Penne with Basil and Heirloom Tomatoes

In trying to refine and improve my postings, I am going to start posting the ingredients and prep on top, which should make the recipes a little more user friendly.  I'm also going to continue using my better camera and actually editing the photos, which should result in better depictions of the finished product:

This recipe features a lot of farm share ingredients: tomatoes, basil, onions, and garlic.  Here is what you'll need for this recipe:

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic, slivered
• 2-3 small onions, or 1 large onion, slivered
• 4-6 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped (i used 4 small to medium sized, with about 1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes)
• 1 cup green olives, rinsed and coursely chopped
• 1/3 cup grated parm
• 2-4 mild italian chicken sausages, cooked (optional - omit to make this vegetarian)
• 1 pound whole wheat penne, just slightly undercooked
• 1/2 cup of fresh basil, torn

Get everything prepared and ready to go before you start cooking - it will make the process go much smoother. Think of the 7 P's: proper prep prevents piss-poor performance.  That being said, you can cook the pasta as you make the sauce (just get the water boiling as you chop everything up).

The farm share tomatoes are gorgeous - the assorted cherry tomatoes are very, very sweet and I think the orange ones have a ton of flavor with less acidity than their red brethren.  Anyway, heat the olive oil in a large skillet, and add the garlic.  Cook for about 10 seconds on medium high, then add the onion.  Add about 1/2 a teaspoon of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper.

Cook until onions are softened, but not mushy.  Then add the olives and the sausage (if using).

Saute until sausage is warmed, then add the tomatoes.

Cook until the tomatoes release some liquid, and a little of that liquid cooks off.  Turn the heat down to medium low, and add the penne and stir to combine (you use a large pan/skillet for this).

Add the parm and stir it in - this will thicken the sauce and help the tomato flavor stick to the noodles.  Finally, turn off the heat and stir in the basil.  It should wilt down a good amount.  Taste, and adjust seasoning.  I held back on the salt because of the salt in the sausage and olives, but it was rather flat initially.  A little more salt and pepper really made the flavors of the tomatoes and basil jump out.  I really wouldn't change anything about this, I'm very happy with how it turned out.  I think it would be just as good w/out the sausage.  This would be great with an earthy pinot noir or a chianti.  Enjoy!

Swordfish Steaks Slathered with Tapenade

Tapenade is one of my absolute favorite things to make, and probably to eat.  I say make and not cook because, well, there really isn't any cooking involved.  It is definitely one of my go-to recipes if I am having people over for a non-sit down affair.  It goes great with wine and cheese, and is a fantastic use of fresh herbs if you have them lying around.  Over the past few weeks, we have gotten oregano, basil, and thyme from our CSA.  Incidentally, those are three key ingredients in Wolfgang Puck's tapenade, which is the recipe I always use.  When I have time, I'll oven dry tomatoes to put in (but that's another post).  When I don't, I just buy sundried tomatoes packed in olive oil.  For starters, this recipe is good served on fresh baguette or crostini:

You really want to just pulse the food processor until it chopped finely, but I like that you can still make out bits of fresh herbs, pieces of dried tomato, etc.  The capers, anchovies, and garlic really give it a lot of depth of flavor.  I tend to go light on the olive oil, and I like to rinse the olives before I add them.   I feel like it cuts down on salt and lets the herbs shine through.  Don't obsess on finding the right olives, just use some good ones that aren't from a can.

While tapanade is great on just about anything, I think its flavors work really well with swordfish steaks.  I bought a 14 oz steak for this recipe, which is a good amount for two people.  Meghan started this while I was at work by getting the fish in a quick marinade: about 4 TB olive oil and 2 TB balsalmic whisked together with couple crushed garlic gloves added.  The fish should have about 30 minutes in the marinade (flip it half way through), but no more.

I got a well seasoned cast iron skillet really hot, and then seared the fish for about 3-4 minutes on one side.  I then flipped it, and put it the pre-heated 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or cooked until or liking.  I like swordfish about medium.  This oven temp is good for roasting sliced summer squash and zucchini (which we got from the CSA again...these things must grow like weeds), and the 10 minutes is about all they took.  Served everything on top of some plain couscous:

This ended up being one of my all-time favorite fish preps.  It is also super-easy if you make the tapenade ahead of time (it will keep in the fridge for at least a week).  There's something elementally good about the combination of swordfish and olives - these ingredients are meant to be with each other.  While I need to start doing more interesting stuff with the squash/zucchini, the timing worked really well with this fish prep.  On the other hand, one thing I like about summer squash is how simple it is to prepare in a pretty tasty manner.

That's about it... I really recommend you try making at least the tapenade if not the whole recipe.  For my regular readers (hi mom), I will probably only post one once or twice more before taking about 10 days off for a trip to Israel!  Not sure if I'll find a way to post from there (202 Kibbutz Review?), but hopefully I'll find a cool ingredient or two to bring back that can clear customs.