Creamy Caprese Pasta

Quick!  Before summer is actually gone, before the tomatoes turn anemically pink...

Make this!

I honestly don't have a ton to say about this one, but it's good!  And easy!  And doesn't make a ton of mess...

Really, what else is there in life?

Fresh basil and good tomatoes are about to become much more difficult to find, so you might as well go ahead and make this sooner rather than later, because good ingredients are key in something this simple.



Seriously, stop reading.  Go cook.

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Creamy Caprese Pasta 
courtesy of How Sweet Eats with only minor adaptation by me
click here to import directly into Pepperplate

1/2 lb whole wheat penne or other small noodle
1 c prepared pasta sauce (we used Newman's Own Roasted Garlic)
1/3 c light cream
1/3 c freshly grated Parmesan
4-5 oz fresh mozzarella, about 3 oz cut into cubes, the rest in thinly sliced rounds
3/4 pint grape tomatoes, halved
a small handful of basil, chiffonaded (no, i don't know if that's the proper way to use that word, but here's how to chiffonade - thanks to VeganYumYum!)

***

Preheat oven to 350° and lightly grease a baking dish.

Cook pasta about 2-3 minutes less than it says on the box.

Just before pasta is done, heat pasta sauce in a large pan over low heat.  Stir in the cream and Parmesan.  Allow to simmer for a few minutes.

Once pasta is ready, remove the sauce from the heat and stir in pasta.

Add mozzarella cubes (but not the rounds), the tomatoes and the basil and stir to combine.

Pour the mixture into the baking dish and top with mozzarella rounds.

Bake for ~25 minutes, until cheese is just a bit golden.

Allow to sit for a couple of minutes and then serve.

Not-so-slow Roasted Tomatoes

for the better part of a year, i'd been reading about slow-roasted tomatoes...

given that tomatoes have never really been my favorite, it always seemed like they would take way more time than i wanted to devote to making them - i'm nothing if not impatient and the idea of waiting 3 hours for something i might not even like that much?  yeah, not high on my priority list...

however, a few weeks back, we were discussing dinner and while i have no recollection of what our main course was, i distinctly remember the discussion of sides...  Jordan mentioned something about roasted tomatoes and i was like, 'eh, what about blahblahblah...' but it got me thinking...

what about tomatoes?

i have developed something of a taste for them (still hate the anemic pink ones) so maybe that could work...  but, as mentioned, all the recipes wanted me to devote like, 3 hours of my life to these things and i was not on board. because, lets see, if i leave work at 6 & stop at the store, i'm not getting home much before 7.  which means those 3 hour tomatoes wont be done until 10pm, and thats assuming i dont even take my coat off or change before getting started...

but i kept looking, because i started thinking about all the times i've used roasted tomatoes in other things and how they've been pretty good, and so maybe with the right spices, etc, they didnt need to be quite so slow-roasted???

and then came everyone's favorite love-to-hate her tv personality - rachael ray...  i know, i know...

but, but, but!

she roasts tomatoes in like, an hour!  an hour!  i know, blasphemy, but i can do an hour!!!  sure, i had my doubts - would they be good?  but really, what was the worst that could happen, we'd throw them away, right?  so i went for it...

As its not exactly tomato season here in NYC, i couldnt find any pretty plums, so i substituted some camparis, undoubtedly flown in from some warm, exotic location (what, i never labeled this post as local...) and didnt look back.

and while i'm sure that slow roasted tomatoes are still superior, i'd whole-heartedly recommend these for nights when you want to eat before 10 pm...

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Not-so-slow Roasted Tomatoes
courtesy of Rachael Ray with modifications by me

1 pint campari tomatoes
~ 2 tbsp olive oil
~ 1 tsp dried thyme
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped (psst: wanna take the easy way out?  1 tbsp of pre-minced garlic would work just fine)
sea salt (fine or coarse - whatever you have)
freshly ground pepper

***

Preheat the oven to 375°.
Remove any stems from the tomatoes and slice them in half.
De-seed & de-gel them.

Lay the tomatoes, cut side up, in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with thyme, garlic, sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Roast for 40 minutes.

Increase the oven temperature to 400° and roast the tomatoes until caramelized, about 20 minutes more.

Turn off the oven and leave the tomatoes inside for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool.

Once they are cool enough, start snacking. These worked really well as an appetizer when the rest of dinner took a little too long ;)

Heirloom Tomato Salad

I hate tomatoes.

ok, maybe hate is a strong word but, aside from salsa and pasta sauce, if asked whether i'd like tomatoes or not, i generally vote for not.

