Pasta with Slow Baked Tomatoes, Olives and Goat Cheese

Sometimes simple things are the best. One of my favorite “go to” meals is an easy one; pasta with raw chopped tomatoes, sliced Kalamata olives and goat cheese topped with a little high quality grated parmesan. For the pasta, I usually choose farfalle. I love the chewy texture with the fresh ingredients.

Sometimes, though I take this meal to the next level. I slow roast the tomatoes. I originally saw a recipe for “Very  Baked  Tomatoes” in The Café Beaujolais cookbook by Margaret Fox and John Bear (who eats there a lot!) I ate at Cafe Beaujolais http://www.cafebeaujolais.com/ years ago when I was in Mendocino for a pottery class. 

I must admit, there's was the recipe I used for years. The only difference now is that I guess at the amounts, the cooking temperature and the time.

The original recipe calls for plum tomatoes. They really are the best because they are more meaty than juicy, but I don’t have them on hand often. More recently I buy grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes or Campari tomatoes.  I make this recipe when I need to use them up or they will go bad.

Tonight was the first time I tried the Campari tomatoes. They may not be the best because they are more watery and seedy than Roma’s but it works just fine with me.

So how do you make them? Well I use my toaster oven. I preheat it to 250. I have looked at a lot of recipes; some bake them at 200 degrees, some 350.  The Café Beaujolais version says 325. I baked mine at 250. Sounded slow to me!

While the oven is preheating, I  slice the tomatoes in half and place them on a baking tray cut side up. I drizzle  a little olive oil over each half,  chop up some garlic and distribute the pieces over each half  and sprinkle with fresh chopped herbs from my garden. I almost always include rosemary and sometimes thyme. Dried herbs may work too but I prefer fresh.  I might also sprinkle a bit of sea salt or pink salt over the tomatoes. Sometimes I don’t so you don’t have to.

That’s about it for the preparation. All you have to do then is bake the tomatoes until they break down, collapse and caramelize.  I think the original recipe says bake at 325 for 2 hours but that is for the Romas, which are larger than the Campari tomatoes. I think I baked them for  about an hour.  The toughest part is waiting, watching and smelling the garlic and herbs as the tomatoes cook. (oh, and I am sorry  I have no pictures. I ate them too quickly)

Once the tomatoes are done you have choices. One night I just ate them as a side dish with a piece of halibut. Tonight, I made my favorite meal. I cooked up some pasta, drained it and put a serving amount (1 cup) in a bowl. While still hot, I threw in small pieces of goat cheese (maybe ½ oz or less for one serving) chopped black Kalamata olives (tonight just black olives because that is what I had) and the yummy tomatoes.

This  would be perfect but tonight I threw it all back in the pan after adding a small bit of sherry and some of the juices from the tomatoes. I heated it until all the cheese melted and the tomatoes broke up further making it a nice cheesy, tomato sauce. A sprinkle of Parmesan finished the dish.

Dinner served. Patron happy and well fed.

Some other ideas I haven’t tried but may;

The tomatoes chopped in an omelet or with scrambled eggs, a little fresh spinach and some feta.

Brushetta with slow baked tomatoes, perhaps?

Panini with slow baked tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.

 You can be creative once you realize how tasty and versatile they are. I hope you will try these. They are a great use for the times when you know you can’t eat another salad and the tomatoes are at risk of going bad.

It would make me happy to know you have tried these and commented on how you liked them. I do hope you enjoy them!

Pre-Rapture Dining- Ricotta stuffed squash

It is Saturday May 21 at 11:00 am.  This may be my last blog post since I expect to be part of “The Rapture” at 6.  I suspect some of you may already be busy with “The Rapture” if you are in a different time zone, so I will make this post brief.

People have asked me what my pre-rapture meal would be. Well I hate to say it but I have been too busy asking forgiveness for my sins to really plan the meal.  I did have some zucchini I bought at the local farm store. Since I walk every morning, I decided to walk to Publix and pick up some things for a nice, down home, pre-rapture meal.  I would make Ricotta Stuffed Squash. That sounded suitable.

The interesting thing about the recipe is how long I have had it.  The title on the index card is hand written by me. The rest of the recipe is….are you ready for this?....I almost hate to say it….

It is typed. Yes, typed, like on a “typewriter”! I apparently wasn’t the best typist in those days as there are several typing errors. No spell checks or cut and paste and I guess I was out of “white out”.

In any case, I love this meal. It is simple to make but it did take several pans/bowls.  I just popped them in the dishwasher and didn’t worry too much about it.  I serve this with Roasted Garlic and Parsley Linguine that I picked up at Marshall’s on discount.  Ragu is my store bought Italian spaghetti sauce of choice (I like the one with mushrooms, gourmet that I am!)

The meal wouldn’t be complete without a nice glass of Red wine, but not too much or I might miss “The Rapture” My choice was a nice Cabernet but a Zinfandel would be good too.

Genesis 19:30-38 - Lot was so drunk he did not know what he was doing; this led to immorality.

I will just have one glass.

Proverbs 23:32 - Alcoholic drinks bite like a serpent, sting like an adder.

Ok maybe I should stick with grape juice.

41) Jeremiah 35:2-14 – The Rechabites drank no grape juice or intoxicating wine and were blessed.

