It was a bit of a meat-heavy weekend - steak, roast pots, Yorkshire Puds etc, which was extremely yum, but I felt we should pull back a bit this week and cook some lighter stuff.
I'm also desperately trying to pretend it is summer. We had a lovely May, and now it is like the monsoon has set in, so I had to cheer myself up in other ways. One of my go-to recipes in the summer is fresh tomato pasta. Normally I'd wait until we were really into tomato season, but I had some small, ripe yellow and red plum tomatoes that needed using, so decided to create pseudo-summer in the kitchen.
Skin your tomatoes (however many you fancy), de-seed, chop into small pieces and put in a sieve with salt to drain over a bowl for about half an hour.
Make the dressing - 2 fl oz of decent olive oil, 1 tbs red wine vinegar, crushed clove of garlic, half a red chilli, minced (I didn't have fresh, so used chilli flakes), juice and zest of 1/2 lemon, ground pepper - mix it all together, and once the tomatoes are ready, plop them in the dressing and let in all sit for about 20 minutes to infuse.(These are quantities for two, but you could up them if you want more dressing, or heat or zing, or whatever.)
Cook your spaghetti, drain and return to pan - add your tomato-dressing and mix, then serve up with fresh basil and some peels of parmesan for a bit of a flourish.
Can I just say I was in my favourite Italian deli in Victoria a couple of weeks back, run by two brilliant brothers, who took over from their parents, who ran it forever. It's always a joy to go in there and I could spend a fortune if I wasn't careful. I asked for some Reggiano, as I was almost out. I wanted about $15-$20 worth, as I don't get there very often, and when he cut it, it came to $23 and I thought what the hell. If I was living in the West Wing, this would be 'Big Block Of Cheese' Day, because really, this is a big block of cheese, and worth every damn cent/penny/whatever...
I hope everyone is still doing well as we poke our heads out of our burrows.
I'm also desperately trying to pretend it is summer. We had a lovely May, and now it is like the monsoon has set in, so I had to cheer myself up in other ways. One of my go-to recipes in the summer is fresh tomato pasta. Normally I'd wait until we were really into tomato season, but I had some small, ripe yellow and red plum tomatoes that needed using, so decided to create pseudo-summer in the kitchen.
Skin your tomatoes (however many you fancy), de-seed, chop into small pieces and put in a sieve with salt to drain over a bowl for about half an hour.
Make the dressing - 2 fl oz of decent olive oil, 1 tbs red wine vinegar, crushed clove of garlic, half a red chilli, minced (I didn't have fresh, so used chilli flakes), juice and zest of 1/2 lemon, ground pepper - mix it all together, and once the tomatoes are ready, plop them in the dressing and let in all sit for about 20 minutes to infuse.(These are quantities for two, but you could up them if you want more dressing, or heat or zing, or whatever.)
I hope everyone is still doing well as we poke our heads out of our burrows.
Parmesan glory is wonderful. And I'm glad I've got tomato pasta on my list already - I might well make it your version, when its time comes round.
ReplyDeleteWe're having the same weather, which is weird. I miss ridiculous sunny May.
I hope you enjoy if you do make it. :) And yes, how can you not love a big block of parmesan :)
DeleteAlso in Italy after lovely April and May it has been raining and hailing for a week. I’m so sad: I’ll try with your summer tomatoes sauce. I don’t usually use lemon in dressing.
ReplyDeleteThe weather is being very weird all over, isn't it. I hope you enjoy the dressing if you try it, Francesca!
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