But its tomato season.  and tomato season + CSA share means it doesnt matter if you like tomatoes or not, you're getting them.  Two years ago, i learned to accept grape tomatoes in my life.  Last year, i learned to like green tomatoes in eggs (and recently had some fried green tomatoes prepared by ms. raspberry eggplant which were outstanding) but the regular old tomatoes and i still were not friends.

However, this year, the tomatoes are different.  Our farm is putting out so many heirlooms that one cannot keep up.  In the past, i would have maybe broken them down into sauce or given them away but this year, after reading that our farm's heirlooms were named 2nd best by New York magazine, i wanted to try to take advantage.  Now, a couple of weeks ago, the tomatoes we were getting were less than perfect and the meat eater and i were mostly opting to take some green ones to use in the aforementioned eggs.  however, this week - this week our tomatoes were so gorgeous that even i, the tomato hater, was impressed.

but you know, 4 lbs of tomatoes is kind of a lot...  so i took to twitter to ask the masses - what should i do with these beauties?

my friend Shari was the only one to reply:

my first thought was "cant eat so much cheese!  wedding diet!"

my next thought was, "hmm...  what if i can learn to like tomatoes so that i can up the tomato-to-cheese ratio?"

and then i went to the gym, just in case i couldnt...

but I also did a bit of reading on tomatoes and learned that i could avoid one of my chief issues with tomatoes by simply slicing & salting them to dry out some of the ick...  i figured that would help my cause and give me a much better shot.

i dont know if it was that these tomatoes are just THAT good, or if it was the salting or what, but i seriously LOVED last night's dinner.  it was so fresh and just yummy that i'd make it again and again.

which is good, because we still have another 2lbs of tomatoes...

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Heirloom Tomato Salad
courtesy of me, though i'm sure you can find this over and over again on the internet

6 cloves garlic, still in their casing
6 medium sized heirloom tomatoes
1/2 bunch fresh basil (leaves only) ~ 1 packed cup
8 oz fresh mozzarella
salt
pepper
~ 1 tbsp olive oil
~ 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

***

Preheat oven to 375°

Place garlic cloves on a piece of aluminum foil (or a baking sheet), drizzle with a teeny bit of olive oil, and roast for ~ 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice tomatoes ~ 1/4 inch thick.  Place slices on a doubled piece of paper towel. Salt & pepper the tomatoes (you can be fairly generous with your salt & pepper here) and place another doubled paper towel on top of the tomatoes and press down slightly.  Leave aside. (note:  i'm very tomato liquid adverse - i actually did this twice with a new set of paper towels and a bit more salt & pepper)

Tear or roughly chop basil leaves & set aside.

Once garlic has cooled, remove from casing and chop up a bit.

Cut mozzarella into small bites.  (I used cherry sized balls and cut them in half.)  Set aside.

Once tomatoes have dried out a bit, cut into smaller, bite sized pieces (i got six pieces out of an average slice) and place in large bowl.

Add mozzarella and toss.

Add basil & roasted garlic to the bowl and toss.

Add olive oil & balsamic vinegar.  Toss again.

Salt & pepper to taste.

Serve with crusty baguette.

Note:  you may want to mix the roasted garlic, olive oil and balsamic together before incorporating them into the basil & tomatoes as you might find that this helps the garlic incorporate better.  our version had some very garlicy bits and other bits that were not as garlicy.  totally up to you which you prefer...

Heirloom Tomato Sauce

(formerly titled 'getting the italian out')

in less than 6 months (crap, only a few days longer than 5 months!), i'll be married.  that is not so shocking to me as i think that i already feel married to the meat-eater...  however, what is shocking to me is that, assuming i change my name (which is the current plan), i'll be losing a huge chunk of my identity.  the identity that, despite being 1/4 irish and 1/4 english, has always been italian.

With that in mind, i'm going to make the most of these final months as an italian-girl-from-central-new-jersey(yes like the jersey shore kids)-who-used-to-work-at-merry-go-round(omg! those cavariccis go SO well with that IOU sweatshirt!!!!  yes i work on commission, why do you ask?)-and-drive-a-mustang-with-louvers-and-a-big-fat-oakley-sticker-on-it and see if i can manage to live up to every stereotype that identity deserves.

so this is another tomato sauce recipe...  because what italian girl doesnt have at least 5 of these up her sleeve?  

this one was created from a fairly innocent place though - no sopranos wannabe moments or anything - just the fact that winter CSA included lots and lots of farm-jarred items, the best of them being heirloom tomato puree.  which is way too good to just throw over angel hair and too delicate to poach eggs in.  This recipe seems to really highlight the awesomeness that is that puree.

