CSA Week 9

This post is a week late - sorry! I wish I had a good excuse as to why it took so long to post. But I don't. Just plain laziness! Here's what I got LAST week at the CSA:

Cape gooseberries, chard, zucchini, and Roma tomatoes.

"Cape gooseberries?", you say. "I have never heard of such a thing!" Well, neither had I! When I asked the farmer what those funny looking things were, he just described their flavor - sweet and kinda pineapple-y. He offered me a taste, and I loved them. And then, from the next stall, where they sell delicious baked goods, I heard a voice: "They don't even taste like tomatoes!"

Cape Gooseberries in their husk...and one naked one!

WHAT. I just ate a tomato...and liked it? For my whole life, I have HATED raw tomatoes. I've tried tomatoes many times and every time I've spit them out. But this one was different. It actually tasted good! Since I've brought them home with me, I've been popping them in my mouth and adding them to salads. They taste kind of fruity and most definitely not like any tomatoes I've ever tried before. Maybe all you tomato lovers were on to something... 

Eggplant and Sun-dried Tomato Pasta

I can't think of a more creative name for this dish besides eggplant and sun-dried tomato pasta. I guess because it's really simple and there isn't much more to the dish, so any other name would be too complicated for such an easy and quick meal to make.

This meal can be adapted to other vegetables, such as broccoli. There is no real "recipe", but here are some steps to make this dish:

1. Sauté 1 chopped onion and 1 garlic clove over medium heat in a preheated pan with oil, until soft.
2. Add chopped eggplant, that has been presalted to drain some of the water content. Cook 10-15 minutes, until soft and the eggplant turns brown. Season with salt, pepper, and chili pepper.
3. When eggplant is cooked through, add sun-dried tomatoes (in oil). Stir until warm.
4. Add to pasta, cooked according to package directions. Top with fresh mozzarella balls. Enjoy!

Pretty simple, right?

Easy Pasta Sauce Variations

Ever try to figure out what to make with that half used jar of pasta sauce sitting in your fridge? You know you want some spaghetti for dinner, but you just aren't sure there's enough sauce...and let's be honest, there's no such thing as too much pasta sauce! Or maybe you are tired of the plain sauce on your pantry shelf and want a way to make it a bit more exciting? Here are some easy ways to change up the jarred sauce that you have just waiting to be used:



Pasta Sauce with Kale

Add kale to a preheated pan with olive oil, over medium heat. Add salt, pepper, and garlic. Let cook for 5-7 minutes. Add pasta sauce until warm. Serve with pasta of choice.

Pasta Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes

Over medium heat, heat olive oil in a pan. Add 1 small chopped onion and 1 chopped garlic clove, cook until translucent. Add one pint of chopped cherry tomatoes, cooking approximately 10 minutes until tomatoes begin to break down. Add pasta sauce until warm. Serve with pasta of choice. Enjoy!






Easy enough - right? I apologize for the messy pictures...sometimes I'm just too hungry to make a pretty plate!

Simple Pasta Sauce

It doesn't get much simpler than this when it comes to making pasta sauce! You probably even have all of these ingredients sitting in your kitchen at this very moment - although, if it's my kitchen there are rarely any tomatoes present. This pasta sauce was simple and fresh tasting - a perfect end of summer meal.

Simple Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:

• 6 small tomatoes, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced.
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• dash of oregano
• 1/2 box of pasta (I used fettuccine)

Directions:

1. Prepare pasta as directed on box. In a medium pan, heat 1 Tbl of olive oil over low-medium heat. When hot, sauté onion and garlic until soft, 3-5 minutes.

2. Add diced tomatoes and seasonings, cooking until tomatoes begin to break down and the juices are released, approximately 7-10 minutes. 

3. Serve over pasta - enjoy!

Summer Veggie Tart

Considering fall is about to start, it only seemed appropriate to finally post this summer veggie tart...that was made almost a MONTH ago. Have I mentioned that I've been busy this summer? Anyway, this tart was made with 100% vegetables from the CSA - remember those six ears of corn? Well, I didn't eat them. Instead, I froze the kernels and then defrosted them so that they could be a part of this delicious meal. The tart was based on Smitten Kitchen's Burst Tomato Galette with Corn and Zucchini. I used frozen pastry crust, as a shortcut, since it takes a while to make fresh dough. While Deb @ Smitten Kitchen molded the dough into a circle, pleated the edges, and overlapped the filling, I just left the dough in a rectangle and folded up the corners to make a crust. I don't think my changes made much of a difference (although, fresh dough is always better than frozen), but it was just a bit easier and faster this way. I can't seem to remember if this was served with a salad, but if it wasn't it should be in the future! This was a healthy, quick, and easy dinner - it was light yet filling. Perfect for a summer evening.

