Cherry Tomato Vinaigrette

I know that in the last post, I said I would tell you about a cake with rosemary, but cherry tomatoes are a special, seasonal, short-time-only situation, and needed to be addressed soon. Cake season goes on forever.

For the most part, I’ve been just eating this year’s summer produce out of hand, like snack food, whether it be snap peas from the farmer’s market or green beans, cucumbers and tomatoes from my own garden. I just haven’t been exploring new recipes or even doing much cooking (except for these favorites and a few summer squash favorites). I have been doing a little chopping and tossing, salad style, and I went back to this simple vinaigrette that I hadn’t made in years.

This really is just a basic vinaigrette with chopped tomatoes stirred in, but don’t underestimate the contribution of beautiful summer tomatoes. You could use whatever tomatoes you like, even sun-dried tomatoes if you want to make this out of season, but I prefer the texture and style of little pieces of cherry tomato. I used a fairly mild, locally produced red wine vinegar, which makes a less acidic dressing. Like any other homemade dressing, however, you can adjust the vinegar and seasonings as you like. You could also add some fresh herbs, particularly slivered basil leaves, if you happen to have some available.

 

This dressing is good on green salads, and since there’s already some vegetation in the mix, you don’t need to have much more in that salad than some crunchy greens. Recently, I used it to make a bean and olive salad, which was fabulously delicious. I just tossed it over a bowl of white beans and chopped olives. Simple and easy, but still seasonally lovely.

And I’m still working on the post about that cake. Stay tuned.

Cherry Tomato Vinaigrette

Adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

This dressing is good on green salads or on heartier salads like the white bean salad with olives pictured above.

You could use another kind of tomato here, or add fresh herbs to taste.

1 medium-size garlic clove, finely minced

1 tablespoon finely minced onion

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

¼ teaspoon salt

a few grinds black pepper

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

½ cup cherry tomatoes, chopped

1. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, onion, vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir together and let stand about 15 minutes.

2. Whisk in the olive oil until the mixture is well-emulsified. Stir in the cherry tomatoes. Taste the dressing and adjust the seasoning or vinegar-oil balance as desired.

Makes a generous ½ cup dressing. Use right away.

Other recipes like this one: Basic Vinaigrette, Feta and Lemon Vinaigrette

One year ago: Garlic and Herb Vegetable Dip

Cherry Tomato Clafouti

 

I’d really appreciate it if you’d allow me another summer vegetable recipe. Yes, it’s October and summer is over, but I really don’t want to be the one to break that news to my cherry tomato plants. The days are still long enough and warm enough for them to ripen, and they’re continuing to produce delicious, juicy, sweet jewels.

 

I’m pretty sure I cut and pasted this recipe from the blog Baking Bites two years ago. I try not to hold it against myself that I just got around to trying it now. Don’t be scared by its weird name. A clafouti is really just a cake-y custard, or perhaps a custardy cake. Traditionally, a clafouti is a dessert (like this one with cherries), but this is a savory version, and it’s just as delicious.

 

I used a 10-inch, well-seasoned cast iron skillet for this recipe, which worked marvelously, but you could use something else of similar size. The resulting savory clafouti turned out quite a bit like a frittata, but I must share this secret: this is even easier than frittata! And frittata is really pretty darn easy! The egg and flour mixture is not only simple to mix together, but seems to be quite forgiving in performance. It puffs up in the oven, then sinks a bit when it cools, but there’s enough flour and baking powder to keep it from flopping it into a mess of weeping eggs.

 

This savory custard-cake is well flavored with plenty of fresh basil and feta cheese and generously studded with pockets of slumped cherry tomatoes. Since I was using plenty of salty feta, I kept the additional salt quantity small. I think it could have used just a smidge more salt, but I left exactly what I did in the recipe below and recommend salting to your own taste. Of course, you could use a different kind of cheese as well, such as goat cheese or cottage cheese. Then you could adjust the salt accordingly, depending on how salty (or not) your cheese is.

