Sunday Night Salad: the one where I come clean about my sources

I'm afraid I can't take any credit for this one recipe-wise. This one came direct from my mother's recipe files (even the addition of the radish). However, I will say that it makes a darn fine salad for 15 minutes work. I like to make it up right before bed and let it sit in the fridge overnight so the onion flavors soften and the vinegar makes the celery and broccoli a tad less crunchy. Anyways, without further ado:

Broccoli Salad

Serves about 4-6
Source: My mother, chef extraordinaire.

Ingredients:
• 4-5 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 1/2 cup raisins (I used golden raisins)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (I used ones that were toasted, but not salted)
• 1/4 cup cooked, crumbled pancetta (about 6 slices)
• 1/4 cup of red onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup of celery,chopped finely
radishes might be nice (I used one small one, sliced thin)

Dressing:
• 1/2-3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar (of course, I used 3)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• salt and pepper

Preparation:

Combine broccoli florets, raisins, sunflower seeds, crumbled pancetta, chopped onion, radish, and celery in a large serving bowl. In a separate bowl or large cup, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar. Add dressing to the salad and toss to mix well; chill thoroughly before serving.

A box and a burrito

First the box. I actually remembered to take a pic this week. We got lettuce, pears, oranges, lemons, apples, strawberries, turnips, fennel, rainbow chard, and broccoli. Here it is in all its glory--Have you ever seen fennel with that many greens on it?



So far we haven't done much exciting with it, besides mussels with the fennel (I'll post the recipe in a later post) and broccoli salad with the broccoli. Rumour has it there is rhubarb in next weeks box, which is very exciting!

The burritos didn't actually use much from the box--it was mostly a clean out the freezer sort of recipe. Whenever I make burritos, I end up combining ideas from about 4 different recipes. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. This particular time, I thought things worked out pretty well, and so I give you "Patchwork Burritos", needless to say, the recipe is quite versatile and substitutions are welcome.




Ingredients:
*2 chicken breasts cut into strips
*1 clove garlic chopped
*1 onion sliced
*1 poblano pepper, chopped
*1/2 a red pepper chopped
*1 jalepeno, seeded and chopped fine
*1 14oz. can chopped tomatoes with juice
*1 cup refried beans (I used refried black beans for extra flavor)
*2 tbsp oil
*1/2 cup uncooked rice (long grain is good)
*1 cup water
*2tbsp cumin
*1 tbsp mixed mexican spices (chili powder, cayenne, cumin etc.)
*1 tbsp chile powder
1/2 tsp cayenne/red pepper flakes (more if you like it hot)

Method:
In a large, deep frying pan (make sure you have a lid to fit it), heat the oil over med. heat, add garlic, onion and peppers and cook until they are fairly soft. Add the chicken, and saute stirring frquently, until it is no longer pink.

Now add tomatoes, water, spices, and rice, cover and cook for 20 min, or until the rice is thoroughly cooked, and most of the water absorbed. Once the rice is cooked, you can shred the chicken a bit with a fork to make it easier to eat.

Finally, stir in the beans, cook for another couple minutes until heated through, and serve on tortillas with lettuce, cheese, salse and sour cream (or yogurt in a pinch).

You can eat these like tacos (meaning put all the toppings *inside* the tortilla, wrap it and eat by hand) or like classic burritos (put only the filling inside the taco, wrap it, and then put the toppings on top, and eat with a fork and knife). The refried beans, as well as adding flavor, do a nice job of holding everything together so it doesn't ooze or explode on you.


The best kind of leftovers: homemade ones.

Wine and Cheese

If we were still living in Montreal, there is no doubt in my mind that last Saturday would have found us at Dieu De Ciel (our favorite local pub, known for excellent beer and a killer cheese tray) at 3pm on the dot (when they opened). The weather was gorgeous, and we had been out running errands and grocery shopping all morning--it was just the sort of day that called for a pint and a few good cheeses for lunch. Sadly though, we were a long ways away from a pub with both an adequate beer selection and a decent cheese plate (probably Alibi's in Vancouver is the closest one).

While the closest I could come with the beer was a bottle of St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout (a Quebec microbrewery imported from Vancouver), I did manage to assemble a darn fine cheese tray, if I do say so myself.



