Day 6: Pasta Primavera

One thing about blogging every day, is that the most frequent visitor ('tis I) gets a little tired of the surroundings.  You might have noticed that the blog has gotten a much needed facelift.  Huge thank you to Code It Pretty, c.w. frosting, Hot Bliggity Blog, and PicMonkey for all the help in making my blog look fresh and new!  If you're a blogger, please go check out these sites.  Especially Code It Pretty who is responsible for keeping me up until 2:00 in the morning wandering deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of HTML. 

After a couple people mentioned that they were pinning recipes from the blog to Pinterest, I added a Pin it button to my pictures.  Finished that around 1:00 am.  When I looked today, I saw that I'd accidentally added two Pin it buttons which made me look a little desperate.  I also added some banners for Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.  So if you're into that kind of thing (and don't mind looking at a lot of pictures of ducks), come and be friendly with me there.

Dinner last night was pasta primavera from Becka's Blog.  Becka's husband Rob was my French teacher for two semesters in college.  Whenever he sees me, he still speaks to me in French (do not attempt this: only French teachers are fluent in that particular vocabulary). This has led to the impression among my coworkers that I speak conversational French.  I don't bother correcting anyone, but keep my fingers crossed hoping no French speaker ever comes to our office needing assistance.  

I don't know why I've never done pasta this way before.  There's a lot of things to love about it.  For one, it's incredibly simple; and if you chop all your vegetables beforehand, this would take only 30 minutes and be literally as easy as boiling water.  Second, it lends itself to being doctored up to taste.  I added some crushed red pepper and garlic to my second helping, and Matt thought it would be good with some grilled chicken instead of sausage.  Third, it pairs pasta - such a criminal in the health world - with healthy vegetables instead of a sugary tomato sauce.

All these zucchini dishes have taken their toll on our inventory, and I had to supplement the zucchini with yellow summer squash.  I picked up some colorful heirloom cherry tomatoes at Trader Joe's.  Aren't they pretty?

I used our favorite Trader Joe's spicy Italian chicken sausage.  In retrospect, even though the sausage is already cooked, I should have browned the sausage before adding it to the roasting pan.  I was talking to Daisy (not her real name) about it at work today, and she said I should have used kielbasa sausage.

(12:50) Collins, Elizabeth: I don't eat kielbasa

(12:51) Daisy: you've never had a hillshire farm smoked sausage
(12:51) Daisy: ?!
(12:51) Daisy: Like even in a low country boil
(12:51) Daisy: ?!

(12:51) Collins, Elizabeth: I've eaten it - I don't eat it now
(12:51) Collins, Elizabeth: I know I'm about to be lynched, but...I don't add sausage to my low country boils

(12:51) Daisy: AAHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAHHHH
(12:51) Daisy: NOOOOOOO LIZ

(12:52) Collins, Elizabeth: I know!
(12:52) Collins, Elizabeth: I have a sensitive tummy when it comes to smoked/cured meats

(12:53) Daisy: oh yeah you can't do pepperoni either right?

(12:53) Collins, Elizabeth: no
(12:53) Collins, Elizabeth: no prosciutto either

(12:53) Daisy: OMG what do you put with a cheese tray?

This is why Daisy (still not her real name) and I are such fast friends.  She's really good at getting at the heart of a matter - like what goes on a cheese tray.

But if you can eat keilbasa, then give it a whirl in this pasta primavera.

Pasta Primavera
adapted from Becka Loach

1 small zucchini, sliced
1 small yellow squash, sliced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium yellow pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/4 olive oil
1 tsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste (next time I will add crushed red pepper and a glove of minced garlic)
12 oz sausage slices (if using chicken sausage like I did, you might want to brown them in a frying pan first)
8 oz dry pasta - I used farfalle

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Place vegetables in a shallow roasting pan.  Toss with olive oil and seasonings.  Bake uncovered for 15 minutes.  Stir and add sausage.  Bake 15 more minutes or until vegetables are tender and sausage is warmed through.  Meanwhile cook pasta according to the package directions.  Top the cooked pasta with sausage and vegetables.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Day 1: Potato, Zucchini and Tomato Gratin

I didn't start with chocolate cake after all.  When I got home last night, I decided we needed something to go along with our leftovers, and made another on of the 366 recipes Jesse sent me: Martha Stewart's potato, zucchini and tomato gratin.  It looked good on paper, and I'm up for anything gratin.

