Dicing Tomatoes

1. Wash and remove any stickers from your tomato. Be careful when removing the stem to remove as little of the tomato as possible. Only remove as much tomato as required to completely remove the stem and any green skin that surrounds the stem.

2. Cut the tomato into slices. Use a very sharp or a serrated kitchen knife to slice the tomato. Take care that the slices are the same thickness. If you want a very small dice of tomato, make the slices close together. If you want large dice, depending on the size of the tomato, you may only need to cut the tomato into half.

3. Arrange the tomatoes next to each other, or stacked on top of each other. Slice them into strips.

4. Now, turn your knife 90 degrees and slice the tomato into chunks. You will notice how little juice there is, and how all the tomato pieces are essentially the same size. This is because of the small amount of careful contact, and the precision of the slices.

Dice some tomatoes for either of these fresh and inventive dishes:

• Fresh California Salsa
• Penne With Garlic Pesto