I knew, more or less, what to expect from this kind of batter, but I was really pleasantly surprised by how good this dish tasted. I can’t believe I waited so long to try it. Who knows how many more ripe tomatoes I’ll have this season? But a few more handfuls will be a good excuse to make this again. The weather forecast indicates, however, that there may be too few days of good tomato-ripening weather left. I better start collecting green tomato recipes!

 

Savory Cherry Tomato Clafoutis
Adapted from the blog Baking Bites

The amount of added salt in this recipe is on the low side. You could add a pinch more if you find egg dishes to be bland.

about 30 small cherry tomatoes (I used Sungold variety)

½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
3 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chopped or torn
1/3 cup feta cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Butter a 10-inch cast iron skillet. (You could probably use a cake or pie pan instead.) Arrange the cherry tomatoes evenly over the bottom of the skillet. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Whisk together to combine well. Whisk in the eggs and milk until smooth. (There should be no lumps of flour.) Stir in the basil and feta cheese.

3. Pour the flour and egg mixture over the cherry tomatoes in the pan. Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350 F. Continue baking 25-30 minutes more or until lightly browned. A knife inserted in the center should come out clean. Let stand for about 15 minutes before serving.

Makes 4-6 serving. Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated for a day or two.

 

Other recipes like this one: Cherry Clafouti (sweet), Zucchini Frittata with Tomatoes on Top, Potato and Bacon Frittata

Potato Salad with Fresh Vegetables

I get excited about pretty simple things. Like compost (no photo available, you’re welcome). Like volunteer pumpkin vines with at least 7 pumpkins on them.

 

Like the fact that you can go so many different ways with potato salad. Since I’ve been posting way too infrequently this summer, it was actually quite some time ago that I made this light potato salad with simple rice vinegar dressing, fresh vegetables and olives. This dish is still quite appropriate to the season, perhaps even more so than when I made it. There are lots of great cherry tomatoes available around here (specifically in my garden, right next to the pumpkin patch) as well as bell peppers and cucumbers.

 

I used green bell peppers because really large and delicious ones have been available locally, but the bells in brighter colors (orange, red, yellow) are sweeter and maybe even prettier.  I also had some small, locally grown “new” potatoes that had plenty of nice, creamy, earthy flavor of their own.

 

Really, exactly which type of potato or what kinds of vegetables you use are a matter of personal taste and availability. Each of the lines in the list of ingredients below could begin with the word “about” (or “approximately” if you’re more sophisticated.) Tossing together what looks good and what tastes good and adjusting the seasonings is probably the best way to go for simple summer salads. Not only is that a great way to celebrate summer produce, but it’s also a great way to take it easy. Summer salads don’t need to be obsessed over, after all. They should be laid back and stress free. And, with its relatively small amount of oil and complete lack of mayonnaise, this one can be guilt free as well.

 

 

Potato Salad with Fresh Vegetables and Black Olives

Adapted from Cooking Light April 2008

Scallions would be a nice replacement for the onion.

1 ½ pounds small potatoes

¼ cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon coarse salt, plus more to taste
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
1 cup chopped cucumber, peeled if skins are tough or greased
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup chopped bell pepper
¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup finely chopped (or torn) fresh basil
½ cup sliced ripe olives

1. Place the potatoes in a large pot of cold water to cover by a few inches. Bring to a boil and cook

until the potatoes are just tender. Drain and let stand until cool enough to handle.

2. To prepare the dressing, combine the rice vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk to combine.

3. When the potatoes are still a little warm, cut them in halves or quarters. Add them to the bowl with the dressing. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to coat. The warm potatoes will absorb the dressing more than cold potatoes would. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, pepper or vinegar if desired.

Makes about 10 side-dish servings.

 

Other recipes like this one: Lemon Herb Potato Salad; Potato, Broccoli and Green Bean Salad withTarragon Mustard Dressing; Potato Salad with Chinese Flavors

One year ago: Corn and Poblano Chile Pizza

Roasting Cherry Tomatoes

For me, there is no such thing as too many tomatoes. There can be, however, enough tomatoes. That is, enough of eating them raw to take advantage of their exceptional seasonal specialness. Enough salads, gazpacho, and eating them out of hand like apples, or in the case of cherry tomatoes, berries or, um, cherries. When that enough stage has been reached, it is okay to cook some of those tomatoes. Really. It is.