This one consisted of organic apples from the produce box, the remains of a baguette from the night before, crackers, salami (from the amazing Italian deli on Commercial ave. in Vancouver), the last of a chunk of Cambizola (Camembert+Gorgonzola) that had been idling in the fridge and was more *Gorgonzola* than Camembert at this point, a nice sharp cheddar, an amazing goat cheese gouda that the grocery store was sampling and I couldn't pass up, and a spot of chutney from London. Its quite remarkable what you can find idling in the fridge sometimes.

The wine was not idling in the fridge. The wine was a long-awaited visit to Purple, a tres posh wine bar in downtown Seattle. What keeps me coming back there despite the poshness and the prices is their samplers: 4 2.5 oz. glasses of wine for $17 (which wouldn't be that exciting, except that allows you to try 4 different wines at once and compare and contrast them--which is my favorite part). Anyways here's what we tried:

I tried "The Farm" (these ones were supposed to be earthy, flowery etc.):
-Domaine Roc de Chateauvieux (France)
-Planeta (Italy)
-Alcance Carminiere (Chile) -- I love Carminieres. They taste like dark chocolate
-Chateau la Coustarelle (France)--This one, I kid you not, tasted like flowers, it was a little odd at first, but it grew on me

Dan tried "Vive Le France" :
-Jean-paul brun "terres-dorees" (Beaujolais)
-Domaines sarrail (vin de pays de la cite de carcassonne)
-Chateau Franc grand-dieu (st. emillion grand cru)
-Les Moirets (cotes du Rhone)

Then we shared "The Bullfighter" (Spanish reds):
-gotin "del risc" mencia--This one, IIRC, was pretty light, but it may just have been that it followed the flowery one
-san isidro cepas del zorro "dos ano" monastrell
-comcerc 'old vines' garnacha (carinena) -- delicious
-atalaya

My favorites were without a doubt the first batch. The earthy, pungent, floralness of them was delicious, and different from the type of wines I usually drink (rich Cabs or full fruity Shiraz). Had we not already stuffed ourselves with cheese at lunch, I would have definitely ordered a good creamy soft-ripened French cheese to go with it--but there's only so much cheese one can eat in a day (even when one has lived in Montreal).

Sunday Night Salad: Double Feature

As promised, last Sunday's salad:

Roasted Vegetable Couscous Salad with Harissa-style Dressing

This one is a Delia Smith special, so it's a little involved (lots of chopping), but believe me, it's worth it, and is excellent as leftovers, so don't be timid about quantities (I usually make about a metric ton, and then live on it for a week). Delia's version involves sweating eggplants and blanching cherry tomatoes--I do no such thing. I just chop, roast and assemble.





Servngs: Delia says "Serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a starter". I say serves 2 for dinner plus about 6 lunches.

Ingredients

For the roasted vegetables:
1 small aubergine (eggplant)
2 medium courgettes (zucchinis)
1 lb (450 g) cherry tomatoes, skinned
1 small red pepper, de-seeded and cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) squares
1 small bulb fennel, chopped (save the feathery greens at the top and throw them in too)
1 large onion, sliced and cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) squares
2 fat cloves garlic, crushed
2+ tablespoons fresh basil leaves, torn so that they stay quite visible
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (you may need more if you use two tins to cook the veggies)
2 oz (50 g) pitted black olives, chopped
1 heaped tablespoon capers, drained
salt and freshly milled black pepper

For the couscous:
10 oz (275 g) medium couscous
18 fl oz (500 ml) vegetable stock or water
4 oz (110 g) firm goats' cheese (if you can find cheddar made with goat cheese, it works very well, otherwise, any sort of firm-ish goat cheese will do)
salt and freshly milled black pepper

For the salad:
1 x 3 oz (75 g) packet mixed salad leaves (such as lettuce, coriander leaves, flat-leaf parsley, rocket)

For the dressing:
4 fl oz (110 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 rounded teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 level tablespoons ground cumin
2 heaped tablespoons tomato purée
4 tablespoons lime juice (about 2 limes)

To garnish:
1 level tablespoon black onion seeds (I can never find these, the salad doesn't suffer too much without them)

Method

Preheat the oven to gas mark 9, 475°F (240°C).