It was everything I was looking for in a zucchini recipe.  Simple and flavorful with a rustic elegance. With only five ingredients plus the seasonings, it profiles the vegetables.  Spread olive oil and minced garlic clove in a gratin pan.  Cut the vegetables as thin as possible and layer in the pan.  Top with some salt, pepper, thyme and a little more olive oil.  Sprinkle it with finely grated cheese, bake it for about a hour and you're done.

Tomato Jam: A Love Story

Once upon a time, all throughout the land, people made tomato jam.  In heavy pots, chunks of tomatoes would simmer in sugar and spices until they were cooked down into garnet-colored jam.  The evocative scent of cinnamon, clove and garlic would linger in the kitchen long after the jam was carefully sealed into little glass jars. 

Keeping it Simple - Cream of Tomato Soup

This soup is pretty simple.  Put some canned tomatoes, a little chopped onion, some chicken broth, and butter in a pot, let it simmer for an hour, add whipping cream and you're ready to go.  It's also pretty delicious.

My mother-in-law found the recipe in an old issue of Taste of Home, liked it, and set it aside to share with me.  With it, she gave me two quarts tomatoes that they grew, picked and canned. 

Last night Matthew and I savored the final hours of our weekend and gratefully ate this soup.  In spite of this hot and humid South Carolina summer, and we both had seconds.  Even Matthew who generally does not care for soup. 

Don't let the simplicity or the ingredients (butter and whipping cream!) concern you.  One pot makes 8 servings, and one serving is right under 300 calories (if online calorie counters are to be trusted).  Because the soup has so few ingredients, I recommend using the best quality you have available.  Use real chicken broth rather than bullion and high quality canned tomatoes. 

So without a lot of fuss or fanfare, here is the recipe carefully saved for me by my mother-in-law.  I wish I could give each of you a jar of homegrown tomatoes to go with it.

Old-Fashioned Cream of Tomato Soup
Adapted from from Taste of Home

1 quart of diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup chicken broth (I used Trader Joe's organic, free-range)
1/4 cup butter
1 Tablespoon onion, chopped
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a large nonreactive pot combine the first five ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour.  In a heavy saucepan, heat whipping cream.  Do not let the whipping cream boil.  Just before serving, use an immersion blender to puree the soup.  Slowly add one cup of soup to whipping cream.  Add whipping cream mixture to pot of soup.  Serve immediately.  Makes 8 servings.

From My Binder: Italian Birthday (Week)Night

I mentioned in my post on hospitality that I keep a binder for meal planning.  I am a sucker for food blogs and Pinterest, and I love to plan a meals with a theme. 

Unless it's just Matthew and I: then cereal, leftover salami, and string cheese are a meal. 

Themes give me a structure to work in and make me feel like my meal is complete.  They can also give me a headache and make me want to take on way too much work.  But I'm getting better at keeping my expectations real even if it means adapting what I see in food magazines.

As I've mentioned (just a couple times), I work a lot, and if I'm going to pull off hospitality on a weeknight the food has to be mostly make-ahead. 

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

Our tomatoes aren’t quite ripe yet.  Every day I go out and water the big green plants with prayers and pleading.  In the meantime, my father-in-law has given me tomatoes to tide me over until mine come through.  C’mon , little buddies.  Ripen!

                Food is miraculous. Tomatoes are the only vegetable (fruit?) that we grow in our tiny yard, so the miracle unfolds in front us under the spray of our water hose.   I buy my tomato plants in the plant stage because I have no green phalanges.  The way they start out as little plants, stretch up through their inadequate cages, and push out tomatoes bursting with the flavors of summer – it all makes me pause in admiration and gratitude. 

Breaking From Taxes to Talk About Cooking

"If you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff." - from Ratatouille

My mom made breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I'd do my algebra homework to the scent of bean soup and freshly baked bread.  Our mac and cheese was always homemade.  So naturally, by the time I moved out, I knew how to follow a recipe and make a meal.  And it was when I was cooking for myself tht I really learned to cook.