This is just what I did recently with my bumper crop of porch-grown, container-bound cherry tomatoes. (I also had a few from the CSA, but I’ve been getting more from my own eager vines.) I followed the advice of Sally Schneider in her fabulous book The Improvisational Cook (currently in transition between hardcover and paperback editions) on how to roast them and it turned out to be easy as pie. Actually, it was even easier than pie, so I also made them into a pie.

Roasting my cherry tomatoes simply involved cutting them in half and arranging them on a lined baking sheet, sprinkling them lightly with coarse salt, black pepper, and just a bit of sugar, then letting them go in the oven at 350 F for about an hour. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. And boy, oh, boy were the results delicious! The flavors of the slightly caramelized tomatoes became so concentrated I found it hard to believe all those tastes were packed into that little fruit in the first place. I was genuinely surprised by how good these were: a little bit of caramel, a lot of sweetness, and such concentrated tomato flavor that it felt like eating more than one at a time would knock me right down.

I paired my roasted tomatoes with kalamata olives and wrapped them all in a garlic-infused olive oil and a simple pie pastry. You could use any single-crust pastry recipe you like (or half of the whole wheat version in this post), or a store-bought pie crust, but I offered a simple crust recipe below as well.

I was worried that the olives would overwhelm the tomatoes in this galette, but such was not the case. The tomatoes seem to be too super-flavorful to be overwhelmed by anything. And roasting them seems to be the key to avoiding a soggy pie, since this free-form tart was crisp enough to be picked up and eaten without a fork. I served it as a main dish, but I think that it could also be a nice appetizer if cut into smaller pieces, especially since it is good at room temperature as well as warm from the oven.

I neglected to make note of the exact volume or mass of cherry tomatoes I roasted and then used in the galette, but I think it was about three cups. They shrink down quite a bit as they cook and I think I had about 1 ½ to 2 cups of roasted tomatoes in the end. You can use the roasted tomatoes for dishes other than this rustic tart. I think they would be good over pasta or on bruschetta and I recently roasted some more that I put in a wheat berry salad with mozzarella and herbs using a method and a vinaigrette very similar to the recipe in this post. Now that the weather charts are promising cooler days, and I really love this simple galette, I think I may just be firing up to oven to roast as many cherry tomatoes as I can get my hands on!

Basic Pie Crust Dough
The water for this recipe should be very cold. I usually put a measuring cup with ice and water in the freezer while I prepare the rest of the ingredients.

1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
4-5 tablespoons ice water

1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add the butter and shortening and cut into the flour mixture using a pastry blender, knives or your hands until the mixture is very crumbly and all the butter and shortening is in small, flour-coated pieces.

2. Add 4 tablespoons water and gently toss it with the flour mixture until all the flour is moistened. If the mixture is still dry, add the remaining tablespoon of water (or more if necessary). Continue mixing gently until the entire mixture can be pressed together to form a ball.

3. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 15 minutes and up to one day before rolling out. If you wish to hold it longer than one day, wrap it well and freeze it. Allow the dough to thaw completely in the refrigerator before using.

Makes enough pastry for 1 pie crust.

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Adapted from The Improvisational Cook by Sally Schneider.

I think any variety of cherry or grape tomato will work here. I’ve been using Sungold and Yellow Pear.

The measurements for these do not have to be exact, but about 2 ½ to 3 cups of cherry tomatoes will fill a large baking sheet and will yield enough for one Roasted Tomato and Olive Tart.

2 ½ to 3 cups cherry tomatoes
Salt
Black pepper
Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut the tomatoes in half and lay them in a single layer on a lined or oiled baking sheet (I use a silicone baking mat), cut side up.

2. Very lightly sprinkle the tomatoes with just a pinch each of salt, pepper and sugar. Roast at 350F for about 1 hour, or until the tomatoes are shriveled and beginning to brown. Begin checking them at 45 minutes. If the tomatoes are getting too dark, remove them from the oven. If some are getting dark faster than others, remove them from the pan.