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Heirloom Tomato Sauce

courtesy of me

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

2 - 3 cloves of garlic - minced

pinch or two of crushed red pepper (optional)

1 jar (24 oz) heirloom tomato puree (if you can get it from Norwich Meadows Farm, you should!)

2 tbsp tomato paste (do not use the double-concentrate stuff - its too strong for the heirloom puree)

salt & pepper

***

Place olive oil, butter, minced garlic and pinch of red pepper (if using) in heavy pan over low heat. 

Saute for 10-12 minutes, watching to ensure that garlic doesnt burn.

Once garlic starts to turn a bit brown and oil/butter are well combined, remove from heat and pour in tomato puree. 

Add salt & pepper to taste. 

Return to heat and turn up a bit to med-low, bring to a simmer and simmer for ~ 5 - 10 mins. 

Stir in tomato paste. 

Continue to simmer about 20 mins, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened a bit.

so nice we made it twice

Green tomatoes are not something that i'd traditionally buy on my own, given the fact that it seems as though the only way to use them is in fried green tomatoes.  (seriously, google green tomato recipe - i'll wait - they'repretty much ALL variations on fried green tomatoes...)

so why in the world am i talking about them?

because i live with a boy.  and he likes different things from me. 
see, our CSA has a swap-box.  meaning, if i dont want my pac choi (no offense to pac choi), i can bag it up and walk it over to the swap box.  If there is nothing in the box, i simply leave my pac choi.  If there is something else in there, i can grab it in exchange for my pac choi. 

so, last week when the boy went to csa to do the pickup, (which included 1 lb of green tomatoes per person) he noticed a lb of green tomatoes in the swap box.  so he bagged up our pac choi (there's a reason it was my example) and took the tomatoes.  He then proceeded to have a conversation with a fellow CSAer and found out that they didnt want their green tomatoes either.  so he bagged up our mixed greens (not babies - more like chard & kale.  i like neither of those) and took a what was now our 3rd lb of green tomatoes.  and he calls me, all excited about said tomatoes. 

and all i can think is, what in the hell are we going to do with 3lbs of green tomatoes?
and i thought that all week - every time i saw them in the fridge.

and then this week?  the share included ANOTHER lb of green tomatoes.  thats 4lbs of green tomatoes in our fridge, just in case you are keeping track.

thank god for carrie from our CSA mailing list...   she sent out a recipe of sorts for green tomatoes with eggs.  and i wanted breakfast-for-dinner anyway, so this appeared to fit the bill AND used some of those tomatoes!  (not to mention the csa eggs that have been stockpiling in the fridge)

Frankly, my hopes were not super-high - it just sounded like a tomato scramble which is solid, but not earth shattering, you know?  But i was tired.  and wanted quick and easy.  and breakfast-y.

The boy thought to add a baguette to the mix (confession:  we add baguettes to just about every mix...  also, wine.) and it made ALL of the difference.  The eggs are pretty good on their own but a forkful of eggs piled high on a tiny bit of baguette?  TO DIE FOR.

interestingly enough, this is not a breakfast meal.  the green tomatoes have some sort of bite to them that really takes the eggs from breakfast staple and transforms them into satisfying dinner.

a dinner so satisfying that we made it two nights in a row.

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Green Tomatoes & Eggs
courtesy of the Merchants' Gate CSA Mailing list, adapted by me


serves 2

1 tbsp butter
1/3 of a sweet onion (i suspect any kind of onion would work), diced
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
3 medium/large green tomatoes, cut into small pieces
salt & pepper
5 eggs
splash of milk


Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-low until melted.

Throw in the onions & garlic and stir around with a wooden spoon to coat.
Allow to fry for a minute or two.

Throw in green tomatoes, some salt & some pepper (based on your typical tastes). stir around to integrate with the onions & garlic and allow to cook for ~ 6 - 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, in a seperate bowl, scramble your 5 eggs and pour in that splash of milk

Once the onions, garlic and tomatoes have started to get a little crispy at the edges and even brown up a little, pour the eggs over them and allow it to sit for 30 seconds before stirring.

continue to cook eggs in a scrambled egg style (i've tried to go with a slow scramble while making this meal - it seems to work best with the ingredients) to the consistency you like best and then turn off the heat.

Spoon egg mixture onto plates & serve with fresh baguette.