Old Favorite, New Twist

Day three of still working in the yard and needed another quick meal for dinner.  My old favorite, but with a twist.  I love linguine with roasted tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh grated Pecorino-Romano cheese.  So I did it the easy way and it was better!

Start a pot of salted water for the pasta, before tomatoes go into the oven.  If I don't have any of my homemade pesto I use Costco's Pesto Sauce, it's wonderful!  I tossed 2 cups of grape tomatoes with 1/4 cup of pesto, roast at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until tomatoes just start to pop open.  

Drain the pasta when it's done, toss with the tomatoes and top with lots of grated cheese.  This meal served two. Yeah, it's comfort food for me and it's quick and easy.  Enjoy!

Mmmmmm..... The Roasted Veggies

Down to four people in the house, now that my youngest went back to college.  My youngest son who is vegan commutes to college, so he is usually at the dinner table, and my other son is only home 2 nights a week.  Cooking dinner becomes tricky this time of year for me trying to please everyones taste buds, when there are so few of us eating.  Fresh vegetables are always on the table, no matter what or who likes them.

I made grilled chicken yesterday for dinner, and roasted veggies on the grill.  The vegan had the roasted veggies mixed with Farfalle, which were side dishes for us.  It's not really hard cooking, I just have to have more of a thought process behind it, "what will he eat" when there is meat on the table.

These are my roasted veggies and how I made them - I use one small green zucchini and one small yellow squash, 1/2 red onion, 1/2 red pepper, and a handful of grape tomatoes, salt, pepper, herbs de provence, garlic and olive oil.  Toss this all together in a bowl and then put into a grill basket on the grill.  Grill until lightly browned, tossing as they are cooking.  The flavor of them is amazing!  Eat them plain, mixed with hot pasta, mixed into a pasta salad, as a veggie sandwich maybe add regular cheese or vegan cheese, these are a few ideas, but many different ways to use them.

NOTE:  These can also be made in the oven, roast at 400 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. Toss once during cooking.  Cooking time may vary as all ovens are different.

I Live For Olives

Love, love, love olives!  Any kind, anywhere, in anything.  What I like about them is their fruitiness (they are considered a fruit), saltiness, meatiness, and they hold up well in cooking.  One of my favorite things to do is visit my local Wegman's every week, yes I do, just to get a container of this olive mix that they have on their olive bar.   It's a mix of all types of olives, cubed feta cheese and a dressing that they marinated them in.  When I get them home I add English cucumber and sliced grape tomatoes.  I will snack on this all day long, it's my new favorite salad and I can not get enough of it, I am sad to say I am addicted! Olives also contain a good amount of vitamin E, calcium, copper, iron, manganese and zinc, so they are good for you.  They also have mono-unsaturated fat acids - healthy fat.

Pasta With Roasted Tomatoes And Garlic Oil

I am always trying to find quick meals to make when I am in a time crunch.  This is now one of my new favorites and everybody loves it, Pasta With Roasted Tomatoes And Garlic Oil.  It's easy, fast, looks beautiful when plated up and it tastes delicious, it has everything going for it.  We are having a pasta night party at my house in June, all homemade pastas, sauces, meats and dessert, and let's not forget the anti pasta.  I think this dish may make the menu!  This is how I make it, recipe below.

These two simple ingredients, fresh basil and grape tomatoes.  Toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, roast in the oven just until they start to pop open.

Beauties they are!  Then I mix up the garlic oil and cook that for a bit.

Toss it all together, top with fresh basil and grated parmigiano - reggiano cheese, delizioso!

Pasta With Roasted Tomatoes And Garlic Oil

Ingredients

For the tomatoes

2 cups whole grape tomatoes

6 basil leaves, rolled then sliced (chiffonade)

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Wash and drain the tomatoes.  Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and basil.  Drizzle on the olive oil and toss to coat all the tomatoes.  Bake in the oven just until they are ready to pop open, about 10 - 15 minutes.   Remove from oven, leave on the sheet and let them cool.

For the sauce

3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1 small shallot, minced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes, more if you like heat

For the pasta

1 lb. box of linguine or pasta of your choice

In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium - high heat.  Add the shallot and garlic and cook for about 1 minute, just to release the flavors.  Do not burn the garlic!  It will be bitter and you will have to start over.  Turn the heat down to a simmer, add the Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and pepper flakes. Let the sauce simmer while you get a large pot of salted water to come to a boil for the pasta.  Add pasta to the water once it boils and cook to you liking.  Drain the pasta.  Toss with the olive oil mixture.  If you do not like all the pieces of garlic, shallot and herbs in your sauce, but like the flavors, you can use a fine mesh strainer to strain the garlic oil if you like.  Once the pasta is tossed with the oil, top with the tomatoes and toss them in gently.  Sprinkle with fresh sliced basil and lots of grated parmagiano - reggiano cheese.  You can also add cooked shrimp, scallops or crab meat to the sauce to bring it to a whole new level.  Makes 4 servings..

Easy Caprese!

I had a huge box of grape tomatoes that I got at Costco and I knew that outside of putting them in a mixed salad, I would probably end up throwing them out because they would go bad.  I had just picked some fresh basil out of my herb box on the deck, the last of it I am sure of the season, and my brain clicked, Caprese Salad! This would also be good as an appetizer, cube the mozzarella or use Bocconcini (small mozzarella balls), toss with the other ingredients and serve in small cups with appetizer forks.  So flavorful!

I washed all of the tomatoes.

 This fresh mozzarella is great, it's already sliced for you, all you do is open the package!

 Layer in any pattern you like, grape tomatoes on the side, sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked pepper, drizzle with olive oil and top with sliced basil,

DONE! Easy Caprese