Now arrange the aubergine, courgettes, tomatoes, pepper, fennel and onion in the roasting tin (I usually use 2 cookie sheets), sprinkle with the crushed garlic, basil and olive oil, toss everything around in the oil to get a good coating and season with salt and pepper. Place the tin on the highest shelf (if using two trays, put one in top third, one in bottom third and swap after 15-20 minutes) of the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the vegetables are toasted brown at the edges. When the vegetables are done, remove them from the oven and stir in the chopped olives and the capers then allow the whole lot to cool.

When you're ready to assemble the salad, first place the couscous in a large, heatproof bowl, then pour the boiling stock or water over it (if you use water, you can boil it in an electric kettle to save time and washing a pot), add some salt and pepper, stir it with a fork, then leave on one side for 5 minutes, by which time it will have absorbed all the liquid and softened.

Meanwhile cut the cheese into sugar cube-sized pieces. Make up the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together in a bowl, then pour into a serving jug.

To serve the salad, place the couscous in a large, wide salad bowl and gently fork in the cubes of cheese along with the roasted vegetables. Next arrange the salad leaves on top and, just before serving, drizzle a little of the dressing over the top followed by a sprinkling of onion seeds and hand the rest of the dressing around separately.

Notes: I recommend only putting in as much salad greens as you plan to eat at that time, as they tend to get slimy if stored with the veggies. Instead, store dressing/salad/couscous and veggies separately, and assemble leftovers as needed.

Orzo Salad

This week's sunday salad. Not as extravagant as last week, but still tasty



Orzo salad
Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups orzo (I used tri-color orzo pasta)
Salt
Black pepper, ground
Extra virgin olive oil (evoo), about 3 tbsp.
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 red bell pepper, roasted* and peeled, diced
Olives, black and/or green, chopped (I used both)
1/2 cup Goat and/or feta cheese, crumbled/diced small (I used the left-over goat-cheddar from last week)
1 Ripe tomato, chopped

Cook pasta according to the instructions on the box (be sure to salt the water).
Drain and season with salt, black pepper, and a splash of a good fruity evoo. Add all the other ingredients, and toss.

* to roast the peppers, slice them in half, clean from the seeds, and place skin side up under the broiler. Once their skin is blackened, remove from oven and place in a bowl, cover with a lid and let it sweat and cool. Once cooled, the skin peels easily. I had never roasted them this way, it was dead easy--the *cut them in half* step is pure genius: no more wrestling with lop-sided peppers trying to get them to roast evenly.

Note: The astute chef will note that this is a pasta salad without red wine vinegar (which violates basic culinary principles). I was planning on adding it, but ended up deciding against it at the last minute. The cheese, olives, peppers and lemon gave it enough flavour. The vinegar seemed like overkill, but, to each his own. You could also add capers or a red onion, if you wanted to experiment a bit.

Encore

An awesome green salad complete with radishes, cuc's, arugula, lettuce, spinach, purple carrots, and a delicious dressing of left over vinagrette from the artichoke. Yum. The taste of summer.

The Produce Box is Here! The Produce Box is Here!

First off, kudos to anyone who got that reference. Now, on to the produce box. I was so excited to get it that I completely forgot to take a picture of it before I started putting away the contents--but I'll post one next week, I promise. Overall I was very pleased with it.

Here's what was in it:
*Leeks
*Yukon Gold Potatoes
*Bibb Lettuce
*Spinach
*Collard Greens
*Cameo Apples
*D'Anjou Pears
*Strawberries
*Asparagus
*Purple Carrots
*Red Peppers
*Tangelos (similar to tangerines)

What struck me right off the bat was how well balanced this array of produce was. By well-balanced I mean that some of it was stuff that I buy at the grocery store on a weekly basis anyways (citrus, carrots, and apples fall into this category), while other items were things that I had forgotten how much I liked (asparagus, leeks, lettuce). In particular, lettuce--it's been *ages* since I made my salad from a head of lettuce rather than a bag of mixed salad, and with lettuce this fresh and crunchy, it was definitely a welcome change. And just to make things a bit more exciting, there was of course, the token item I had walked by a thousand times in the grocery store and never bought: collard greens. I'm sure Nige will have some suggestions as to what do do with them though.

