Pasta with Easy Summer Sauce

This is another of my tried and true Moosewood recipes. Thanks to green beans in our CSA box a couple of weeks ago, this recipe was resurrected. I then remembered it is also a very good recipe, even if you omit the green beans.

We all enjoyed this. M had to put the ingredients all into separate piles to eat, but she did eat two big servings.

Pasta with Easy Summer Sauce
from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics

1 c quartered grape or cherry tomatoes
2 T fresh parsley, minced
1 T fresh basil, minced
1/4 c red onions, minced
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 T black olives, sliced or chopped
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
1 t balsamic vinegar
1/2 lb farfalle or other chunky pasta
1 c green beans, cut into 2" pieces
1/4 c feta cheese, crumbled (or more, to taste)

Bring a large pot of slated water to boil. When the water boils, stir in the pasta, cover, and cook for 2 - 3 minutes. When the water returns to a boil, add the green beans and cook for 8 - 10 minutes, or until the pasta is al dente and the beans are just tender. Drain well.

While the pasta and green beans cook, combine the tomatoes, parsley, basil, onions, garlic, black olives, olive oil, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. Add the tomato mixture to the cooked pasta and green beans. Gently combine. Top with feta cheese. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Grilled Portabella Bulgur "Burgers"

This recipe looked wonderful when I found it on Epicurious. I love grilled portabellas and I was excited to find another use for zucchini and bell peppers.

To put it mildly, I absolutely destroyed the portabellas. I am going to blame it on being out of grilling practice. The mushrooms were charred, but very firm--not at all soft like they should have been. The filling was incredible--I ate leftovers for several meals. It was great. I'll probably try this recipe again because of how good the bulgur filling was. Next time I'll make sure I have the grill on very, very low heat (maybe even use indirect heat for a little part of the time...) and hopefully these will turn out better. Curtis also loved the filling and he could tolerate the mushrooms (which is more than I could do). J ate a little filling and M worked on part of a mushroom.

Grilled Portabella and Bulgar "Burgers"
from Gourmet

For tomato vinaigrette:
2 lg garlic clove
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
1/2 c parsley
1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c red wine vinegar
1 T chopped fresh rosemary

For bulgar burgers
6 - 8 large portabella mushrooms, stems removed
1 sm onion, cut lengthwise into 1/2" wedges
2 med bell peppers, quartered lengthwise
1 med zucchini, halved lengthwise
1 1/2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 c boiling water
1 c bulgur
1/4 c pine nuts, toasted
2 1/2 oz arugula (4 c)
1 firm-ripe small avocado

To make vinaigrette, drop garlic into food processor with motor running, and finely chop. Add tomatoes, parsley, oil, vinegar, rosemary, 1/2 t salt, and 1/4 t pepper and pulse until tomatoes finely chopped, but not pureed.

To make the salad, toss the cleaned portabellas with a 1/2 c of the vinaigrette in a 13 x 9" baking dish and let stand, turning occasionally, 20 minutes. Toss onions, bell peppers, and zucchini with oil, 1/4 t salt, 1/8 t pepper. Oil grill rack, then grill vegetables, covered on a preheated gas grill to medium heat, until tender (6 - 8 minutes for peppers, 6 - 10 minutes for zucchini, 8 - 12 minutes for onion wedges, and 12 - 15 minutes for portabellas). Transfer the portabellas to a plate and the remaining vegetables to a bowl as they finish cooking. Cool slightly and then coarsely chop onions, peppers, and zucchini.

While vegetables cook, pour boiling water over bulgur with 1/2 t salt in a large bowl and let stand until water is absorbed and bulgur is tender, about 5 minutes. Drain in a sieve if any water remains. Add vegetables to bulgur with pine nuts and remaining vinaigrette and toss.

Put arugula on a platter. Top with an upside down portabella. Pack bulgur mixture into a cup measure and then unmold on top of portabella. Top with another portabella, right side up. serve with an avocado quarter.

Pasta with Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

We ended up with a lot of leftover cherry tomatoes (thanks to buying at Costco) after Madeleine's birthday party. I wasn't sure what to do with them until I found this recipe. I halved the recipe because I didn't have 2 1/2 lbs of cherry tomatoes. This would be a great recipe if you had several cherry tomato plants that have gone wild or if you too, bought too many cherry tomatoes at Costco. We all enjoyed it. You really can't go wrong with a light pasta meal of cherry tomatoes and black olives (plus some balsamic vinegar). I wish I had more cherry tomatoes...

Original calls for 3 oz (or a fat 1/2 c) of feta cheese. If using feta, stir in after adding the tomatoes, until it is melted and creamy, about 2 minutes

Pasta with Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce
adapted from Bon Appetit

1 1/4 lbs cherry tomatoes, halved
3 T olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 T balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 T fresh oregano, chopped
8 oz farfelle or other chunky pasta
1/4 c pitted Kalamata olives, halved
2 T drained capers (optional)
Parmesan, grated
2 T pine nuts, toasted

Combine tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and vinegar in a 13 x 9" glass baking dish. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Roast in a preheated 375 degrees oven for about 45 minutes, or until tender and juicy, stirring occasionally. Stir in oregano (can be made 2 hours ahead---let stand at room temperature).

Cook pasta until al dente in a large pot of salted boiling water. Drain and return to pot. Add tomatoes, olives, and capers. Stir over medium heat until heated through, about 2 minutes. Grate Parmesan cheese over top and sprinkle with pine nuts. Serve.