Tomato, Walnut and Basil Sauce on Raw Zucchini Pasta

The garden is booming! My parent's garden that is. My little planters on my patio have yielded 0 fruit, and it will stay that way unfortunately. There was a lonely little pepper growing a few days ago, but it looks like the neighbourhood animals beat me to it. Oh well, it was worth a try. At least I have access to my parent's and grandparent's garden this time of year. Every weekend I have been coming home with lettuce, kale, swiss chard, and radishes. Yesterday, I came home with the first of the tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, green pepper and chili pepper.

I wanted to make a dish that was light, raw, and would really highlight the freshness of the veggies. I have made raw zucchini pasta in the past, but wasn't a huge fan. Since I don't have a mandoline, the zucchini was irregular shaped and not as thin as it should have been. I also didn't have the right kind of sauce for it. With the though of gazpacho in mind I remembered this recipe, which is where I originally saw 'raw pasta'.  I made a few changes and it turned out wonderful. Extremely flavourful and perfect for these hot summer days we have been having.

Tomato, Walnut and Basil Sauce on Raw Zucchini Pasta adapted from Mis Pensamientos

1/2 cup walnuts
1 handful of basil
1/2 tsp parsley
1/4 large onion
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups chopped tomatoes
2 zucchini

1. Add walnuts to food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
2. Add basil, parsley, onion, lemon, olive oil and garlic. Process until a pesto forms, scraping down the sides as neccesary.
3. Add tomatoes and pulse until combined (I only pulsed 3 times). Drain any excess liquid.
4. Use a mandoline to thinly peel the zucchini, or use a peeler to make the 'zucchini pasta'. Top with the pesto sauce.

After taking a look at this photo I realized the sauce doesn't look too appetizing, but I can assure you it tastes wonderful. I almost added some chili peppers but I am glad I didn't because it already has quite the bite from the basil and garlic. I also would have topped this with some goat cheese if I had some on hand. that bowl is 1 small zucchini and about 1/3 of the sauce. I think the leftover sauce would be wonderful in a cold pasta or quinoa salad.

**Update: Zucchini pasta is not for everyone. I really don't find raw zucchini all that appetizing, I much prefer it cooked. Maybe I would like it better if I had a spiralizer? As I was eating this for lunch I really wished I had real pasta, or cooked zucchini at least. Maybe some cheese would have made it better. Anyway, definitely give zucchini pasta a try at least once, but if it isn't your thing, I don't blame you, but don't forget about the tomato, walnut and basil sauce...it goes nicely with lots of other things.

I hope everyone had a great long weekend. Mine was low key and fairly relaxing. I spent some time with my family and made more preparations for moving into my parent's house, and for my trip to Italy. It is becoming more of a reality that I will be moving out of my current house and leaving my awesome housemates :(

I will leave you with a picture I took today of Tew's Falls in Hamilton.

Cheese Tortellini Frittata

I have found another way to use some of the Basil Vinaigrette that I had made for the Wheatberry Salad. Wanting to use some cheese tortellini I had in the fridge, but also wanting to have eggs for dinner lead me to Google search pasta and egg dishes. Beyond carbonara, I really didn't know what ideas would be out there. I started to come across a lot of casserole or frittata type ideas. A frittata with cheese tortellini felt like the perfect idea. Adding some Basil Vinaigrette to the mix didn't seem like a bad idea either.

Cheese Tortellini Frittata
Serves 2

1 cup cheese tortellini
2 eggs
2 egg whites
2 tbsp milk
1/2 cup chopped spinach
2 tbsp Basil Vinaigrette
crumbled feta cheese

1. Cook tortellini according to package directions. Do not overcook.
2. Beat together eggs, egg whites, milk, chopped spinach, and basil vinaigrette.
3. Mix egg mixture with tortellini and pour into a greased oven-safe shallow dish (the thinner the frittata the easier it is to cook). Sprinkle with crumbed feta cheese.
4. Bake covered with foil at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes. Remove foil and allow the top to set (another 10 minutes or so).

For anyone who doubts tortellini with eggs, I recommend you make this because it will settle all your doubts. So easy to make, and would make a great addition to any breakfast/brunch or even dinner menu.

Earlier in the week there was a bake sale at a charity hockey game through school. My housemates and I each baked a lot of goodies, which resulted in a near 3 foot stack of cookie filled containers. I gave up sweets for Lent, so baking 4 batches of cookies last Sunday was no easy task. It took me about 5.5 hours in total, and using my Mom's kitchen (bigger than my own), kitchen aid mixer (much faster than my own hands), and cookie sheets (more numerous and much more clean than mine) helped tremendously.