3. Allow to cool on the pan until easy to handle and remove them with a spatula. Use in recipes immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.

Makes about 1 ½ cups roasted tomatoes, or enough for one Roasted Tomato and Olive Tart.

Roasted Tomato and Olive Galette
Once again, the measurements do not need to be precise. The pastry and the roasted tomatoes can be made at least a day ahead. The garlic-infused oil can be made up to a few hours ahead.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large garlic clove, thinly sliced
1/3 cup pitted and chopped kalamata olives
1 recipe Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
1 recipe Basic Pie Crust Dough, chilled
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water or milk), optional
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Combine the olive oil and garlic in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat for about 10 minutes. The garlic should just sizzle a little bit. If the garlic begins to brown, remove it from the heat. Set aside and cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 F. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the olives and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes. Add the garlic and oil and stir to coat well. Set aside.

3. Roll out the Basic Pie Crust Dough into roughly a 12-inch circle. Carefully transfer to a baking sheet. Spread the tomato and olive mixture over the pastry circle, leaving at least a 2-inch border. Fold the border up over the tomato mixture

4. Brush the pastry with egg wash if desired. Sprinkle the tart with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

5. Bake at 400 F for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the crust is crispy and golden brown. Serve hot, warm or cooled to room temperature.

Makes about 4 light main dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Chard Tart with Feta Cheese and Olives, Spicy Potato and Tomato Gratin with Caramelized Onions

One year ago: Mustard Greens and Green Bean Stir Fry with Peanuts

A Break in the Weather: Potato-Tomato Gratin

I was thrilled a few days ago when the hot and humid weather decided to go bother someone else and left us with some highs in the mid-70s. I am not what you could call a lover of the heat, and the cooler weather gives me some hope that the world might not be such a terrible place. And I can make something in the oven without feeling like the apartment is going to combust at any moment.


I used one of my blessedly cool afternoons to try out a recipe based on this one from the excellent blog 101 Cookbooks. It’s a gratin of tomatoes and potatoes with caramelized onions and flavorful spices. I’ve had the ingredients to makes this dish, or at least ingredients I thought would probably work, for some time. While the inspiration recipe (which you should check out…the photos are better) called for sliced tomatoes and Yukon gold potatoes, I happened to have lots of cherry tomatoes (some from the CSA and some from my patio garden), and purple potatoes (yes, they’re purple on the inside, too.)


I also had plenty of onions that had overstayed their welcome to use in the caramelized onion layer. I’m probably the last person who should be writing instructions on making caramelized onions. If you were to ask me, I would probably say, “I dunno, just cook them until they get all brown and soft.” Really, I think the key is to cook the onions low and slow and allow for different onions to perform differently based on their moisture and sugar content. Yellow onions seem to make the nicest brown and sweet caramelized onions. I cover the pan for the longest portion of the onion-cooking process so they sort of stew in their own juices, and then, when they look like they’re almost done, I remove the lid and let any remaining liquids boil away allowing the onions to get a little browner and just a little bit sticky. It’s pretty simple, but does take some time. That time, however, is totally worth it. A dish like this one is significantly enhanced by caramelized onions.

It is also enhanced by fresh ingredients and well-chosen spices. I used cumin and coriander to pep up my gratin, along with some slow-burning hot red pepper flakes. All of those flavors worked and played well with the sweet-tart cherry tomatoes and earthy potatoes. Since I flavored the cream with the spices and the cream was slurped up by everything in the dish, there was a good balance of seasoning throughout.



I’m more excited about this recipe than I have been about any new recipes for some time, and I don’t think it’s just because I’m excited about the break in the hot weather that allowed it to be made and enjoyed in more comfort. The juicy tomatoes lend some of their perky acidity to the cream and potatoes, and the caramelized onions add a brilliant sweetness. The smoky spices balance the sweetness and the potatoes, which are also pretty in their exotic purpleness, ground everything and hold it all together. I may just start making this dish even when it’s too hot for the oven. Well, let’s not get too crazy just yet.


