Take advantage of fresh heirloom tomatoes in the late summer and early fall with a topping of lemon, capers, red onion and basil leaves.

I am not a patient person. I’m the one who stares at water coming to a boil, and the one who almost always knew what my Christmas gifts were before I unwrapped them (sorry mom and dad).

But I’ll wait all summer in the Pacific Northwest until tomatoes are in their prime, which sometimes pushes quite close to the beginning of fall.

Sure, sungold and pear tomatoes are available earlier, and I love them, but what I really want is a beefy, juicy tomato that is intensely streaked.

When it comes to late summer tomatoes, the best cooking is no cooking. This dish is little more than sliced homegrown (or farmers market) tomatoes that are gussied up a bit. It doesn’t take much more to make them perfect.

If you haven’t celebrated heirloom tomato season yet, it’s time. You can put up your Halloween decorations while celebrating the last of summer with a simple tomato salad.

Heirloom tomato salad

Serves four

Ingredients

• One small red onion, thinly sliced

• 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar

• Four to six large heirloom tomatoes (about 3 pounds)

• 1 tablespoon capers

• Flaky salt

• Freshly-cracked black pepper

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (this is the time to break out the good stuff!)

• Basil leaves, for garnish

Instructions

Place the thinly-sliced red onion into the vinegar and let it sit while preparing the other ingredients.

Thinly slice the tomatoes and arrange on a large plate. Scatter the capers over the tomatoes. Remove the red onion slices from the vinegar and scatter them over the tomatoes.

Top the mix with flaky salt and black pepper, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Finish with fresh basil leaves and serve at room temperature.