Here are some pictures of the fruits of my labour:

Butterscotch Peanut Butter Corn Flake Clusters

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cranberry Peanut White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I also made lemon icebox cookies but I forgot to take a picture of them. They were ugly anyway.

All the recipes are from Cookie Jar Classics by Company's Coming.

There was an overload of baked goods for sale made by many of the Grad students. Everyone made such delicious looking treats!

 

There were a lot of leftovers and a few are kicking around the house here. I have a container of cookies in the freezer waiting for me when Lent is over.

Wheatberry Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

I hate to post another salad recipe with it still being in the negatives outside and it not feeling like spring or summer at all, but I am really excited to share this one. It is the dressing which is the exciting part, really. I went to a Birthday party on the weekend and was bringing along a side dish. I decided to make a wheatberry salad and wanted to have a dressing that resembled pesto, or had a lot of basil in it. After a failed attempt of making my own pesto based dressing, I found a recipe on Farm Fresh Living, a website I hadn't come across until recently. With the success of this salad dressing recipe, I may just have to try out more of their recipes.

Wheatberry Salad with Basil Vinaigrette
serves 8-10 as a side

4 cups cooked wheatberries
1 cup thawed edamame
1 can no salt added corn
2 cups fresh chopped spinach
feta cheese, crumbled (I used about half of purchased container - use as much or as little as you'd like)

Dressing (makes double what you need): slightly adapted from Farm Fresh Living
1/2 large shallot finely chopped
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
juice from 1 fresh lemon
1/2 large tomato, diced
6 tsp dried basil
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1. Combine all the salad ingredients into a large bowl.
2. Combine all dressing ingredients except olive oil into a food processor (or magic bullet like I did) and blend.
3. Add olive oil as a stream while processing (or add in 2 batches in the magic bullet).
4. Mix half of the dressing just before serving, add crumbled feta, and mix in.

I loved the salad and I THINK it may have won over even the toughest critics at the party. The guests at the party ranged from 'foodie' to 'open-minded' to 'an animal must die at every meal' to 'what is a vegetable?'. So while it was pretty brave for me bringing a wheatberry salad to this party, I am glad I did.

I REALLY liked this dressing. I sort of doubled the recipe that I had found, so I had a lot of extra dressing in the end. I am sure glad I did though because I used it in an amazing salad that I made for lunch today. The salad was spinach based, with some toppings: 1/2 cup wheatberries, 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds, 1 green onion chopped, crumbled feta. The dressing was wonderful on this salad. I am usually a 'make a bit of dressing as you need it directly onto the salad' kinda girl, but this recipe has converted me. I can now see myself making up some of this dressing to use throughout the week in the near future.

Heather's Quinoa and Wheatberries

I have a bit of spring fever. Yes, I know, I know, it's only March 3nd, and it's below zero. Regardless, I am itching for spring, and Heather's Quinoa by Heidi Swanson has contributed a bit to my spring like temperament. It all started last year in April when was on a 101cookbooks.com kick. I made Heidi's recipes all the time. It was exam time, I had just cleaned the entire house, it was a beautiful day, and I picked up some fresh pesto from a natural food store in uptown Waterloo, a store that I dearly miss. I bought the pesto to specifically use in this recipe. It was my first experience with fresh pesto, and boy was it memorable. I thought I didn't like pesto; turns out I was wrong.

To this day the thought of this dish, and particularly the combination of corn and basil brings me to that pleasant spring day when I was very, very happy in that simple moment. I had made some modifications to the recipe a year ago, and I have done it again today. The reason this time being that I have been dying to try wheatberries. I had purchased them over the Holidays and have been waiting for the perfect recipe to use them in. So in this case, instead of 3 cups of Quinoa, I used 1 cup cooked wheatberries, and 1.5 cups cooked quinoa.

You can find the recipe here and I highly recommend that you make this recipe soon. It is easy to make, quick, full of flavour and is easily modified. One note I do have however is that the quality of pesto makes all the difference. Last year, I used a fresh vegan pesto that was purchased in the refrigerated section and was in a container, not a jar (therefore not heated). I couldn't find fresh pesto at my local grocery store, and since it is the winter I do not have an excess of fresh basil to make it myself. I was not overly impressed with the jar I ended up buying. It looked good on the label (fresh basil was 1st ingredient, and didn't have anything I would not have added myself) but it just didn't suit my tastes. This pesto had Parmesan cheese in it and maybe that is what made the difference. Morale of the story: make your own fresh pesto or use a brand that you love the flavour of becuase it will make all the difference. And if you can avoid jarred pesto, then avoid it.

In other news, I have joined the twitter world. You can follow me at @ddidonat

Anyone else suffering from or experiencing premature spring fever?