The other concern I had had, when we signed up for the box was its size, I was worried that we were going to get enough veggies to feed a small army on our doorstep, without any guinea pigs nearby to help us get through them (Silky, my childhood pig used to go through at least one bunch of dandelion greens per week), be forced to spend the whole weekend cooking (which wouldn't be that bad) or throw some of them out (which ould be very bad). Luckily though, this seemed not to be a problem, and the amount of food we got was very reasonable for both the price and our needs . To quote a famous movie: Produce Box, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship".

Speaking of things you see in the grocery store and never buy, I bought an artichoke last week. They are in season right now, and the shelves are packed with monsterous spiky prehistoric looking globe artichokes. I just *had* to buy one (well, that and there was a recipe in my favorite F&W Cookbook that I wanted to try).

It came out very well, all things considered, and the excess vinagrette has been excellent on the organic Bibb lettuce, however, it did refresh my memory as to why I didn't buy artichokes very much. In the end, it all comes down to a princple which I have dubbed the Law-of-Lobsters (and crabs, and artichokes): They look very elegant in the store, and in the photos in the cookbook, however, when it comes down to it, an awful lot of hassle and hard work for not a lot of food.

That won't stop me from posting the recipe though, just be warned: only a very small portion of that artichoke is edible:


Artichokes with Scallion Vinagrette


Serving info: The recipe calls for 4 artichokes. I only made one, as it was going to be a side dish with other food. I used the full portion of seasonings (onion, peppercorns, bayleaves, etc.) in the liquid for the artichoke, and it was not at all overpowering. I also made the whole portion of vinagrette thinking, (rightly) that it would come in handy for other things. However, if you don't want left-overs, you could probably half the portions of the vinagrette. In general, you can be pretty flexible with ingredient ratios in this recipe (add more oil if you like your vinagrette milder, or less if you like it vinegarier--you can guess which side I was on). I would say count on 1 artichoke per person if its a main course, and 1/2 an artichoke per person if its a side/appetizer.

Ingredients

1. 1 quart water
2. 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
3. 5 1/2 tablespoons wine vinegar
4. 1 small onion, cut into thin slices
5. 12 peppercorns
6. 5 bay leaves
7. 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
8. 4 large artichokes
9. 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
10. 4 scallions including green tops, chopped
11. 6 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
12. 1 1/4 teaspoons lemon juice
13. 1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

Directions

1. In a large wide stainless-steel pot, combine the water, the 2 tablespoons oil, 1 1/2 tablespoons of the vinegar, the onion, peppercorns, bay leaves, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Bring to a boil.

2. Cut the stems off the artichokes and cut off the top third of the leaves. If you like, using scissors, cut off the tips from the remaining leaves to remove the thorns. Put the artichokes in the pot, stem ends down. Cover and bring back to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the bases of the artichokes are tender when pierced with a small knife, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the artichokes.

3. In a small glass or stainless-steel bowl, whisk together the mustard, the remaining 4 tablespoons vinegar, the scallions, parsley, lemon juice, the remaining 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and the ground pepper. Add the remaining 1 cup oil slowly, whisking. Serve each artichoke with a small bowl of vinaigrette alongside for dipping.


P.S. Last Sunday's salad is still in the queue. I just haven't got round to posting it yet.

Beyond the Grocery Store

I was going to post about Sunday night's salad today--but in light of recent events, it will have to wait. It all started Sunday evening (after the salad) as I was feeling smugly satisfied for having made such a healthy, veggie-filled dinner. That was when my curiousity got the better of me, and I decided that Food Inc. would make an enjoyable (or at least informative) after-dinner movie experience.

I knew full-well what I was in for. Actually, its surprising that my movie choice wasn't vetoed on account of the rants caused by my reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, a couple years ago. Perhaps it would have been better that way.

Indeed, In Defense of Food basically scared me away from the interior of the grocery store. My shopping trips these days almost always take me around the perimeter of the grocery store: produce, dairy, fish, and occasionally meat. My rule about the rest of the store is, if it doesn't come in a can (tomatoes and chickpeas), a jar (jam and pickles) or sack (flour, sugar, pasta etc.)--I'm not buying it. This seemed to work pretty well for weeding out the high-fructose corn-syrup masquerading as nutritive food...however, as Food Inc. explained, leaving little to the imagination, high-fructose corn-syrup was just the tip of the iceberg.

