Category Archives: tomato

Pasta With Marinated Tomatoes

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Live near a greenmarket or a good supermarket? Go there right now. Seriously, what are you doing on the Internet? The market is not going to have such a great selection of so many vegetables until this time next year. More importantly, soon tomatoes will be tasteless until next July. Go. Now.
You’re back? Bought more vegetables than you possibly know what to do with? Great. Now you should make this.
Don’t tell me you’re too busy. Remember all those other times I claimed recipes took no time at all? This one really takes no time. You don’t even have to know how to cook. Can you chop stuff and throw it in a bowl? You’re all set! Seriously, that’s it.
This is really the perfect recipe for a busy day, because the oil tastes better the longer you let it sit. Toss your ingredients together, go run your errands, see a movie, do whatever–let this baby sit on your counter for hours and hours. And no, germaphobes, it will not grow anything, or go bad. It will go GOOOOD. Just make sure you’re using fresh tomatoes, and using them as soon as you buy them. The marinating enhances the flavor of good tomatoes, so if you use tasteless, mealy ones, you will have an extra tasteless and mealy meal. Now you see why I hurried you out of the house to go buy tomatoes!

Pasta With Marinated Tomatoes
1/3 cup olive oil
4 to 5 medium/large tomatoes, preferably heirloom
3 garlic gloves, sliced as thinly as possible
1/4 cup finely sliced fresh basil, or 1 teaspoon dried basil*
pinch red pepper flakes
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 large ball or 1 small ball fresh mozzarella, diced
3/4 pound pasta, preferably fresh

Pour olive oil into a large, nonreactive bowl and add garlic and basil, stirring to combine. If you like a bit of a spicy kick, add your red pepper flakes now. Let sit on your counter (feel free to cover it) as many hours as you like and up to all day, but at least one hour.

Two hours before serving, dice tomatoes and add to the bowl of oil, stirring to ensure all tomatoes get coated. It will not look like there is enough oil in the bowl, but as tomatoes marinate they’ll release more liquid. Let sit on the counter, stirring every half hour or so. After two hours, cook your pasta and dice the mozzarella. Drain pasta, return to pot, and pour in the tomato mixture, stirring well to combine. Divide into bowls, top with mozzarella, and serve.

*Please, please try to use fresh basil if you can. Dried basil is fine if, for example, you accidentally put your fresh basil in the weird part of your fridge that freezes things.

Summer Corn and Tomato Saladslaw

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Summer has always been my favorite season. Lazy weekends at the beach, barbecue a few times a week, dresses, sandals, my birthday. These things, of course, are eternal. When I was a kid, my favorite part was eight weeks of camp, of taking “shortcuts” that took actually longer, of skipping stones at the lake, of giggling as we dialed 1-800 numbers on pay phones, of endless items made in ceramics. Now that I’m an adult, I’d still love to do those things (well, maybe not the phone part), but I also get pleasure out of things that my ice-cream-sandwich-toting kid self would have found appalling: summer vegetables.
Kid self, you were missing out. Cherry tomatoes and corn in August are arguably sweeter than any ice cream treat, and they come with the added bonus of vitamins and fiber and all the things you need to worry about once you’re old. Luckily, they barely need anything done to them. This works brilliantly with the fact that it’s too hot to really want to cook anything.
This is spicy-sweet summer in a bowl. It takes almost no time to put together and goes with basically anything, hence the name “saladslaw.” If you do not live in a teeny apartment without even a terrace/fire escape to illegally grill on, I strongly recommend grilling the corn–this dish is already good with frozen corn, but will likely be practically candy sweet if you grill the corn.

Summer Corn and Tomato Saladslaw (serves 4)
2 cups corn kernels, grilled from fresh or defrosted from frozen
1 generous cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoons sriracha or other hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried basil or a few leaves fresh basil, slivered
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Pour enough olive oil into a large saute pan to easily coat the bottom and heat over medium-high heat. When hot, add garlic and cook 30 seconds, stirring, then add red pepper flakes and cook another 30 seconds. Add corn, sriracha, dried basil, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Let cook 2 minutes to caramelize the corn a bit, then add tomatoes and cook one more minute. Pour into serving bowl and add fresh basil if using, stirring to combine. Follow up with an ice cream sandwich, because you’re never too old for those.

