Cherry Tomatoes Two Ways

Cherry Tomato Bruschetta
Perfect summer tomatoes can make for nearly effortless dishes to savor. With a box of golden-orange cherry tomatoes from WCOF, I attempted two different, simple preparations. First, the tomatoes with only four additional ingredients formed a topping for bruschetta. I halved some tomatoes and tossed them with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper and placed them under the broiler for a few minutes. The timing will depend on the distance of the oven rack from the broiler, but I think I left my sheet pan in the oven for three minutes at a distance of about eight inches if I had to guess. Then, I added freshly grated parmagiana reggiano and returned the pan to the broiler for another five minutes.

The softened and parmagiana-flavored tomato jewels were scooped onto thick slices of ten grain bread that had been grilled outside and then rubbed with garlic. Then happy munching commenced.



Cherry Tomato, Fresh Corn, Avocado, and Blue Cheese SaladThe second dish was a summer salad of halved cherry tomatoes, fresh corn, avocado, and diced blue cheese created as follows:

2 ears fresh sweet corn
1 T butter
3 green onions, thinly sliced on a diagonal, white and green parts divided
1 avocado, diced
1-1/2 c cherry tomatoes, halved
1 oz blue cheese such as Danish blue, chopped or crumbled
1 lime, juiced
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Endive spears for serving

-cut kernels from corn and sauté them in melted butter for about four minutes; season to taste with salt and pepper; remove from heat and let cool to room temperature
-in a medium bowl, whisk together white parts of green onions, lime juice, and olive oil and season to taste
-add cherry tomato halves, avocado, and cooled corn to bowl and toss gently
-spoon mixture into endive spears for serving and garnish with sliced green onion tops and blue cheese

The blue cheese flavor melded nicely with the sweetness of the corn and avocado, and the endive spears offered a crunchy, textural contrast. I did have the urge to keep adding things to this salad like jalapeno or some chopped herbs, but I resisted because the simpler the better with summer produce. The salad was served with grilled chicken and a Spanish Monastrell.

Fleur de Sel Caramels

I am a caramel person. Some people love chocolate, and that’s ok, but it doesn’t really do it for me unless it’s got some caramel inside. I came upon a post about caramels a couple of weeks ago, and thank you Fanny for the inspiration. Then, I started reading Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich and found her Fleur de Sel Caramels.

Well, that did it. I had to make some caramels. I followed Medrich’s recipe with one substitution. I already had corn syrup on hand, so I didn’t go in search of golden syrup. I’ll seek it out next time. I could attempt to describe how happy I was to get to eat these candies, but I would fail to express my complete pleasure. The sea salt does an amazing thing in concert with the caramel. Everyone should make these and give some to me because I could eat these forever.

Bucatini with Five Pepper Sauce

I once read somewhere that if you find one recipe in a cookbook that you end up making time and again then the price of the book was justified. If that’s true, then On Top of Spaghetti was a bargain.

Every pasta dish I’ve tried in this book is fantastic, and I will definitely make them many times. A couple of favorites have been Spaghetti with Roasted Asparagus “Pesto” and Spaghetti with Fresh Spinach and Gorgonzola. Most recently, I tried the Bucatini with Five Pepper Sauce topped with pecorino romano and was very happy to have done so. Each dish is a simple combination of excellent ingredients that delivers amazing flavor. Classic Italian restraint is evident throughout the book. The sauces require just a few items, some of the pasta boiling water, and some perfect cheese for topping. Both the Roasted Asparagus “Pesto” and the Five Pepper Sauce require a good amount of extra virgin olive oil which produces silky and nicely balanced sauces. These dishes have been excellent piping hot off the stove and just as divine as leftovers.

The Five Pepper Sauce can be nudged in a spicier or milder direction depending on how you chop your chiles (with seeds and membranes or without). I made it a bit spicy which we loved, but for company I would go a little milder. One interesting thing I learned from this dish is that Bucatini is a difficult pasta shape to twirl on your fork. Slurping is required as are napkins. Kurt requested that next time we make this dish with linguine or spaghetti. I thought that if the sauce were left a bit chunkier a big rigatoni shape would be nice. Maybe we’ll eventually try all three.