As I listened to the stories of more and more farmers being bought out/bullied/beat up by giant corporations trying to convince the world that we really only needed one genetic strain of soybean to feed everyone (coincidentally, it was the strain that they had patented) the guilt started to set in. Ok, so I wasn't buying the Twinkies in aisle 3, but I was buying the bananas in aisle 1, which probably didn't come from the local farmer down the way. Then I realized I didn't even *know* what was in season anymore. Clearly, it was time to seek out some serious remedial vegetable education.

There are several local farms in the greater seattle area, but getting to one to buy ones weekly produce is no small task, and unlike Toronto, where they all congregate at the St. Lawrence Market once a week, there is no central market (well, there's Pike Place, but Pike is mostly an overpriced tourist trap, and as much as I love organic produce and supporting local agriculture, I can't afford Pike). Then I remembered the produce box.

I first heard of the concept of a "produce box" in Nige's Kitchen Diaries. It sounded like a brilliant idea. Once a week, a box of fresh seasonal, locally grown produce shows up at your door, and you get to come up with creative ways to cook it, and the profits go direct to the farmers. Better still, it saves you wandering aimlessly around the grocery store trying to find culinary inspiration from an expanse of sterile, season-less plastic wrapped vegetables fruits imported from all over the world.

Now, if anywhere in the US was likely to have produce boxes, its the Pacific Northwest. In fact, a google search quickly revealed that there were 10+ CSAs (Community Supported Agricultures) which delivered weekly boxes in the Seattle area alone. As with most things on the internet, it was mind-numbing. Finally, after an evening of (not so) exhaustive research, we settled on New Roots organics, a CSA which bought produce from a couple local farms, and delivered boxes once a week. We liked it because it didn't require a season-long commitment, like other farms did, but felt more farmers-markety than other places, in that the boxes were put together based on what was in season, rather than customer preference (great for those of us who have been known to spend an hour wandering around the produce section, trying to decide what they want).

And so I did it. I signed up. Either this thursday or next, a box of local green goodness should be appearing on my doorstep, which, in and of itself is very exciting. The fact that it saves me having to carry flavorless grocery store produce home on my bike at least once a week, is equally, if not more exciting.

I guess that means that watching Food Inc, depressing as it was, wasn't such a bad idea after all. However, the search for a decent, local, organic butcher continues--any suggestions are welcome.

Sunday Salads and Monday Muffins

Sunday evenings in our house tend to end up in a mad cooking frenzy--a desperate effort to get the fridge stocked with lunch and leftovers before the chao of the week descends upon us. Lately, I've gotten into the habit of making a giant bowl of salad of some sort, which, in addition to making a quick and easily transportable lunch, gets *more* flavorful as the week wears on and the ingredients blend together.

Sunday Salad

This Sunday, the salad of choice was Food and Wine's Chicken, Mango and Rice Salad, which, as the article says, makes a fairly hearty meal all by itself, especially for lunch. Not to mention the convenience factor: grill the chicken, cook the rice, chop the mango and the avocado, and assemble.



Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups rice, preferably short grain
2. 1 1/3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 4)
3. 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cooking oil
4. 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
5. 3/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
6. 3/4 cup chopped red onion
7. 1 mango, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
8. 1 avocado, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
9. 3 1/2 tablespoons lime juice (from about 2 limes)
10. 3/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions

1. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the rice until just done, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold water. Drain thoroughly.
2. Coat the chicken with the 1 tablespoon oil. Season with 1/4 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. Heat a grill pan over moderate heat. Cook the breasts until just done, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Alternatively, heat the tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan and season and cook the chicken as directed above. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, cut it into 1/2-inch dice.
3. Toss the rice with the chicken, onion, mango, avocado, the 1/3 cup oil, the remaining 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, the lime juice, and cilantro.

Monday Muffins

I'd been planning on making these muffins for a week, and finally got round to it on Monday evening. Being the citrus junkie that I am (orange marmalade, lemon loaf etc.), I decided they needed more lemon-ness than the recipe called for, and so put in the zest of 2 lemons, and the juice of 1 1/2 lemons. The only difference was that I had to cook them for an extra couple of minutes (possibly because the batter was a bit on the moist side). The original recipe suggests icing them, but I left mine uniced, since they tend to keep better that way.

