Weeknight Pasta with Vegetables

Nothing special last night, just a quick dish of pasta with vegetables. (Crappy food styling again - I swear there's basil in this dish. I was hungry.)

A few tips for when you're in a hurry for dinner and pasta's on the menu:

• Use small pasta shapes. It's sorta logical: smaller, thinner pastas will cook faster. Think angel hair instead of spaghetti, orzo instead of penne.
  
• Set the water to boil as soon as you think about dinner. Water always takes ages to boil. Get it going.
• Cut your veggies into small pieces. See pasta size logic above. Small, even-sized pieces are best.
• Give your dish a baked pasta feeling without the oven: toast some breadcrumbs to sprinkle over the top of the dish.

Fast Weeknight Dinner Pasta
Serves two

• 8 ounces pasta
• 2 cups chopped eggplant, zucchini or summer squash
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 cups chopped tomato
• handful of basil or parsley, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• grated Parmesan
  

Set your pasta water on the stove to boil and cook the pasta. While the pasta is boiling, saute the eggplant, squash, what-have-you, with the onion and garlic until browned and cooked through. Toss in the chopped tomatoes and set aside.

Toast the breadcrumbs in a hot skillet with a little oil until golden brown. Set aside.

When the pasta is done, drain it, reserving one cup of water. Over heat, toss the pasta with the vegetables, adding pasta water as need to make a slightly saucy dish. Toss in the basil or parsley, grated cheese and salt and pepper.

Before serving, sprinkle with toasted breadcrumbs.

Product Alert: Grapeseed Oil

A lot of people use canola oil as their standard oil. For me, canola oil is a bad choice. I find that it's pretty hard to clean up - it tends to form a slick on my pots that's hard to get off. Also, and much more damning, is that it can smell and taste fishy. I have had a few dishes turn out pretty badly as a result of this off taste.

I have read about grapeseed oil for years, but have never been able to find it. Grapeseed oil is pressed from, you guessed it, grapeseeds.

Recently, I noticed that Costco and my supermarket are carrying it. It's pricier than canola or vegetable oil at $5.00 a liter, but there are a number of reasons you should consider adding it to your pantry:

• It's pretty much flavorless so it is a great addition to baked goods or dressings where the oil's flavor should be in the background.
• It has a very high smoke point so you can use it for deep frying or sauteing with no worries.
• Grapeseed oil is a great emulsifier and may not separate as easily when making mayonnaise or dressings.
• Because of its neutral flavor, it's easily used as a carrier for flavors in making infused oils.

I've added this oil to my pantry as a standard item. This means I keep five types of oil in my cabinet: virgin olive oil (for sauteing), extra virgin olive oils (several, for salad dressings and drizzling on dishes), tree nuts oils (like almond, hazelnut or walnut - for dressings and drizzling - these get kept in the fridge), peanut oil (for stir fries - although grapeseed could take this one's place), and grapeseed oil (for all the reasons listed above).

Week of August 31

Hope y'all are having a great Labor Day holiday.

What a fun week I've got ahead! First, I have some baking great clients I'm doing work for this week and I am really looking forward to making beautiful, yummy treats. Then, I have a birthday dinner out with my hubby at my favorite restaurant. And then, I'm going away for a girls' weekend. Whoo hoo! I'm not sure I can handle that much fun in one week.

Menu for the Week
Sunday - Labor Day Grillin'
Hot dogs with all the fixings
Cole slaw
Corn on the cob
Peach galette (using the galette dough from here, the baking method is the same as for the vegetable tart)

Monday
Grilled pizza (made with my new birthday pizza peel)
Green salad

Tuesday - Indian night
Curried cauliflower
Fresh shell beans with tomato
Swiss chard
Chapati or rice

Wednesday
Pasta with eggplant and tomatoes

Thursday
Super duper birthday dinner

Friday
Girls' weekend!

Labor Day Coolers

If you're having folks over for a cookout this weekend, may I recommend a fun beverage?

Aguas frescas ("fresh water") are Mexican and Central American drinks that are an ideal pairing for grilled or spicy foods, especially on a hot day. Traditionally aguas frescas are made from fruit, vegetables and grains. For our discussion, I'll stick to fruit-based aguas frescas.

The technique is simple: puree cut-up fruit with with water until smooth (let your blender run for a minute at least). Add a little lemon, salt or sugar to taste. The texture should be smooth and watery - an agua fresca should be on the watery end of the spectrum, not the juicy/pulpy end. Dilute your puree with more cold water if needed to get a drinkable consistency. Serve your agua fresca very cold.

An agua fresca is an ideal way to use up dead-ripe fruit. You can also use the fruit purees you find the freezer case (Goya sells passionfruit, mango, guabana, and other exotic-to-me fruits). Some fruits (peaches, nectarines, plums) will start to brown after they've been pureed. Add extra lemon to these, but drink them the same day you make them for best visual results.

These aguas frescas are made from strawberry, plum, passionfruit and blackberry purees. Good fruits for you to try:

• Cantaloupe or Honeydew
• Peaches or Nectarines
  
• Strawberries, Blueberries, Blackberries
• Watermelon

I may be stating the obvious, but ... these drinks are wonderfully refreshing on their own, but it won't be a tragedy should some tequila or rum happen to fall into your glass.

Drink of the Week: Tomato Martini, Take Two

A few weeks ago, I made a cherry tomato martini. Since then, I've read of a few other takes on this cocktail. Inspired by Dash of Bitters, I thought I'd try a new version.

For this cocktail, you need tomato water, which you make by chopping up fresh tomatoes, putting them in a strainer and letting the liquid drain out. The liquid is tomato water.

This drink was more subtle than the one I made before. I made it with Plymouth gin because it's such a good mixing gin, and I am going to try it once more with Hendricks (I am guessing that the cucumber notes in Hendricks will marry well with the tomato).

Tomato Martini Two
Make your tomato water - for 1/2 ounce, you'll need 1 medium tomato. The draining takes a little time, so give yourself 10 minutes or so for this step.

In an iced cocktail shaker, combine:

• 3 ounces gin
• 1/2 ounce tomato water
• 1/2 ounce dry vermouth

Stir until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry tomato.