Spicy Potato and Tomato Gratin with Caramelized Onions
Based on a recipe from the blog 101 Cookbooks

2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 pound yellow or white onions, thinly sliced
1½ teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt, divided
¾ pounds potatoes, thinly sliced (about 1/8 inch thick)
½ cup heavy cream
1 pound cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs, preferably fresh

1. Combine the cumin, coriander and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. To cook the onions, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet with a lid over medium heat. Add the onions and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes or until beginning to brown. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook about 20 minutes or until the onions are very soft and very brown. (You can prepare the remaining ingredients while this is going on.) Lift the lid to stir occasionally.

3. Remove the lid and continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated, 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat. Stir in half of the cumin mixture and set aside.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a medium sized bowl, combine the sliced potatoes, cream, remaining 1 teaspoon salt and remaining cumin mixture. Stir to coat the potatoes.

5. Spread half of the cooked onions in the bottom of a 2 quart (or similar size) casserole dish. Layer half of the potatoes over the onions (your clean hands are the best tool for this job). Layer half of the tomatoes over the potatoes.

6. Scoop up a few tablespoons of the cream in the potato mixture and pour it over the tomato layer. Spread the remaining onions over the tomato layer, then the remaining potatoes over the onions. Press down on the potatoes to squash the layers together. Finish with a layer of the remaining tomatoes. Pour the remaining cream mixture evenly over the top.

7. Cover the dish and bake at 350 F for 1 hour. Remove the cover and bake for about 25 minutes more. Check to make sure the potatoes are nice and tender before proceeding to the next step.

8. Combine the breadcrumbs and the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small bowl. Stir together until the crumbs are well moistened with the oil. Spread the breadcrumb mixture over the top of the dish. Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes at 350 F or until the breadcrumb layer is brown and crunchy. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack 10 minutes before serving.

Makes about 4-6 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Potatoes Anna with Hidden Beets, Potato and Celeriac Casserole with Baked Eggs

One year ago: Cold Cucumber Soup

Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Chickpea Sauce

It seems like every year I plant a little too much of something in my humble little container garden on and around my back patio. Last year (as well as the year before) it was basil. I backed off of that this year, since I also get quite a bit from the CSA and have reached the point where I can only eat so much Pesto. Instead, this year I went totally crazy for cherry tomatoes.

I planted Sungold cherry tomato plants that I bought at the Featherstone Farm open house event and also Yellow Pear tomatoes that I have had good luck with in the past. I had some idea that the Sungolds would be prolific, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the sheer numbers of little, sweet, juicy, orange beauties I’ve been harvesting.

Often, having cherry tomato plants on one’s porch means going out and picking a few to munch out of hand. Maybe you need to wipe them off a bit before popping them in your mouth, but you can savor each and every juicy jewel before you even get back into the house. Not so with my crop this year. No handfuls but bowlfuls. And more than enough for dishes like Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil and Olives, as well as another favorite, Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes in a Garlicky Chickpea Sauce.

The chickpea sauce for this dish is much like a thin hummus. It has a little spice, a splash of lemon juice, and lots of garlic. First the chickpeas are simmered in chicken broth with a couple cloves of crushed garlic. They’re then pureed, mixed with more sharp, raw, minced garlic and the lemon juice. Just toss that thick sauce with hot pasta and, of course, lots of cherry tomatoes. The tangy lemon juice compliments the sweet-tart cherry tomatoes, and the heat of the sauce mellows the raw garlic just enough. You still know it’s there, and you might just bite into a piece, which then dominates the flavor, but that’s what being a garlic lover is all about.

I tried using an immersion blender to puree this sauce, but I could get the chickpeas and crushed garlic smoother if I used a regular blender. The dish is so easy that the hardest thing will be cleaning the blender anyway. I pulled out the little insert in the blender lid and held a towel over the opening while blending. This helps to keep the hot blender contents from explosively steaming their way out of the blender jar as they may with a sealed lid. I think that little piece comes out of the lid just for such an occasion, but I could be completely wrong.