Ingredients

2/3 Cup Sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 Cup Sour Cream
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Stick (8 Tbsp) Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled
2 Tbsp Poppy Seeds

For The Icing
1 Cup Confectioners' Sugar, sifted
2 -3 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice

Method

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400˚F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough-a few lumps are better than over mixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Easy Italian Pt. 2: Basil + Vinegar + Tomatoes = Love

As promised, the dish that taught me to cook:

Chez Piggy Pasta

This dish came originally from Chez Piggy (hence the name), an upscale restaurant in Kingston, Ontario. The pasta itself is very low key though, and has evolved over time to be considerably different from the original recipe. It was the first thing I ever cooked and it remains one of my favorite go-to dishes of all time.



Ingredients:

1/4 c Balsamic vinegar
1/4 c Red wine vinegar
1/3 c Extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1.5 pints of grape tomatoes
a large handful of torn basil (1-2 cups)
1 lb penne rigate
fresh bocconcini
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Rinse the tomatoes and cut any especially large ones in half (try to avoid cutting them *all* in half though). Place the tomatoes in a deep frying pan, large enough so that the tomatoes are more or less in a single layer.

2. Add the balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, olive oil and garlic to the pan, and heat over medium-low heat. You can play around with the vinegar to olive oil ratio depending on how punchy you like your pasta. I like mine pretty intense, so I tend to go heavy on the vinegar, and cut back a bit on the oil. The key is to make sure that there will be enough liquid to coat the pasta.



3. While the tomatoes and garlic are cooking on a low simmer, put a large pot of water up to boil. Once it's boiling add some salt and the penne. The penne will be ready when it is aldente, and the tomatoes will be ready when the skins are just beginning to split (be sure not to overcook them or they will liquefy and leave you with a tomato sauce, rather than cooked tomatoes). Usually, the pasta and the tomatoes finish around the same time, but if the tomatoes finish first, you can just turn the heat to low, and cover them until the pasta is finished.

4. Combine the drained pasta with the tomatoey-vinegary sauce, and mix in the basil. Stir to combine.

5. Serve and garnish with grated Parmesan fresh ground pepper and sliced bocconcini (you can add the bocconcini prior to serving, but it will start to melt and get very very stringy, making serving a messy business).

Don't be fooled by the simplicity of this recipe--it packs an incredible flavour punch for so few ingredients. It also needs a good strong wine. I tend to have it with Shiraz (Trader Joe's Purple Moon), a Sangiovese or a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (Farnese makes a great bottle of both).

On the other hand, if you're looking for a heartier meal, with perhaps a little less vinegar, there's always this option:

Ratatouille Pasta

Every time I make this dish it evokes some deep childhood taste-memory of eggplant and zucchini cooked in tomato sauce. I have not yet figured out where this memory came from--maybe homemade vegetable lasagna?

Anyways, this one if from the Food and Wine herbs and spices bible:




Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, cut into thin slices
1 green or red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch dice (or both)
1 small eggplant (about 1/2 pound), cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 zucchini (about 1/2 pound), cut into 1/2-inch dice
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1 2/3 cups canned crushed tomatoes in thick puree (one 15-ounce can)
2 teaspoons wine vinegar
3/4 pound linguine
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons thin-sliced basil leaves
I like to add a pinch of red pepper flakes too, just to "kick it up a notch"

Directions

1. In a large frying pan, heat the oil over moderate heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the eggplant, zucchini, garlic, salt, and black pepper (and red pepper flakes). Reduce the heat to moderately low and cook, covered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the tomatoes and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the vinegar.

3. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the linguine until just done, about 12 minutes. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta-cooking water. Drain the pasta and toss with the vegetables, the 1/2 cup basil, and, if the pasta seems too dry, some of the reserved pasta-cooking water. Serve topped with the 2 tablespoons basil.

This one doesn't need as punchy a wine. F&W recommends a chardonnay, but being a red-wine person myself, I find something light like a tempranillo goes nicely.

So there you have it. Two simple yet tasty things you can do with tomatoes and basil (and vinegar). Enjoy!