Fresh House, Fresh Tomato Sauce

I am now blogging from my new kitchen in my new house! It is a wonderful kitchen with more gadgets and small appliances than any other student house, I am sure. We are now fully settled in, and I am enjoying my last few days of summer before school starts. Along with everything I own, I made sure to bring some veggies from my parent's garden when I moved in. I brought tomatoes, leeks, eggplant, chili peppers, and managed to dry some basil in time for the move.

I had 5 very ripe plum tomatoes on hand and knew I could not forgive myself if I didn't make some tomato sauce at the end of my personal tomato season (no longer right out my back door). I usually rush sauces when making them for myself and do not take the time to do it properly. I figured I would do it differently this time since I currently feel like I have all the time in the world. The sauce turned out pretty good and has been used in two different recipes which I will be posting in due time.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

5 Plum tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
1 small leek, chopped
1 cm of chili pepper, chopped finely
oregano (sprinkle to taste)
basil (sprinkle to taste)
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste

To remove skin and seeds from tomato:
Bring a pot of water to a boil, leaving enough room for tomatoes. Make very shallow slices all around the tomato to make a cross shape.

Add tomatoes to boiling water. Boil until skin starts to peel back, a minute or two. The riper the tomatoes are, the quicker this will happen. Remove from water and allow to cool. Peel off the skin and cut off the tough stem areas. Cut into quarters. Remove seeds and put into a fine strainer over a bowl. Cut remaining tomato flesh into bite sized pieces. Once all the tomatoes have been seeded, move the fleshy seeds around in the strainer to remove all the juices. Add these juices to the diced tomatoes.

To make the sauce:
In a medium pot, add olive oil, chili pepper, and garlic. Heat on medium-high for a few minutes until fragrant. Add leeks and saute for 3 to 5 minutes, until soft.

Add tomatoes, tomato juice, and tomato paste. Heat until simmering for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and use a hand blender to blend the tomato pieces. This can be done as much or as little as you wish. I do not normally do this but wanted a traditional sauce this time. Put blended sauce back on heat and add oregano, basil, bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer until sauce has reduced to desired consistency, about 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf.

This sauce was very fresh and delicious. It really would not have been the same without the fresh overripe tomatoes. I will miss those guys. I used this sauce to make a baked pasta as well as a baked bean dish. Good comfort food let me tell you.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the new place and some meals I've created in it.

blogging station #1

blogging station #2

Leeks, Zucchini and Tomato with Black Pearl Medley Rice

Roasted Eggplant and Red Pepper


Dilled Carrots and Beans with Cottage Cheese on Lavash

Sweet Summer Slaw

This year we are growing red cabbage in our garden, as requested by myself. I love to use red cabbage in salads, soups, stir-fry, you name it. It is always so inexpensive and yields so much cabbage! The only problem is, I can't finish it on my own before it starts to go bad. So now we have four mature cabbage plants in the backyard...time to be creative I guess.

Thankfully they did not all grow at the same rate, and there is a large window for harvesting. Last week I picked the first (and biggest) head of red cabbage. It was a beautiful bright purple once I peeled away the dark and dingy outer leaves. I decided to make a big cabbage salad. I feel like vegetables grown in your own yard deserve to be eaten raw at first to really enjoy their natural flavour, so that is what I did. This salad is colourful, sweet, and truly is the taste of summer.

Sweet Summer Slaw

4.5 cups of chopped red cabbage

purple overload!

0.5 cups of sliced onion

3 medium carrots, chopped julienne
3 corn on the cobs, yielding about 1 cup of kernels
handful of basil leaves, chopped finely
olive oil
cider vinegar
salt and pepper
garlic powder

Chop everything "julienne" style as best you can. Thinly sliced pieces allows you to get multiple veggies in one bite which means more uniform flavour. I tossed all the veggies together with the basil and added olive oil and cider vinegar in about a 1:2 ratio. Then added garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste. The salad is excellent on it's own just like this (and oh so colourful). The basil and corn are wonderful together and sweeten up the crunchy cabbage. I am in love with the corn and basil combination.

Now we have tonnes of tomatoes right now, and the only reason why there are not tomatoes in this salad is because my mom doesn't like them. However, once in my own bowl, I made some personal modifications to this salad that made it even better.

I added about 1 medium tomato, 1/2 can tuna, and a couple tablespoons of cottage cheese. These additions made the salad a complete meal and was incredibly satisfying.

Like I said earlier, we have a TON of tomatoes. I'm averaging about 4 to 6 tomatoes a day I think, so I'm sure getting my dose of antioxidant carotenoids. "Where are all the tomato recipes?" you ask? They are on their way. I have been eating a lot of raw tomatoes, but my lunch today, utilizing oven roasted tomatoes, was so out of this world, that it has pushed it's way to the front of my posting list and you should be reading all about it very soon.