Frankie's Tomato, Avocado & Red Onion

Frank Falcinelli (of Frankie's Spuntino/Frankie's 457 fame) loves to say that this salad "makes gazpacho in your mouth."  It's so simple and so delicious.  My other-half loves all things tomato, so this is right up his alley and perfect for August salads.  We have already started getting heirloom tomatoes in our CSA share and I'm anticipating that we will get more in our next pick up.  Yes, please!   
On Friday night Yana F. and her significant other brought dinner over to our place.  It was the nicest thing because we are in the middle of packing up our apartment and we don't have much time to put dinner together.  Going to a restaurant at 8 p.m. on a Friday night is also a bit challenging given the bedtime of No. 1 and No. 2.  So they brought the dinner to us.  We had delicious Italian fare including eggplant rollatini, penne and chicken for the non-vegetarians in the bunch.  Yana and I also put together a variation of this Frankie's Tomato & Avocado Salad.   I didn't want our CSA lettuce go to waste so we made the recipe below, added it to the lettuce, and tossed it with some Goodess Dressing.  It was really good. 

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This salad is so seasonal and it's so flavorful.  It only takes a few minutes to make and with a million boxes to pack in preparation of our impending move (9 days!), time is precious... Sure, you could just cut those juicy red globes up and eat them plain, but this way is nice too...

Tomato, Avocado & Red Onion Salad (from Frankie's, by way of NPR )

Serves 4
Ingredients
2 large ripe tomatoes
1 small (or 1/2 medium) red onion, thinly sliced
Fine sea salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 Hass avocados
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions
1. Core the tomatoes and slice into wedges. Combine with the sliced onion, a large pinch of salt, and the olive oil and vinegar in a large bowl. Gently toss, and divide among four serving plates.
2. Halve, pit, peel, and slice the avocados and divide among the four plates. Sprinkle the avocado with a small pinch of salt and drizzle each plate with a little olive oil. Finish with a few grinds of black pepper just before the salad goes to the table.