Fire and Ice Tomatoes

This is such a beautiful dish to place on your table—indoors or outside.

1 cup cider vinegar

⅓ cup water

⅓ cup sugar

1½ teaspoons dry mustard

1½ teaspoons celery seed

¼ teaspoon black pepper

⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

4 medium tomatoes, peeled and sliced into 3 slices each

Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, dry mustard, celery seed, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cool for 10 minutes. Place alternate layers of onion and tomatoes in a wide-mouth quart jar. Pour the liquid over the tomato and onion layers. Cover and chill for 6 hours.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.