Chunky Tomato Sauce

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There are a few recipes that everyone should just know how to make without an actual recipe. Some sort of chicken dish, macaroni and cheese, and your favorite cookies are some of the things that come to mind. And, of course, tomato sauce. I feel like a lot of people get scared away from making sauce because it seems so complicated, and the jarred stuff is so easy.
But simple, fresh tomato sauce is arguably one of the easiest things you can make (and trick people into thinking was hard). If you know how to chop things (even roughly), turn on a stove, and stir, then you can make sauce.

Bonus: it takes less than an hour to make from start to finish. This, plus the sweet, clean flavor that comes from fresh tomatoes means that you’ll have trouble touching the jarred stuff ever again. This is also a great dish to make if you are trying to be a real, sophisticated-seeming adult who does things like avoid over-processed foods.
I like to stir my slightly al dente pasta into the sauce, as I think it flavors the pasta better, but feel free to just ladle the finished sauce on top of pasta (or bread, or your face). Try to time the pasta and the sauce. If you’re using fresh pasta (and I think that you should), put the pasta in when you add the cheese to the sauce. If you’re using dried pasta and the timing is a bit harder, you can add a little unfinished sauce to your pasta to coat it until the sauce is finished.

Chunky Tomato Sauce (serves 3-4, depending on how much sauce you like)
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced medium-small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon or so tomato paste (I just eyeball this, so you may need more or less)
6 large tomatoes, diced into bite-sized pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
large pinch or two red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons grated parmesean cheese (optional)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil or a handful of fresh basil leaves, cut into slivers
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or a teaspoon of fresh oregano leaves, chopped
olive oil

Heat enough olive oil over medium heat to comfortably coat the bottom of a large pan with a lid. When oil is hot, add diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have softened, about 7 to 8 minutes. This is usually the perfect amount of time for me to chop my tomatoes, but will vary for you depending on how fast you can slice. When the smallest pieces of onions are just starting to turn oh-so-slightly brown, add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add tomato paste and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, until paste is well distributed. Add tomatoes, salt, and pepper and stir well to combine.

Place lid on pan and cook, stirring every 5 minutes or so, for about 15 minutes, turning heat down to medium-low once sauce starts to bubble. At this point, the tomatoes should have broken down considerably and your sauce should be quite liquid-y. Arrange lid so that there is a slight opening for steam to escape, but so pan is mostly covered, and cook for another 10 minutes. Sauce should be a bit thicker. Remove lid completely and cook, stirring often, until sauce has thickened considerably but is still has enough thinness to coat pasta. The time this takes will depend on the water content of your tomatoes–sometimes it will take 10 more minutes, other times closer to 20 (you my need to turn the heat up a bit). When it looks just about done, stir in cheese (if using) and herbs until well combined. Kiss your jarred sauce goodbye.

Saute

Just-Burst-Tomato and Spinach Chicken

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Want your kitchen to smell awesome?

Want something that also is super healthy and delicious?

That’s what I thought.

Bonus: it takes less than half an hour to make. Take that, Rachael Ray.

Now if you’re anything like me, you think no meal is complete without carbs. Luckily, this dish also goes well with every kind of carb. Bread, rice pilaf, leftover pasta…or pesto mashed potatoes. Whichever.

I’ll admit I cheated on the potatoes: I took Trader Joe’s frozen mashed potato nuggets (actual mashed potatoes, not like that powdered stuff), threw in some milk and butter, and when all that melted together I stirred in a tablespoon of pesto. You now have a new, easy side that you’re obsessed with. You’re welcome/I’m sorry.

Just-Burst-Tomato and Spinach Chicken (serves three)
three thin-sliced chicken cutlets
1/4 cup flour
one container cherry tomatoes, rinsed
2/3 bag of baby spinach, rinsed
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
olive oil

For the chicken:
Put flour on a plate. Dredge each cutlet in the flour (its natural moisture should help it stick) and season with salt and pepper.

Heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and pour in just enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. When hot, add chicken and cook until golden on both sides–it should only take a few minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm.

For the veggies:
Wipe out skillet and then add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, red pepper, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring occasionally, just until first tomato bursts. Immediately add spinach and cook just until spinach is almost all wilted. Taste for seasoning. Serve over chicken with your favorite carb on the side.