I Swear I'm Not Lying...

I do really hate tomatoes! Well, just raw ones. Considering this is my second post dedicated to tomatoes, it may seem like I like them...but I promise that I don't. I just really like homemade tomato sauce with my pasta. The last time I made homemade tomato sauce from scratch was in 10th grade, in my high school cooking class. Yes, we had cooking as an elective in high school. It was amazing. I've made tomato sauce many times since, but I've always used cans of whole peeled tomatoes.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• extra virgin olive oil
• at least 2 pints tomatoes
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• basil

Directions:

1. Boil 2 quarts of water in a medium pot. Score the bottom of the tomatoes with an "X". Blanche the tomatoes in the water for 20-30 seconds. It is easier to do 2 or 3 tomatoes at a time, so do not try to get them all in the pot at once. Allow to cool, and peel the skin. Chop the tomatoes into large chunks.

2. Add 1 Tbl olive oil to a sauce pan and heat over medium. Saute onions and garlic until soft, 5 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and bring to a simmer. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add basil and serve.

Disclaimer: The tomatoes cook down A LOT. When I made this, there was barely enough sauce for two bowls of spaghetti. I only used 1 pint of tomatoes...and it did not make very much sauce, even though it was delicious. The more tomatoes the better...and you can always increase the onion and garlic, to your own taste.

Tomatoes and I - a change of heart?

I feel very lucky to say that I found some of the best friends in the world at the age of 5. Who knew a five-year old was capable of making such important and lifelong decisions? As it turns out, I picked a pretty awesome group of my girls in elementary school, and we have remained friends ever since. No matter how long it has been since we've last seen each other (or really, since I've seen them since I live so far away), it always feels like no time has passed. That's a really great feeling :)

Last weekend, my childhood friends and I rented a home on Long Island.  It was such a perfect mini-vacation. We stayed in Mattituck, which was an adorable, sleepy, little town (it was the off-season...)  on the North Fork of Long Island. It was great to spend 3 days with some of my most favorite people in the world! I hardly get to see these ladies as much as I would like, and considering how busy everyone is with jobs/graduate school/medical school/life, it is very surprising that we were all free this same weekend. We spent the weekend laughing, reminiscing, EATING, drinking wine, bike riding, watching movies, and just having a great time. When and where will our next weekend getaway be?!

Our first stop in Mattituck was to secure provisions = food and wine. We stopped at The Village Cheese Shop (www.thevillagecheeseshop.com/), where we bought bread, jam, loads of cheese, veggie pate (think baby food in a log that tastes DELICIOUS!), and olives and TOMATOES.

I hate tomatoes. Well...only raw tomatoes. I love ketchup, pasta sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, salsa (even the fresh kind..weird, I know), bruschetta, tomato jam, tomato soup, and pretty much anything else that is made with tomatoes. Friends have force fed me tomatoes during study abroad in Italy, claiming that Italian tomatoes were so tasty and there was no way I couldn't like them. When I hastily spit them out, we reached the conclusion that if I didn't like those tomatoes, I would never like them. While I still would never eat a raw tomato...the roasted tomatoes with herbs and olive oil from The Village Cheese Shop have brought me one step closer to loving tomatoes. So, ever since I came back from Long Island, I have been craving these delicious morsels of tomato-y goodness! And thus, my inspiration for this next recipe:

Oven-Roasted Tomatoes with Herbs

(adapted from www.davidlebovitz.com/2012/05/oven-roasted-tomatoes-tomato-recipe)

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbl olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, sliced thin
• 1 lb tomatoes
• dried herbs (I used rosemary)
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF (165ºC.)
2. Pour the olive oil into a shallow baking dish or pan and add the garlic, dried herbs, salt, and pepper.
3. Cut the tomatoes in half horizontally, then use a sharp knife to remove the stems, if you wish. Toss the tomatoes with the oil and seasonings, then lay them cut side down in the dish.
4. Bake for two hours, or until the tomatoes are completely softened and wilted, and start to wrinkle. Depending on the tomatoes, they may take longer to cook.

I served the tomatoes with a baguette and goat cheese. The leftover olive oil and tomatoes (if there are any after this weekend) will be added to pasta. YUM. 

And so begins my love of tomatoes.