Fresh Tomato Pasta

Fresh Tomato Pasta

2 lbs Tomatoes, finely diced
4 oz Yellow Onion, minced
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 oz Basil, cut chiffonade*
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Sugar
8oz Angel Hair Pasta
Mozzarella, shredded for topping

Mix everything but pasta and mozzarella into a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate at room temperature for 4 hours. Boil pasta according to package instructions. When draining, rinse with cool water to lower the temperature for serving. Stir a little pit of Olive Oil into the pasta to prevent it from sticking together.

Portion out pasta into a bowl, sop with tomato mixture, then mozzarella.
Serves 4-6


*the chiffonade cut is great for Basil and any other leaf-herbs with medium to large size leaves. Simply stack leaves in a small pile, roll it up like a cigar, and slice it in 1/8 inch sections. You'll get lovely ribbons of Basil that easily mix into the other ingredients, and when in contact with vinegar or oil, this cut helps reduce discoloration from the leaves oxidizing. 

Lentil Tacos

Lentil Tacos

1 T olive oil

1 ½ c minced onions

2 cloves garlic

1 c minced red bell pepper

1 c dried lentils

1 c stock

1 ½ c chopped tomatoes (canned ok)

1 c tomato juice

1 T soy sauce

¼ t red pepper flakes

2 T chili powder

1 T molasses

½ t ground cumin

1 bay leaf

Serve on taco shells or corn tortillas with shredded cheddar cheese, lettuce

In large non-stick frying pan over low heat, cook onions, peppers, and garlic in oil until onions are wilted ( about 10 min).  Add 1 c tomatoes, lentils, tomato juice, stock, parsley, chili powder, molasses, soy sauce, cumin, red pepper flakes, and bay leaf.  Cook covered over low heat for 1 hour, stirring frequently.  Uncover and continue to cook stirring frequently until mix is thick.  Discard bay leaf.  Fill taco shells with lentil mixture and top with lettuce and cheese

Vegetable Lasagna

Time consuming, but absolutely worth it. Even meat eaters will find this delicious.

Vegetable Lasagna

Make in a 9x13in casserole dish

1/4 cup   Olive Oil

6 oz         Onions, small dice (half of a large yellow onion will give you this amount)

6 cloves of Garlic, chopped

1              Red Bell Pepper, small dice

8 oz         Mushrooms, sliced

1 small    Zucchini, medium dice

1 small    Yellow squash, medium dice

8oz          Tomatoes, diced (roma tomatoes do well)

1/2 tsp    Salt

1/2 tsp    Black Pepper

                Cheese mixture:

1 lb          Ricotta

2              Eggs

8oz          Parmesan, grated

3.8oz can Black Olives, sliced

1/2 tsp    Red Pepper flakes

1/2 tsp    Salt

1/2 tsp    Black Pepper

12 oz       Mozzarella, shredded

1 box       Fresh Basil Leaves, chopped fine (small plastic box from the produce section)

1 TBSP Parsley

32oz    Tomato Sauce for Pasta (Classico brand is fine)

12 No-Boil Lasagna noodles. 3 sheets should be able to cover the casserole dish. DeLallo brand is a good one

Whisk together all cheese mixture ingredients in a bowl and set aside to await assembly of the lasagna.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wide pot at medium-high heat.

Sauté The onions and garlic for 2 minutes. Add bell peppers, and sauté 2 minutes.

Add mushrooms and sauté until their juices have evaporated. Add zucchini and yellow squash and sauté 2 minutes or until they are tender. Add diced tomato and stir only until the tomatoes are hot. Add salt and pepper and remove from heat.

To assemble the lasagna:

Coat the bottom of the dish with a thin layer of sauce- just enough to keep the pasta moist.

Build a layer:

                Place 3 sheets of pasta in the dish, forming the first pasta layer.

                Spread 1/3 of the Cheese Mixture over the pasta.

                Spread 1/3 of the Vegetable Mixture over the Cheese Mixture

                Spread 1/4 of the Mozzarella over the Vegetable Mixture and sprinkle with basil                    and parsley

                Top the layer with 1/4 of the remaining tomato sauce

Make 3 layers in total, then cover with the last 3 noodles, the last 1/4 of the mozzarella and 1/4 of the tomato sauce.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake 90 minutes at 350F.

Remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes to brown the top.

Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes before slicing.

Tortilla Española

Makes 4 servings

A very traditional dish from Spain. It is so tasty, my dislike of eggs doesn’t really apply.

Don’t worry about all the oil, a lot of it will be drained after cooking. You can filter it with a paper towel and save for future use. (the filtered oil works fine for onion paste from the Tikka Masala recipe)

12oz Russet Potatoes, skinned, sliced extremely thin (1/8in or thinner)

8oz Onion, minced

4 Large Eggs

1 tsp Black Pepper

1 tsp Salt

1/8 tsp Cumin

1 cup Olive Oil

This is most easily done with 2 nonstick skillets: a medium-large one for frying the onions and potatoes, and a small one ( 8in) for cooking the actual tortilla.

Beat Eggs, Pepper, Salt, & Cumin in a large mixing bowl (a 2 quart bowl will work fine)

Set stove heat on medium.

Pour a little Oil in the large skillet, evenly arrange Onion, and sliced Potato.

Pour additional Oil in the pan until most of the Potato layer is submerged.

Fry for about 20 to 25 min, stirring occasionally. Take off the heat when some of the potatoes begin to brown.

Remove Potatoes and Onions, and place on paper towels to soak up excess oil.

Preheat small skillet on medium heat with a small amount of oil.

Stir Potatoes and Onions into egg mixture a little bit at a time so that every piece of potato is covered.

When skillet is hot, pour in the Egg mix with Potato and Onion and spread evenly in the pan, pressing down the top so it is flat.

Cook 5 minutes, occasionally wiggling the skillet handle back and forth to ensure the tortilla isn’t sticking.

Now, the flipping:

Place a plate upside down on the skillet. (the plate must be larger than the skillet)

Lift skillet and plate, holding one hand against the plate. Flip the tortilla over onto the plate. Return the skillet to the stove, and carefully push the tortilla off the plate into the skillet to cook the other side. Cook another 5 minutes.

If you like egg a little rare, serve now. If not, flip again and cook another 3 minutes.

After removing from skillet, let cool about 5 minutes, cut into 4 slices and serve.

How big is an onion?

I'm a bit obsessive compulsive about this, which has earned me much teasing at home.

I've noticed a huge range of size in the onions at the grocery store. They seem to range anywhere from the size of a tennis ball to the size of a softball. When a
recipe called for "one onion" I would have a hard time figuring out just how much that was supposed to be.

After a bit of experimenting, I've decided that "one onion" is 8oz of onion.

After I came up with that and put it into practice I was able to stop obsessing about it and get back to cooking.