Years ago, I went to a summer potluck, where the first dish to be demolished was a friend’s homegrown tomatoes, simply sliced, arranged on a pretty platter, and dressed with olive oil, and sea salt.

Not that the other dishes weren’t fabulous. It was just that tomatoes like that, ripened on the vine to let their deep, natural sweetness, tartness and mouthwatering savoriness develop to their fullest are absolutely impossible to resist.

When summer provides tomatoes that good, you don’t have to do much to them. That’s why “Tonnato with Tomatoes” is such a winning recipe.

It’s little more than an assortment of sliced tomatoes drizzled with the creamy Italian sauce of tuna, anchovies, capers, and lemon juice that’s traditionally spooned over cold slices of veal. It’s like the taste of a tuna salad sandwich with slices of fresh tomatoes inside — but turned on its bread with the tomatoes the star and the tuna a supporting yet major player.

This super easy recipe is from “Big Night” (Union Square & Co.), of which I received a review copy.

It’s by Katherine Lewin, who went from a career as a copywriter at J.Crew to a food writer and editor at The Infatuation to opening two Big Night gourmet stores in New York City.

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