tomatoes Archives - Page 2 of 4 -

September 10, 2015

Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta Soup

Summer may be slipping away, but luckily sweet tomatoes are still around in great abundance at the farmer’s market. I was a little teary when I went to pick up our CSA share at the market this week without the kids. Every week this past summer they looked forward to market days– they loved seeing what various fruits were available and often I would let them pick out a pastry from one of the bakery stands. Now that they’re back at school, it seemed strangely quiet without them and I missed their help with hauling back our CSA share to the car. Last week’s share included over fifteen pounds of gorgeous tomatoes. We made plenty of salsas and salads, but even then we still ended up with so many tomatoes leftover needing to be used. The remaining went into a double batch of this creamy tomato basil soup which was enough for our dinner plus more to freeze. There’s just enough cream in this soup to add a bit of richness without it becoming overly heavy. Adding pasta makes it a bit more substantial and qualifies it as a main dish while the mozzarella and parmesan turn melty and irresistible on top of the hot soup. It’s the perfect way to use up all of those end-of-summer tomatoes.

June 10, 2015

Roasted Tomatoes and Greens with Shallot Vinaigrette

June in Michigan is such a wonderful time of the year for cooking. There’s an abundance of fresh produce everywhere and the weather is still fairly moderate so I don’t mind being at the stove or turning on the oven. The cooler mornings and evenings keep me in the mood for baking and the warm sunny afternoons inspire a myriad of colorful salads. These days are perfect for roasting all of those early summer fruits and vegetables. Lately we’ve been enjoying our fair share of roasted cherry tomatoes in our pastas and salads. Like any roasted fruit, cherry tomatoes become intensely sweet and even more beautiful after being roasted. It may take a little bit of time to roast the tomatoes, but the extra effort is worth it in the end. This salad is a glorious combination of textures and flavors- soft and juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, crunchy pepitas, creamy crumbly feta, and chewy spelt grains. Adding whole grains to salads is a wonderful solution for making salads more substantial and filling. I’ve used spelt here, but any whole grain such as farro, quinoa, or barley will do. I brought this to a teacher’s appreciation luncheon at my daughter’s school a few weeks ago and it quickly disappeared!

Roasted Tomatoes and Greens with Shallot Vinaigrette

Serves: 6 side portions

Ingredients

Salad

1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 cup spelt, soaked 4-6 hours, drained and rinsed
1 bunch kale, stems removed, leaves shredded
1 English cucumber, diced
⅓ cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
¾ cup crumbled feta, plus extra for sprinkling on top

Dressing

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic white vinegar
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 shallots, minced
½ teaspoon kosher salt
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise and toss with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread tomatoes evenly on prepared baking sheet and roast for 25-28 minutes, until tomatoes are softened and slightly shriveled.
In a small saucepan, combine the spelt and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil then simmer spelt until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.
In the bowl of a food processor, blend dressing ingredients until well combined and smooth.
Toss kale, cucumbers, pepitas, and spelt with half the dressing. Gently toss in feta, tomatoes, and additional dressing to taste. If needed, season with additional salt and pepper. Garnish with additional feta and pepitas.

December 1, 2014

Six Layer Mediterranean Dip

We all need simple appetizer food around this time of year, right? My small group from church is having a Christmas party next week and I’m planning on bringing this Six Layer Mediterranean Dip. Colorful, healthy, and tasty! I occasionally make hummus “pizza” for lunch- basically pita bread with a layer of hummus topped with cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamata olives, red onion, and feta. I used this same combination of ingredients to create this six layer dip and served it with whole wheat pita wedges on the side. I love that this can be assembled ahead of time and it’s a fairly portable appetizer to bring along to gatherings. Although it’s best eaten on the same day it’s assembled (the cucumbers and tomatoes release a fair amount of water), the leftovers still made great packable lunch food for Ryan and the kids. So glad to have a new way to enjoy some of my favorite Mediterranean flavors.

Six Layer Mediterranean Dip

Ingredients

Hummus

⅔ cup dried garbanzo beans (chick-peas), soaked at least 6 hours
juice of ½ lemon, plus extra lemon juice to taste
¼ cup tahini
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon- 1 teaspoon sea salt

For assembly:

½ cup diced English cucumber
1 roma tomato, diced
10 pitted kalamata olives, sliced
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
¼ cup crumbled feta
whole wheat pita wedges for serving

Instructions

For the hummus:

Drain the garbanzo beans and place in a saucepan with enough water to cover the garbanzo beans by 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower heat and simmer until tender, about 1 hour. Remove from heat and drain, reserving the cooking liquid for later use.
In a blender or food processor, add the garbanzo beans, lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, garlic, cumin, salt, and ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon cooking liquid. Blend or process on high speed until hummus is smooth and creamy. Season to taste with additional salt and lemon juice.

To assemble:

Spread the hummus in the bottom of a shallow bowl. Next layer the cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, onion, and feta. Serve with pita wedges.

Notes

hummus slightly adapted from Williams-Sonoma Vegetarian