Fresh Tomato Sauce and Pasta

Found yet another one on Pinterest.  Love that site. Find the recipe here.

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

The only thing I would do differently is that I would have not refrigerated the tomatoes. I know, I know. You are not supposed to refrigerate the tomatoes. I did anyway, because I bought them at the farmer's market on Saturday, so I could make this dish, but I wasn't sure when I would get to it.  So I put them in the fridge.

Refrigerating tomatoes really does impede their flavor.  Don't do it.  This is a fantastic recipe and mine would have tasted wonderful if my cold tomatoes didn't have a metallic taste to them that comes with sitting in the fridge.

Totally easy to prepare. I even went the extra mile to scrape out the seeds before processing them. I made the sauce in advance and then squeezed much of the liquid out of the bowl before mixing with the pasta.

Bam! dinner was done. I'd say it took me less than 15 minutes.

Makes plenty of leftovers.

More from Vegetarian Times

I'm guilty. I'm just going to post pictures of the tings I made from the Sept 2012 issue of VT because I'm too tired to reproduce them. (Sorry folks, I'm just a busy mom, like everyone else and I've got too much to do not enough time). If you can find it, go out and buy this month's issue. Its worth it.  If you prefer to wait until next month, I'll post the links to these recipes on this blog when they are available.

I really recommend this issue. I've tried most of the recipes in it and there are a few. We had Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Foccaccia and Rosemary Honey Drizzle one night for supper. It was really good.  I've been visiting the farmer's market here. Local produce just adds to the yumminess. 

Heirloom Tomato and Nectarine Salad

served with:

Grilled Bread with Rosemary-Honey Drizzle

Polenta with Tomato-Braised Beans

We liked this. I wouldn't say its in my top 10 of most used or favorite recipes, but it can be easy to prepare if you use prepared polenta from the produce section instead of dry polenta. Using the dried polenta can be high maintenance if you ask me - you just have to keep an eye on it, stirring alot and it can still get lumpy.  Polenta, if you don't know is a fancy term cornmeal.  You don't need to buy the pricier package that says Polenta on the label - I just use plain old House Autry Cornmeal.  You can however use prepared polenta you get from the produce section of the store - fry it or mash it and serve the beans over the top, and this meal will be just as good.

But its another way to get white beans into your diet - they have lots of calcium.

Try it here.

Heirloom Tomato Salad With Fresh Lady Peas

Here's one to use up all those tomatoes you'll get from Stanley this summer. This is one that we liked, but its more of a salad or appetizer than a main course. The store didn't have fresh peas so I used green beans instead and it was still good. The lemon basil dressing that goes with it was easy to make, but a little too lemony for my taste. I'd pare it down next time. But it was still really good.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/heirloom-tomato-salad-with-fresh-lady-peas-10000001634626/

"sun-dried" tomatoes

I've been trying really hard to use only the ingredients I have in the house, so as not to waste any of it. Given my plethora of veggies from our CSA I had an opportunity to get creative.

It was actually quite rewarding. I didn't shop all week - nor did we eat out. I just carefullly managed our leftovers vs. making new things. I'm very proud of myself for not taking any shortcuts. If I was missing an ingredient, I improvised. Ordinarily I would have run out to the store and just gotten it. But no- I didn't allow myself to do that this week.

So why didn't I think of drying my tomatoes earlier? And who doesn't love sun-dried tomatoes. They are certainly a luxury to add to your salad, pasta or whatever. And they cost a fortune. I did (shamefully) have to throw quite a few tomatoes into the compost a couple of weeks ago. I just couldn't get to blanching, peeling, seeding, chopping and freezing them. When you're 20 weeks pregnant, standing in front of the kitchen counter for an hour half processing 10 lbs of tomatoes is no fun. Especially when you'd rather be laying down in bed.

So I gave it a go. This is the cheater method, but it works.

Marinara Sauce

I never used to make good spaghetti sauce. That is until I found this recipe. Its super simple, goes together quickly and there are some successful variations that follow. And chances are good you already have all the ingredients in your pantry. Next time I try this I'm going to use the fresh tomatoes I got in my CSA box.

Its from Veganomicon, one of my favorite cookbooks.

Marinara Sauce
Makes about 5 cups

2 t olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes
1/4 t dried thyme
1/4 t dried oregano
1/2 t salt
several pinches freshly ground black pepper

Preheat a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the oil and garlic, and saute for about a minute, until fragrant. Do not let it burn. Add the remaining ingredients, cover, and raise the heat a bit to bring it to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 mins, stirring occasionally.

Variations:
Roasted Red Pepper:
Add a chopped roasted redpepper along with the tomaotes. Blend the sauce when done cooking if you like.

Mushroom:
Increase the oil to 1 tablespoon and saute 1 cup of thinly sliced mushroom before ading the garlic.

Roasted Garlic:
Decrease the minced garlic to 2 teaspoons. Add a whole bulb of peeled roasted garlic to the sauce halfway through the cooking process. Blend the sauce when done cooking.

Olive:
Add 1/2 cup of chopped black olives to the sauce about hlafway through the cooking process.

Carmelized onion:
Increase the oil to 1 tablespoon. Sweat 1 cup of finely chopped white or yellow onions for about 15 minutes. To sweat, keep the heat low and cover, stirring every few minutes, the onions should not brown. Uncover and cook for 15 more minutes at higher heat until browned and carmelized. Proceed with the recipe.

Bow Tie Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes

I found this super simple dinner by accident. Literally, its very easy and fast. I don't really care for capers, we leave them out, but I've also added steamed broccoli or asparagus to the mix. Adjust the crushed red pepper to your taste. I thought it was little too spicy as its written.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000222291

I hope you all like it as much as we do!

Amy