Shoot, no grape juice either? Who are the Rechabites anyway? Does this pertain to me?

Isaiah 19:14 - Drunken men stagger in their vomit.

 I am a woman, so no worries here.

Luke 21:34 - Drunkenness will cause a person not to be ready for the Lord’s return.

Water it is. I will put the wine down until after “The Rapture”

I hope you will have a chance to try this before “The Rapture”. If not, I am sure we can make it in heaven.

Ricotta Stuffed Squash

8  zucchini (6in long) squash ( crookneck or large pattypan work too)

1 tbl butter

1 small onion, chopped fine

1 clove garlic, minced

1 10 oz package spinach, thawed, squeezed dry and chopped (or 10 oz fresh spinach, steamed, chopped and squeezed dry)

2 eggs

1 lb part skim ricotta (2 cups)

¼ cup good quality parmesan

1 tbl chopped fresh parsley

½ tsp each salt, oregano and dry basil( I use chopped fresh basil)

Italian tomato sauce

Trim ends of squash and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and part of the pulp, leaving the shells about ½ inch thick. Steam them until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes (alternatively you could steam them briefly in the microwave). Plunge in cold water to stop the cooking, drain and reserve.

Heat the butter in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is limp. Add the chopped, squeezed spinach to the onion mixture and cook one more minute. Let cool.

In a bowl, combine the eggs with the ricotta, stirring until blended. Stir in the parmesan, parsley, salt, basil, oregano, pepper and spinach mixture. Mix it all together then mound filling inside the zucchini (about 3 tbl per squash).

Arrange filled zucchini in a shallow baking dish.  You could brush a little melted butter on each but I didn’t. I sprinkled a little fresh parmesan on top instead. If made ahead, cover and refrigerate. 

Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes (If previously refrigerated, bake them for 30 minutes) until they are piping hot.

While they are cooking warm the Italian spaghetti sauce and cook the linguine. Serve the shells topped with some sauce. Mix sauce into the Linguine and serve on the side.  A nice piece of garlic bread would be good too.  You can have a nice glass of wine at risk of missing “The Rapture”.

8  servings.

Tree trimming 2010

Tree trimming 2010

Since I was away the first week in December and had the flu upon my return, I didn’t plan a tree trimming party this year. So, it was a quiet year as parties go. 

It occurred to me that I am clueless as to how to decorate my tree, much less put an artificial tree together. Since I have a party every year, other people have handled the details. My job has always been the food and drink.

I still trimmed my tree this year and I still had guests, but only those close to me, my mother, my sister and Steve. I had invited a couple other close friends but both were under the weather.  I was very happy Steve came over because my mother’s interest was watching the football game. My sister thought that was a grand idea too.

Steve and I trimmed the tree, he being in charge of the lights and both of us sharing ornament placement. I must admit I was impressed with Steve’s prowess at putting on the lights, especially since we were a bit short on lights. We also did a darn good job at trimming the tree all by ourselves. Designers watch out!

I normally make “from scratch” food for my parties. This time, with little advance notice,  I took some shortcuts and made some “from scratch” food too.  I made chocolate cookies from a mix, and the same was true for the lemon bars.

I am here to say, it’s just not the same. For most people the sweets would be acceptable but for a foodie that loves to cook from scratch, the mixes really fall short. The cookies were good but not great. The lemon bars didn’t even taste like lemon, they were just sweet.  I had to squeeze fresh lemon juice over them to get even a little discernable taste of lemon.

I also made rosemary walnuts. Those were from scratch and although they are very salty, I really love them.  Normally I use rosemary from my garden.  This year, no fresh rosemary so I used the dried version.  Fresh is much better.

Rosemary Walnuts

2 cups shelled whole walnuts

2 ½ tablespoons butter, melted

2 tsp crumbled dried rosemary (use more if using fresh)

1 ½ tsp salt ( I use less)

½ tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place walnuts in a single layer in a shallow pan. Mix together the remaining ingredients and pour over walnuts. Roast in the oven for about 10 minutes, until browned, shaking occasionally. Yield 6 servings

From The Pink Adobe cookbook by Rosalea Murphy

One thing I did enjoy without disappointment was the dinner I made, Santa Fe Pasta Sauce. You will find it in a previous blog called Southwestern Pasta sauce. It came from a Cooking Light recipe. Several years ago it was among the top rated Cooking Light recipes. It is healthy, filling and tasty.

I normally make changes to the recipes I use. The changes I made to this one are minor. Because I was serving it buffet style, I chose not to use fettuccini. I wanted a pasta easier to handle.  I used a mixed grain, higher fiber curly macaroni.

I was unable to find fresh jalapenos after visiting several stores and sliced pickled peppers just doesn’t work for a former Texan.  I guess this isn’t Texas, but Brazilians have their own hot peppers. I chose some red Brazilian peppers without knowing if they were sweet or hot.  Just so you don’t have the same surprise, they are HOT! They are really good though. I think I like them better than jalapenos (but don’t tell my Texas friends)!

I did not make the chicken as I wanted this to be a vegetarian meal.  The sauce is better after it sits for a day, so don’t be afraid to make it ahead of time. I hope you try this and enjoy it. For the runners out there, it would be a good healthy carb meal.