Tomatoes are the stars of Chilled BLT Soup

Everyone knows Joyce Kilmer's love song to trees - "I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree." That's the way I feel about tomatoes. Accordingly, Chilled BLT Soup puts the "T" in BLT. Yes, there's bacon and lettuce, and some toast, too, in the form of croutons. But the star of this show is the tomato in its season.

How do you know whether you're buying a good tomato? To start, pick it up. It should feel heavy, which lets you know it's ripe and juicy. Then take a whiff of the stem end. It should smell strongly like ... a tomato. Once you get it home, store it on the counter, out of the sun. If it's not fully red, just leave it alone. It will continue to ripen at room temperature. Don't put a whole uncut tomato in the refrigerator. Chilling it will kill the flavor and the texture.

You want to salt your tomatoes ahead of time, before you cook them, a step that helps to concentrate their flavor. First salt the large tomatoes, which form the base of the soup. Then salt the quartered tomatoes, which provide crunch.