life, business, and new book, Cooking at Home. “Tomatoes, to me, are pure summer.”
Her Heirloom Tomato and Sweet Corn Salad is a celebration of the ephemeral nature of the seasons and a reflection of the reverence she has for the beauty available to us in the everyday. In the book, she entreats, nay begs, readers to wait for the best tomatoes. She writes “Please(!) wait until tomato season—that’s the middle of summertime through early fall—to start digging in. When in season, dozens of varieties are plentiful at the market. Enjoy them fresh while you can and then kiss them good-bye until next year. Canned tomatoes are great year-round for sauces, soups, and stews.”
Mouzon Wofford also offers tips for storing tomatoes, including leaving the big ones “shoulders down on the counter,” the smaller ones in a colander so they can breathe, and never, ever storing fresh tomatoes in the fridge.
As we head into peak summer, here is Mouzon Wofford’s tomato and corn salad recipe, the perfect side for any holiday cookout or weeknight dinner.
Ingredients
Method
- Use a paring knife to cut out the cores from 1 pound heirloom tomatoes (about 2 large).
- Slice the tomatoes into 1-inch wedges and arrange on a large serving plate. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
- Shuck 2 ears of corn, then halve each cob crosswise. Working with one half at a time, slice the corn kernels off each. (Save the spent cobs for $0 Scrap Stock, page 34.) Sprinkle the corn kernels all over the tomatoes.
- Slice 1 stalk spring garlic (or 2 scallions) as thinly as you possibly can, then scatter over the top.
- Drizzle with red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil, then sprinkle with more flaky sea salt and freshly ground coriander seed or black pepper.
Notes
you can find year-round. Check the farmers’ market for fresh garlic, but if you can’t find it, use scallions instead
Reprinted with permission from Eating at Home by Trinity Mouzon Wofford, copyright © 2026. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Photography © 2026 by Dane Tashima. Illustrations © 2026 by Issey Kob