I love tomatoes of all kinds, so it’s been especially gratifying to grow so many of them myself, and you can’t get much more fresh than “just picked from the plant next to the patio door.” You may say my plants look like they getting a little out of hand. That may be so, but I defend my right to grow as many cherry tomatoes as I can eat. Besides, the little bunnies I recently discovered taking shelter under the over-reaching boughs of my Sungolds seemed quite happy with the situation as it stands.

Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Garlicky Chickpea Sauce
Based on recipe in Cooking Light magazine.

You can cook the pasta while preparing the other ingredients. I prefer pasta shapes that can trap sauces and cup the cherry tomatoes for this dish.
6 ounces (uncooked weight) short-cut pasta (I used campanelle, but shells or orichette would be good, too), cooked as desired and kept hot
4 cloves garlic, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
¾ teaspoon coarse salt (kosher salt)
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (15.5 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup chicken broth (I use fat-free reduced sodium)
2 cups cherry tomatoes, any variety, cut in half
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Chopped fresh parsley and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for garnish

1. Finely mince two of the garlic cloves and set aside. Crush the remaining two garlic cloves with the flat of a knife.

2. Heat the oil in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the crushed garlic and sauté 30-seconds to 1 minute, or just until the garlic is beginning to soften. If it starts to brown, move on to the next step.

3. Add the salt, crushed red pepper flakes, chickpeas, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and boil gently for 15 minutes.

4. Spoon the chickpea mixture into a blender. Remove the insert in the lid. Replace the lid and cover the hole with a folded towel. Holding the lid down with the towel, blend the mixture until smooth.

5. Add the minced garlic and lemon juice to the pureed chickpea mixture. Combine the cooked, hot pasta, cherry tomatoes and chickpea sauce. Toss gently to coat. Garnish with parsley and plenty of Parmesan cheese.

Makes about 4 main dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil and Olives, Italian Chickpeas

One year ago: Corn and Black Bean Salad with Peppers and Cherry Tomatoes

The Volunteers: Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes

No, this is not a post about my in-laws from the state of Tennessee. The volunteers I’m talking about are the cherry tomato plants that came up on their own initiative in one of my pots and amongst the grass near our back patio.

Last year, I had two cherry tomato plants sharing space with my herbs. One was a yellow pear tomato plant (delicious) and the other was a Sweet 100, so named for its tendency to produce a lot of little tomatoes. The Sweet 100s were indeed sweet and appropriately prolific. They had a tendency to split open and mold before they were completely ripe, however, and many of them ended their lives on the ground or in the dirt of their home container rather than in a tasty dish. It is the seeds of these sacrificial fruits that have so boldly sprouted in hope of volunteering their services this year.



One of these plants is a little larger and pretty strong, but it is only just blossoming now. At this rate, we will probably have snow on our patio before we have ripe cherry tomatoes. Until then, I’ll have to make do with the beautiful, sweet, succulent Sun Gold cherry tomatoes we’ve been getting in our CSA boxes. How will I ever bear it?



When I have good cherry tomatoes available, I like to make this simple dish. It is bursting with strong flavors: raw garlic, capers, olives, fresh basil, and hot pepper. It’s a lot of punch for a little effort. Measuring ingredients accurately for this dish is of almost no importance. The amounts in the recipe are more like guidelines. Use what you have. I’ve even found that it doesn’t really matter what kind of olives I use, though I usually like to use Kalamatas.

Fresh basil really is essential, but this time of year, you really should be able to get some at farmers markets. Or from a friend who always plants too much basil…like me.




Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Olives, and Basil
adapted from Cooking Light magazine
If your olives and capers are especially salty, you might want to cut back on the added salt.
½ pound farfalle (bow tie) pasta
1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
1/2 cup chopped pitted olives, such as kalamata olives
2 Tbs capers, coarsely chopped
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced

1. Cook past in boiling, salted water until al dente (mostly tender, but with a little firmness left to the bite). Drain and pour into a large bowl.

2. Add the remaining ingredients to the hot pasta and toss well.
Makes 4 servings